Lehigh Valley Health Network is set to open the doors of a facility specifically geared toward women on the former site of Bethlehem Steel’s Martin Tower.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Monday for the Health Center at Tower Place and the Women’s Health Center at 1490 Eighth Ave., Bethlehem, ahead of their scheduled opening Tuesday.
“LVHN is committed to doing what’s right by women and every stage and every age of life with personalized care, innovative treatments and unwavering support through comprehensive women’s services in this building, but also throughout all of our regions, we’ve developed specialized programs with women in mind,” said Dr. Amanda Flicker, interim clinical leader of women’s health at Jefferson Health. LVHN is part of Jefferson.
The three-story, 40,000-square-foot Women’s Health Center includes preventive gynecology care, breast health services, gynecology specialty programs, women’s heart and vascular center, obstetrics and midwifery, maternal-fetal medicine, female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery. According to the health network, it decided to include all these services under one roof to make them all more accessible to women.
With access in mind, the facility also has an on-site child care area. Near the fetal medicine clinic, the child care area can care for up to 10 children from 4 weeks to 12 years. It features a large television, books, dinosaur toys, blocks, baby dolls and a diaper-changing station.
Another resource offered at the center is the CenteringPregnancy program. Christina Felten, certified nurse midwife, said this program follows a nationally recognized curriculum that groups women together during pregnancies.
“If you’re due within the same month of each other you get to go through pregnancy with a cohort of women who kind of become your friend and family through the whole time,” Felten said. “They can bring their partners or their kids, too. A lot of them do and it’s kind of neat because the dads have their own little cohort.”
After patients meet one-on-one with their pregnancy care providers, Felten said, they meet with their cohort for 60-90 minutes. These cohort meetings contain six to 12 women and occur every four weeks to start, every two weeks after the 30th week, and every week after the 36th week of pregnancy. She said the cohorts focus on education and the group encourage each member to be accountable for themselves and their pregnancy.
Since LVHN launched the program at other outpatient centers, about 120 patients have gone through the program, with positive results including a decreased rate of preterm birth, higher rates of breastfeeding and fewer low-weight births.
Dermatology services are also provided in partnership with Advanced Dermatology Associates.
Women’s rehabilitation services and pelvic floor therapy are available in the pelvic rehab space, where a serenity room can help patients relax and decompress. Craig Souders, administrator of outpatient rehab and ambulatory operations, said that the jewel of the serenity room is its two zero-gravity chairs — by leaning occupants’ upper body back and elevating their legs, they create a weightless feeling. The chairs also can sync to a patient’s music and massage them to the beat of the songs played.
Health Center at Tower Place, right next to the Women’s Health Center, is about 60,000 square feet, and includes HNL Lab Medicine, rehabilitation services, imaging services, an ExpressCARE, primary care, pulmonary and critical care medicine, endocrinology, bariatric medicine and a diabetes metabolism center.
Construction on the buildings began last year in a historic plot of land that is otherwise surrounded by outpatient centers operated by St. Luke’s University Health Network, Jefferson’s rival in the Lehigh Valley.
The loss of Bethlehem Steel, formerly the largest employer in the Lehigh Valley, was a huge blow to the region. Having the site of the former company’s headquarters be occupied by the Valley’s current largest employer is fitting, state Sen. Lisa Boscola, D-Northampton County, said.
“My dad did work hard at that plant,” Boscola said. “You’ve got to think about 53 years to the date, Martin Tower was completed on Aug. 28, 1972. We’re talking 53 years later. We’re seeing a rebirth.”
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