Thanking Our Community for Participating in Needs Assessment

St. Luke’s University Health Network is pleased to thank and celebrate the greater Lehigh Valley community for responding to over 15,000 surveys and actively participating in nine forums during its 2025 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) process.

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The St. Luke’s Department of Community Health oversees the CHNA, which it conducts every three years as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The goal of the assessment is to identify critical health disparities faced by populations within St. Luke’s service areas.

“St. Luke’s is the only regional health network in the Lehigh Valley to conduct surveys directly with community members. We are incredibly grateful to our community for their overwhelming participation in the 2025 CHNA process,” says Whitney Szmodis, Ph.D., M.Ed., St. Luke’s Community Health Epidemiologist.

Szmodis said the community’s responses to the surveys and during key interviews and the active involvement of nearly 300 community members and partners at nine CHNA forums have been invaluable.

“St. Luke’s is dedicated to understanding and addressing identified needs and priorities. These contributions have provided us with critical insights and a deeper understanding of our community's needs and priorities. The information gathered through their contributions will significantly influence our efforts to enhance community health and well-being,” she explains.

St. Luke’s is currently analyzing data collected from the 2025 CHNA process and creating reports on its findings. The St. Luke’s campus presidents will review the drafts in January, and the Network will hold board presentations in the spring when the reports will be reviewed and approved. The final documents will be available on the St. Luke’s Department of Community Health webpage in June. Then, next fall, the Network will hold open community forums to share the 2025 CHNA results.

The top priorities outlined in the CHNA and the implementation strategy serve as a guide to support St. Luke’s strategic initiatives through the Network’s pillars of Prevention and Wellness, Care Transformation and Research and Partnerships. For example, the top three health needs in our community based on St. Luke’s 2022 CHNA are:

• Promoting access to care;
• Preventing chronic disease; and
• Promoting mental health.

Achieving the high level of participation seen in the 2025 CHNA requires teamwork both within the Network and among the community. To distribute the survey, the Department of Community Health works collaboratively across the Network as well as with its community partners, including non-profits and local schools, city health bureaus, and more.

“The CHNA work profoundly underscores St. Luke’s commitment to genuine community partnership,” Szmodis explains.

“Community Health liaisons work with our campuses to ensure that the top priorities established through the CHNA are supported and meaningful. This extensive collaboration highlights St. Luke’s proactive approach in fostering meaningful relationships and ensuring that community voices are integral to shaping health initiatives.”