BARTONSVILLE -- St. Luke's University Health Network broke ground Wednesday afternoon on a new hospital in Bartonsville.
Officials say St. Luke's will be the first new hospital in Monroe County in 100 years.
Crews have already started to get things ready at the site of the new hospital campus off of Route 611 in Bartonsville. Employees at St. Luke's say once complete, the hospital’s emergency room will be able to treat 60,000 patients a year.
"This hospital, although new and the first hospital in the county in over 100 years, will be modern, will be state of the art. It will have large private rooms. It will be a nice addition to the county," said Dr. Peter Favini, St.Luke's University Health Network.
Community leaders, physicians, and St. Luke's employees came together to celebrate the groundbreaking of the future $80 million hospital. Once complete, it will have a full service emergency room, surgical services, and more than 100 private patient rooms.
"Having another emergency facility in the area is going to be a big help and I think it's going to alleviate a lot of congestion at Pocono Medical Center. It'll give a little variety to the area," said Stroud Township Asst. Fire Chief David Smalley.
"The emergency room at Pocono Medical is the third busiest in the state outside of Philly and Pittsburgh, so this will help that along as well," said state Senator Mario Scavello.
Work on the new hospital is expected to take the next 18 months. Construction alone will be adding 250 jobs. Along with those jobs, the hospital will have 350 permanent jobs including 40 physicians and advanced practitioners. State Senator Mario Scavello says more jobs in this area are needed.
"There's a tremendous amount of our residents that are nurses and doctors that commute to work in the Lehigh Valley. Now there's an opportunity for them to work closer to home," Scavello said.
During construction, St. Luke's plans to widen the stretch of Route 611 near the hospital. As for the construction of the hospital, employees hope it will be complete by the fall of 2016.
