St. Luke’s University Health Network held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday for its newest facility at 1122 North St., Jim Thorpe.

This 8,700-square-foot facility initially will provide family medicine, by local doctor Daniel Plavin, MD (St. Luke’s Jim Thorpe Primary Care); nephrology care by Brittany Cataldo, DO, Cheryl Lipson, MD, Nicholas Varvarelis, DO, Sarah Livengood, PAC and Ann Acevedo, CRNP (St. Luke’s Nephrology Associates-Carbon County); and outpatient laboratory services.

The health center presently includes nine exam rooms shared by primary care physician Dr. Daniel Plavin, Walk in Lab Services and nephrology.

The nephrology practice had been at the current location.

Plavin is originally from Jim Thorpe and ran cross-country for the high school. He said, “These are my streets, my people. I always wanted to come back. One of the great things about having everything in one building is the ability for doctors to collaborate.”

He recalls having to travel as a child to Stroudsburg for medical care. His entire family lives nearby in Lake Harmony.

Since graduating from St. Luke’s Rural Family Medicine Residency in 2022, as chief medical resident, Plavin has been caring for patients at the St. Luke’s Albrightsville Primary Care during construction in Jim Thorpe. He treats patients of all ages, from newborns to adolescents to adults and geriatrics, providing preventive, acute care and lifestyle medicine. He also brings special skills to the region in rural and wilderness medicine, having earned a novel fellowship certification from the Wilderness Medicine Society of America after completing his residency. If he’s not in the office, he can be found working part time in the local emergency rooms or volunteering with local Fire/EMS squads.

“The Jim Thorpe Health Center will bring these essential and specialty health services closer to home for the members of this great community where I grew up,” said Plavin, a graduate of the St Luke’s Rural Family Medicine residency based in Tamaqua. “The goal is to provide top-notch primary care locally and close to home.”

Joe Pinto, chief operating officer for St. Luke’s said, “There are two phases to the opening. Phase two in the summer will include nine more exam rooms and other specialists.”

Phase one opens Monday.

Phase 2 will include nine more exam rooms and additional specialists in the building, starting with a GI doctor. This will allow multidisciplinary work so doctors can collaborate.

Kathy Henderson, director of economic development for the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development, added that she “is honored to be a part of funding for this facility to keep the people in the region healthy.”

John Nespoli, president of St. Luke’s Carbon Campus, talked about access to care in the county. He said St. Luke’s is the largest employer in Carbon County and he is “thrilled to be a partner in the economic vitality of the county.”

Nespoli said, “Bringing these services to the Jim Thorpe community is another step in the network’s investment to increase access to world-class care that St. Luke’s provides throughout its 14-county service area.”

This new facility is one of over 20 St. Luke’s ambulatory sites in Carbon County with more than 50 family practice providers and over 100 specialty medical and surgical providers. Some 200,000 people visited the St. Luke’s outpatient and emergency sites in Carbon County over the past year.

The Jim Thorpe Health Center, located a few doors away at 1104 North St., offers urgent care/walk-in services for bumps, bruises and non-emergent illness, and radiology (X-ray) scans.

The new facility will employ 15 to 20 people.