St. Luke’s Restarts Elective Surgery and Related Procedures

St. Luke’s University Health Network will begin elective surgeries and resume certain other related procedures at its Pennsylvania hospitals and facilities on Monday, May 11.

“Our hospitals are safe, and we are ready for you,” said William R. Burfeind, MD, Chairman of Surgery.

The “stay at home” measures put in place to stop the spread of the coronavirus have proven effective in our community, and St. Luke’s Infectious Disease experts have determined that elective surgeries and associated diagnostic and imaging studies may proceed with certain safeguards. (Note this change does not apply to St. Luke’s Warren Campus, which is on a separate, New Jersey timetable.)

For example, universal masking and social distancing measures will remain in place in the office, and patient appointments will continue to be spaced out to reduce the flow of traffic. Additionally:

• The nurses and staff taking care of surgery patients will not take care of COVID-19 patients at the same time.
• All patients undergoing surgery will be COVID-19-tested, helping to maintain a COVID-19-free surgical environment.

“Our surgeons are looking forward to resuming an expanded array of elective procedures,” Burfeind said. “Our priority is and will always be the safety of our patients.”

Media Contact

Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org

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 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne 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 34 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 263 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.