St. Luke's Upper Perkiomen Outpatient Center Opens in Pennsburg, Upper Hanover Township 22,000 Square Foot Medical Facility

Dedicated to Offering Residents "Modern Health Care, Valley Charm" at New Pennsburg Location

From left to right: Ed Nawrocki, President, St. Luke's
Quakertown Hospital; Dr. Peter Cianfrani, Pennsburg
Family Practice; Luanne Stauffer, Chairman of the
Board of Trustees, St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital;
Bill Bushnell, District Chief of Staff, Office of
Representative Bob Mensch

Quakertown, PA (09-30-2009) - St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network administrators, clinicians and public officials today announced the opening of the 22,000 square foot St. Luke's Upper Perkiomen Outpatient Center at 2793 Geryville Pike (at the intersection of Route 663 and Geryville Pike) in Pennsburg, Upper Hanover Township. The new facility cost $8.5 million and boasts a modern rustic feel - world-class medicine delivered in a contemporary facility that maintains the charm of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. Medical services include Pennsburg Family Practice and St. Luke's Physical Therapy, as well as the following laboratory and radiology services:

• Walk-in lab and X-ray
• General ultrasound
• Echocardiography
• Vascular ultrasound
• Digital mammography
• 64-slice CT scanner
• Dexa scanning to measure risk for osteoporosis

Luanne Stauffer, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital, welcomed guests and thanked them for celebrating such a momentous event for the Upper Perkiomen Valley. "The Valley has been in need of this type of outpatient medical center for diagnostic care for a number of years. We are grateful to St. Luke's for stepping up and bringing their vision to fruition in our neighborhood. This is a great day for our community," Stauffer said.

Focus on the Growing Health Care Needs in Montgomery and Bucks Counties

According to Ed Nawrocki, President of St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital, the facility was built to accommodate growing communities in Montgomery and Bucks Counties. "The goal of St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network is to make it easy for patients to use our health care services. With this in mind, we aim to create the ultimate patient experience in terms of convenience, accessibility, quality and service. This means bringing health care services close to home, making it easy to schedule an appointment or ask questions and offering convenient appointment times."

St. Luke's was named the fastest growing hospital in the seven-county, suburban Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley markets for the past several years according to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) revenue data.

St. Luke's constructed the new facility with the site's history and the area's picturesque setting in mind. Marshall's Barn was the structure that previously occupied the land - and was the inspiration behind the contemporary barn façade. Inside the builders used original stones and beam components from the barn to construct the fireplace and mantle.

Additionally, St. Luke's facilities are built using local vendors and manufacturers as much as possible. "Whenever we build a new health care facility, we do so with the intention of buying local. We want to support our local businesses and be an excellent neighbor," said Nawrocki. For instance, Knoll Furniture, located in East Greenville, outfitted the majority of the facility's furniture needs.

Further, St. Luke's commissioned nationally-recognized artist Bradley Hendershot to create a large, watercolor rendering of the property for the Center's main lobby. The title of the painting, Landmark, serves as a reminder that the property is an important landmark for the region and with St. Luke's commitment to retaining its history, the facility will continue its landmark status for many years to come. Elements of the past have been tied to those of the present using a 'floating-era' perspective - not all of the details painted existed together during the same time period. St. Luke's respect for the property's past and for the region's culture is depicted by incorporating them together in Landmark.

Robust Services Including Family Medicine, Laboratory and World-Class Radiology

Dr. Peter Cianfrani of Pennsburg Family Practice elaborated on the service features and benefits of the new facility. "Patients coming to St. Luke's Upper Perkiomen Outpatient Center will have access to St. Luke's world-class suite of digital radiology services. Digital radiology equipment produces superior image clarity, faster results and more accurate diagnoses. Radiology services include walk-in X-ray, general ultrasound, digital mammography, 64-slice CT scanner and dexa scanning."

Additional outpatient services include walk-in lab draws, St. Luke's Physical Therapy, echocardiography and vascular ultrasound.

Cianfrani also said, "My partners, Dr. Linda Kurian and Dr. Tina Myers, and I decided to practice in this new facility because we saw a major advantage for our patients. We could see them upstairs in our office and send them right downstairs to receive lab work, an X-ray, CT or mammogram before they leave." Dr. Cianfrani shared a story of a patient who came in to his office complaining of abdominal pain the first day the new office opened. After a thorough evaluation, Dr. Cianfrani referred him to the first floor to radiology for a CT scan which showed he had appendicitis. The patient went to St. Luke's Quakertown Hospital where he underwent surgery just three hours after his diagnosis. "This is an example of the service we can offer at this facility and the type of coordination we can facilitate in the St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network - this is an enormous benefit to our patients. It's also a plus for us as physicians because we have all the tools necessary to provide the highest level of care to our community," he said.

Bill Bushnell, District Chief of Staff for the Office of Representative Bob Mensch, shared his pleasure with St. Luke's arrival in the Upper Perkiomen Valley. "Everyone should have local access to the best medicine. With St. Luke's now in our Valley, residents can rest assured they have immediate access to the best health care." Bushnell applauded St. Luke’s for investing in "top-notch physicians, equipment and most importantly, for creating a health care model that truly puts the patient at the center of everything."

Luanne Stauffer closed the ceremony by thanking Representative Mensch and all of the individuals and corporations who contributed to this worthwhile project. According to Stauffer, support for the project has been community wide.