St. Luke’s has submitted plans to expand the emergency department in the Carbon Campus it is building in Franklin Township.

Township supervisors said Tuesday that the St. Luke’s Hospital Blue Mountain Emergency Department land development plans for the expansion are ready for signatures.

John Sylvia, St. Luke’s Network Vice President of Planning and Business Development, said last month the land development plan adds additional space to the new hospital for its emergency room department, which will give it capacity increases.

Joe Pinto, chief operating officer for the St. Luke’s Lehighton/Carbon hospitals, explained the need for the emergency department expansion.

“Over the course of the last few years, we have really seen a nice increase in our volume at Lehighton,” Pinto said. “We have continued to add a lot of services (as the) volume continues to keep going up.”

Pinto said the new hospital will have 17 rooms.

“We’re just preparing ourselves; one of the new distinguishing features of this hospital is 24/7 critical care coverage; it’s a game-changer for this community to have that level of critical care,” he said. “It’s going to be rare that people are going to have to be transported out from a St. Luke’s facility. We want to be sure we have the capacity for this community.”

Pinto said St. Luke’s continues to improve.

“By the time we get into this new hospital, we’ll have full-time Level II Critical Care Coverage. We already have our stroke and chest pain accreditation, and we anticipate having our Level IV trauma accreditation this summer,” he said. “That brings a higher acute element to this new hospital.”

Plans changed to accommodate needs.

“We’ve been recruiting incredible physicians, not only in primary care, but also specialists in every area, so these docs are going to be practicing here in our county, and we believe the volumes will continue to increase, and people will continue to stay here at St. Luke’s.

Pinto said the health network strives to meet needs of the community.

In June, supervisors authorized the submission of the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant application and business plan, as well as the execution of the cooperation agreement with St. Luke’s Hospital.

The state grant program is administered by the Office of the Budget for the acquisition and construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational, and historical improvement projects.

Board Chairman Jason Frey said the grant for $750,000 would be used for site preparation work. The overall cost is $8 million.

The $80 million campus will be located on more than 100 acres at the intersection of Fairyland and Harrity roads.

In October 2019, St. Luke’s University Health Network broke ground for the St. Luke’s Carbon Campus which will provide a range of specialty services in a full-service, three-story, 155,000-square-foot hospital.

Built with American steel, the St. Luke’s Carbon Campus will be equipped with 80 beds, 20 emergency department exam rooms, three operating rooms and two OR procedure rooms. Specialty services will include trauma, cardiology, neurology and radiology, among others.

The agreement also includes a $100,000 donation for the township to use for road projects.

St. Luke’s hopes to open the facility in early 2022.