We're on Modern Healthcare's inaugural list of the 100 Best Places to Work in Healthcare. To compile the list,the magazine sent surveys to employees of nearly 240 health care companies nationwide, asking about policies, practices,benefits, demographics, leadership, culture, communications, work environment, development, pay, andoverall satisfaction. We are one of only five health care organizations in Pennsylvania to make the list.

When John and Becky Fedio of Bath attended a deaf senior citizens meeting recently, they were excited to learn about a new technology available at Lehigh Valley Health Network. At the meeting they learned about a new tele-interpreting service—part of our health network's comprehensive telehealth program—that uses audio and video to bring a sign-language interpreter to a patient's bedside in seconds. Just hours after learning about the device, John, who suffers from an irregular heartbeat, fainted several times and was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg. Thanks to the new tele-interpreting service, communication was flawless and he got the care he needed.

Colleagues had a chance to learn about presidential candidates' health care plans during several educational sessions held prior to the 2008 primary and general elections. Just days before the Nov. 4 general election, colleagues listened to Dora L. Hughes, M.D., Ph.D., right, health policy adviser for the now President-elect Barack Obama. Earlier in the year, colleagues heard from presidential candidate Sen. John McCain and Chelsea Clinton, daughter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, who was defeated by Obama in the primary election. Hughes is joined here by Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network President and Chief Executive Officer Elliot J. Sussman, M.D., left.

Pennsylvania State Police recently revealed more than 80 percent of child safety seats inspected by officers in September were not installed properly. These statistics emphasize the need for programs like Operation: Safe Ride. Since 1992, the program has distributed more than 2,700 child safety seats to families who cannot afford them. Susan Rutt (right) of Lehigh-Carbon Highway Safety Program recently ended her 17-year leadership of Operation: Safe Ride and turned the reins over to long-time partner Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network. Coordinating the program are parent education program coordinator Deanna Shisslak and trauma prevention coordinator Bill McQuilken. This year enough money was raised to support the purchase of 100 car seats.

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network collaborated with Pocono Medical Center to establish the East Stroudsburg-based hospital as a Level III Trauma Center. Part of the relationship is an agreement that trauma patients taken to Pocono Medical Center who need more advanced care are transferred to our Level I Trauma Center at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. This new Level III Trauma Center benefits the people of the entire Poconos community who need emergency trauma care.

Despite the rain and cold weather, more than 12,000 adults and children lined up in their cars to receive free influenza vaccinations at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem and at Dorney Park in Allentown. Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network has offered free, all drive-thru flu shots for three years in a row. This year's flu shot campaign set a record. About 4,000 additional community members were vaccinated this year compared to last year.

The B104 Bee from WAEB-FM helped children like 7-year-old Joshua celebrate Halloween on the pediatrics unit at Lehigh Valley Hospital—Cedar Crest. The day also included fun costumes, yummy treats and a trick-or-treat parade. Vanessa Gramm, child life specialist for Lehigh Valley Health Network, organized the festivities.

Three vans stuffed with canned goods and other non-perishable food items headed to two local food banks after Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network's drive-through influenza vaccine sessions. Community members who attended the flu shot events at Dorney Park in Allentown and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg in Bethlehem brought the food, which was donated to the Allentown Ecumenical Food Bank and Second Harvest Food Bank. Terry Burger, R.N., the network's director of infection control and prevention, said food donations were suggested as a way to make the hospital's annual free flu vaccine campaign even more beneficial to the community.

The Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce named Lehigh Valley Health Network the 2008 Business of the Year. Chief medical officer Ron Swinfard, M.D. (right), accepted the award from U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent (PA-15) at the chamber's annual meeting. More than 1,000 members of the business community attended the event at Stabler Arena. The award recognizes our not-for-profit, charitable health network for demonstrating successful business operations, displaying involvement in the community and bringing a measure of pride to our community.

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network's Community Exchange, a member organization through which people exchange their talents (plumbing, painting, driving, language interpretation, etc.), recently received an Allentown Human Relations Award. The city's Human Relations Commission recognized the program for bridging gaps between people of different cultures, ethnic origins, races, ages and backgrounds. Accepting the award were (l-r) manager Laura Gutierrez along with Nicole Rhoden and Kathy Perlow. The Caring Place, where the health network operates a health center, also received an award.

Lehigh Valley Health Network President and Chief Executive Officer Elliot J. Sussman, M.D. (right), received a ceremonial key to our new hydrogen-powered shuttle bus (background) from U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent during a recent commissioning ceremony at Allentown's Da Vinci Science Center. During only its second week shuttling employees, patients and visitors to and from the parking lots at Lehigh Valley Hospital—Cedar Crest, the bus was number-one in usage of the 26 hydrogen-powered shuttles in operation in North America. This research and education project is federally funded through Da Vinci Science Center, with the goal to educate people about hydrogen's safe, clean, and effective use as a transportation fuel.

The Leapfrog Group has named Lehigh Valley Hospital and Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg “Leapfrog Top Hospitals” for 2008. The list includes just 26 hospitals and seven children’s hospitals nationwide out of 1,220 that responded to the Leapfrog Hospital Quality and Safety Survey. LVH and LVH-Muhlenberg are the only local hospitals to make the list and among just three in Pennsylvania. The hospitals recognized are considered by many of the nation’s largest companies and public agencies that buy health benefits for their employees to offer the highest quality and patient safety. This includes practices like ordering medications by computer to avoid errors, like Donald Levick, M.D., left, is doing above, meeting intensive care staffing standards and meeting performance standards for complex, high-risk procedures such as heart bypass surgery.

We generate nearly 230,000 pounds of paper waste in six months. We've always recycled paper, but now we're getting even greener. We purchased 1,800 containers to hold paper waste, placed one at every work station and educated our staff to always recycle. "Recycling is the right thing to do for our environment," says Linda Zengen, the hospital's waste reduction specialist. "Plus, we'll use the money we save to invest in health care services for our community."

Surrounded by family, friends and caregivers, Fran Miller smiled as she watched her daughter's wedding from a hospital bed at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest. She hoped to attend in person, but couldn’t after a setback in her recovery from several surgeries to correct an intestinal obstruction. Her husband, Ron, and several nurses worked feverishly during the days before the wedding so Fran could feel a part of the ceremony. Dressed in a sparkly top, her hair and nails expertly coiffed and painted by a hospital caregiver, Fran was able to witness the affair via streaming video in a hospital conference room.

If you’re wondering where to go for the best heart attack care in the nation, look no further than Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH). According to data from Hospital Compare, a service of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, LVH’s heart attack care survival rates are the best in the country. Highlighting LVH and citing the Regional MI Alert program as a secret to our success, USA Today spotlighted the case of Richard Silverman of South Whitehall Township who suffered a heart attack in October 2007 while at work. Through quick action by a local ambulance crew and LVH’s emergency department and cardiac cath lab teams, Silverman, 63, survived a life-threatening, completely blocked coronary artery.

Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network (LVHHN) and Proton Therapy, Inc. of Marlton, N.J., have signed a memorandum of understanding under which LVHHN would provide proton beam therapy for cancer treatment to the region. Proton beam therapy delivers protons instead of photons, which are used in conventional radiation therapy. A proton beam can be better controlled to limit the energy that affects the body's healthy tissue while maximizing the dose at the tumor site. Currently proton beam therapy is being offered at just six sites in the United States, including Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (pictured).

The da Vinci^® S HD™ Surgical System takes innovations developed by NASA and applies them to the operating room. Guided by high-definition images, surgeons work a console to control four robotic arms that mimic the precise movement of a surgeon's hand. This technology is helping surgeons at Lehigh Valley Hospital perform laparoscopic hysterectomies, fertility-sparing cervical cancer surgery and surgeries for prostate cancer and other urologic procedures. "The system improves our visualization and dexterity and allows for a full range of motion within a confined area," says urologic oncology surgeon Joseph Trapasso, M.D., second from right.

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