Wendy Lazo has held several titles in the St. Luke’s University Health Network since she started working there as an undergraduate 17 years ago. Now she can add “hospital president” to that list.

Lazo was recently chosen to lead Miners Campus in Coaldale. She succeeds Bill Moyer, whose seven-year tenure as president brought financial stability, a trauma center certification, and more emergency room patients than the hospital had ever seen before.

That is a tough act to follow, as she will admit. But when Lazo was named to the position in December, Moyer himself said he couldn’t think of anyone better for the job.

“I don’t think I could ever fill his shoes, I just hope to continue the great work he did here,” Lazo said.

With a little over a month on the job, she is excited to be learning more about the area. While her previous positions at St. Luke’s brought her to Miners on occasion, she said she looks forward to getting to know the community and history of the coal region.

She said it’s already clear that the residents of Carbon and Schuylkill counties are appreciative of the care that the hospital provides.

“I think all the providers I’ve worked with who come here really enjoy coming here, because they enjoy the community,” she said.

She’s also impressed by the hospital’s involvement in the community through programs like the Panther Valley Adopt-A-School program, and the medical van which travels to area schools.

She’s already taken a ride on the medical van to see how that service works in the community.

“We have a lot of engaged staff here that enjoy being part of the community events. We want to continue that work,” she said.

Lazo hails from the Lehigh Valley, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. Before taking the top job at Miners, she served as Vice President of Operations of the St. Luke’s network. She has degrees from DeSales University and University of Phoenix.

Upward trend

Maintaining the growth that Moyer brought to the hospital is a priority, and something that Lazo views as an opportunity. Last year the hospital passed a survey to retain its Level IV Trauma Center certification, which was originally earned in 2013.

This fiscal year, the hospital’s emergency room is poised to see a record number of patients. And they’ll be doing it in a facility that was revamped last year.

Also, plans are already underway to expand the 14-bed emergency unit further, making way for even more patients. Lazo said that the new emergency room positions Miners well against other hospitals in the area.

“If you look at our regional competition, and you look at the facilities, I think ours is quite beautiful,” she said.

Like Moyer, Lazo has prioritized adding new specialized services. She said St. Luke’s mission to bring care to their patients at home in their communities buy building up the hospitals they acquire, rather than forcing them to travel to a centralized hub for specialty services.

The biggest opportunity she sees at Miners is to grow the number of patients they serve, but the challenge is managing that growth.

“It’s always about, how do we expand our services and our facility to meet the growing needs,” she said.

New partners

Another upcoming opportunity for Miners is the recent merger between St. Luke’s and Carbon County’s Blue Mountain Health System.

Lazo said there may be things that Miners does well that can help Blue Mountain, and at the same time Blue Mountain may have some strengths that will benefit Miners.

In some cases, each hospital may possess unique services or treatment options that they could share to serve the entire region, from Palmerton to Coaldale.

“The mission is still to bring great care to the community, so we want to help Blue Mountain do just that.