St. Luke's Carbon Campus Archives

St. Luke’s brings complex surgery to Carbon Campus

Two St. Luke’s University Health Network surgeons teamed up to perform the first combined mastectomy and breast implant procedure at St. Luke’s Carbon Campus.

Dr. Ali Butash, Temple Plastics Resident Joseph Costa, and Dr. Christopher Sanders perform a double mastectomy and reconstruction at St. Luke’s University Health Network’s Carbon Campus Friday, February 18th, 2022. PHOTO/PROVIDED –

While the combined surgery is done at larger hospitals, surgeons Ali Butash, a general surgeon and surgical oncologist, and Christopher Sanders, a plastic surgeon brought the procedure to Carbon County for the first time, SLUHN said.

Sanders joined St. Luke’s earlier this year, making it possible for the patient, who opted for this combined procedure, to have it performed close to her home in February. Previously, patients would have had to travel to St. Luke’s Bethlehem Campus or another location for this procedure.

Carbon Campus COO Joseph Pinto said that it means a great deal to him personally as well as professionally that the combined procedure can be performed in Carbon County. “Many years ago, my wife, a breast cancer survivor, had to travel to our Anderson Campus to have a very similar procedure,” he said. “Knowing what that was like, traveling back and forth for her care, it’s really special to me that we are able to keep care close to home. It is something truly special that we can now offer this to patients in the Carbon County area.”

“I hate it when people have to travel outside their comfort zone, and I am thrilled that we are now able to provide these services for them here,” Sanders, a native of Pottsville, said. Research has shown that patients do better psychologically, and the physical outcomes are often better too when patients can receive the care they need in their own backyard, he said.

Butash said that not every breast cancer patient is a candidate for this combined procedure, which involved implanting tissue expanders at the time of the mastectomy.

“Dr. Sanders was great to work with, and I am looking forward to combining cases and giving patients more access to breast reconstruction options in their own community,” Butash said.

The patient required an axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy during the mastectomy procedure, which is standard. Sentinel lymph nodes are the first lymph nodes to which cancer cells are most likely to spread from a primary tumor, she said.

The nuclear tracer required for this procedure was injected by Butash in the operating room once the patient was asleep, rather than in the nuclear medicine department prior to the procedure — another first, she said. Before now, patients in this region had been receiving the nuclear tracer injection while awake, which is known to be quite uncomfortable.

“With this patient, we were able to do the injection while she was under anesthesia for her surgery,” Butash said. “Doing it this way is much better for the patient and simpler. It results in less pain and less anxiety for the patient and does not require a separate appointment in nuclear medicine,” she said.

Sanders anticipates working with other surgeons at the Carbon Campus to perform combined procedures such as hernia repair, reconstructive surgeries for other cancers, particularly head and neck, and for bariatric patients who need skin surgeries because of their extensive weight loss.

“Working with Dr. Butash was a great experience and working in tandem with other surgeons for more complex cases is one of the most rewarding things in plastic surgery,” Sanders said. “I feel it’s a great comfort to patients to know they have an entire team working tirelessly for them to provide them the best care possible.”

St. Luke’s Carbon Campus opens

St. Luke’s Carbon Campus hospital opened Saturday, Nov. 20.

The three-story, 80-patient-room, 160,000-square-feet facility is the largest of its kind in the history of Carbon County and the first new hospital built in the county in 65 years.

“This complex underscores St. Luke’s commitment to the health and wellbeing of this community,” says John Nespoli, president of St. Luke’s Lehighton and Carbon campuses. “At St. Luke’s, we believe in providing quality services locally that keep people physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy and help take care of them close to home when they are ill or injured, to ultimately enhance the health status of our neighbors.”

Construction will start in spring on a three-story, 50,000-square-foot medical office building connected to the hospital. Cancer, cardiac, orthopedics care, pain management and physical therapy services and physicians’ offices will occupy this facility, along with a full fitness center and more. This facility will be opened in early 2023.

St. Luke’s formally dedicated its Carbon Campus hospital on Oct. 30.

St. Luke’s Carbon Campus opens for business

St. Luke’s Carbon Campus will begin treating patients once government approvals are obtained, possibly as early as the end of the month.

The new three-story, 80-patient-room, 160,000 square-feet facility is the first new hospital built in Carbon County in 65 years, according to a St. Luke’s press release.

It is the centerpiece of the network’s new 108-acre technologically advanced, multipurpose, rural medical and wellness complex in Lehighton. It will give the local residents access to healthcare close to home.

“This complex underscores St. Luke’s commitment to the health and wellbeing of this community,” said John Nespoli, president of St. Luke’s Lehighton and Carbon campuses. “At St. Luke’s, we believe in providing quality services locally that keep people physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy and help take care of them close to home when they are ill or injured, to ultimately enhance the health status of our neighbors.”

All patient rooms are private, and each is outfitted with a wall-mounted, 55-inch smart TV to facilitate two-way audio/visual communication between patients and their providers anywhere, as well as patients and their family members worldwide.

Real-time computer system-linked digital whiteboards in patient rooms will display the names of the patient’s caregivers, day of the week, scheduled activities and other useful safety information.

Life-Aire air purification systems installed in the air ducts throughout the hospital’s treatment areas will kill all air-borne pathogens, including COVID-19 and anthrax, the press release said.

“Our neighbors here in Carbon County and surrounding areas are grateful to the entire St. Luke’s team for demonstrating its long-term commitment to the health and well-being of the community,” said Peter Kern, past CEO at the former Palmerton Hospital.

Next up, ground will be broken in the spring for a three-story, 50,000-square-foot medical office building connected to the hospital. Cancer, cardiac, orthopedics care, pain management and physical therapy services and physicians’ offices will occupy this facility, along with a full fitness center and more. This facility will be opened in early 2023.

Wellness resources on the new campus include fitness, health education and nutrition classes, a fitness-walking trail and a lavender and sunflower meditation and healing garden.

St. Luke’s breaks ground on new Carbon Campus

St. Luke’s University Health Network has broken ground on its new St. Luke’s Carbon Campus.

Oct. 3 groundbreaking ceremony for St. Luke’s Carbon Campus. – submitted

Situated on more than 100 acres at the intersection of Fairyland and Harrity roads in Franklin Township, the $80 million campus will provide a range of specialty services in a three-story, 80-bed, 155,000-square-foot hospital.

“What a great day for Carbon County,” said John Nespoli, president of St. Luke’s Gnaden Huetten Campus in Lehighton, at the Oct. 3 groundbreaking ceremony. “We are breaking ground for the creation of a regional medical center that will provide comprehensive state-of-the-art care for the residents of this county for generations to come.”

SLUHN reports that the new hospital will be built with American steel, and will house 20 emergency department exam rooms, three operating rooms and two operating room procedure rooms.

Specialty services will include trauma, cardiology, neurology and radiology, among others.

Construction of the Carbon Campus is expected to employ over 200 construction workers and construction is expected to be completed in the next two years.

St. Luke’s is also entering the final stages of construction on two other new hospitals and a new hospital wing, the St. Luke’s Upper Bucks Campus outside Quakertown, the Geisinger St. Luke’s Hospital in Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County, and the Women and Babies Pavilion at the Anderson Campus in Bethlehem Township, all expected to open this fall and winter.

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St. Luke’s breaks ground on new Carbon Campus

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