St. Luke’s Wins Governor’s Employer Award for Outstanding Hiring Practices

St. Luke’s University Health Network, a leading employer in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding region, has earned a Governor’s Employer Award for outstanding hiring practices that move people off government assistance and into financially stable jobs.

The honor was among the Governor’s Employer Awards given Wednesday, May 8, at the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association’s Employment, Training and Education Conference in Hershey, Pa.

St. Luke’s specifically received an Employer Honor Roll Award from the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services for its record of success in hiring participants in the state’s Employment, Advancement and Retention Network (EARN) program. 

EARN works in all 67 counties to get participants off government assistance by addressing barriers to employment and coordinating existing employment and training programs.

Participants receive case management, career training and life skills development. They must devote a minimum of 20 hours a week to the program.

St. Luke’s currently employs more than 15,000 people at 10 hospitals and more than 320 outpatient sites. St. Luke’s works with PA CareerLink® Lehigh Valley to find qualified candidates to help fill open positions. Among those applicants are EARN program participants.

“We have taken quite a few referrals from PA CareerLink® Lehigh Valley and they have turned out to be great employees,” said Sharon Scheirer, St. Luke’s Senior Coordinator of College Relations and Employee Development. 

St. Luke’s was nominated by Workforce Board Lehigh Valley, a group of business leaders and stakeholders who work to ensure the region has a workforce that is trained to meet the demands of businesses.

In the nomination, Workforce Board Lehigh Valley noted that one EARN participant was recently hired as a full-time medial receptionist and now plans to study to become a registered nurse. Another accepted a full-time medical assistant position, and a third was on-board as a full-time personal care aide – each earning more than twice the state’s minimum wage.

Workforce Board Lehigh Valley also noted that St. Luke’s also provides its employees with tuition assistance and incentives to further advance their skills and develop rewarding career pathways.

Nancy Dischinat, executive director of Workforce Board Lehigh Valley, praised St. Luke’s for helping retool the Lehigh Valley’s workforce for the growing health care sector. She said St. Luke’s has expanded education and training options while creating initiatives to decrease the skills gaps. 

“St. Luke’s Hospital is a major part of our community’s fabric and it is because of their ‘commitment of help’ that job seekers are provided an opportunity to work within their many health care locations, and many different job opportunities throughout the Lehigh Valley.  We are proud of St. Luke’s Hospital. Workforce Board Lehigh Valley is proud to call them our partners in workforce development.”

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and over 320 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the Lehigh Valley’s first and only regional medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system with Medicare’s five- and four-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital.  In 2019, three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals were St. Luke’s hospitals.  St. Luke’s University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health seven times total and five years in a row. St. Luke’s has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.