Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton board discusses progress

The Lehigh Valley Hospital-Hazleton Board of Directors met May 13 to discuss the organization's progress.

The presentation, conducted by Board Chairman Dr. Mark Lobitz and Lehigh Valley Hospital Network Northwest Region President Terry Purcel, covered topics ranging from new staff hirings, new services for patients, new programs for healthcare providers, a new on-site clinic and pharmacy, and a new award ceremony dedicated to the hospital's medical staff.

"Our mission goal here at Lehigh Valley is to improve the lives of our patients; to help them recover. To better achieve this, we've been working to give our staff the leadership and numbers they need to run smoothly," Lobitz said. "To this end, we've updated our clinical leadership by bringing on Michelle Rice, the vice president of patient care at Lehigh Schuylkill and Carbon, as our interim VP of patient care here and promoting Amanda Earhart to Director of Clinical Services."

Board Chairmen Dr. Mark Lobitz and Terry Purcel, President Lehigh Valley Health Network Northwest Region talks about the use of AI during the hospital's annual board meeting Wednesday, May 13, 2026 at LVH-Hazleton. (John Haeger / Staff Photographer)

Lobitz described how Lehigh Valley had hired nine new clinicians, including a surgeon, an oncologist, family and internal medicine doctors, and several nurse practitioners.

"This doesn't fill every gap in the hospital; we're always looking to hire more specialty doctors, like cardiologists or urologists. It's a problem you'll find throughout the United States," Purcell said. "Still, we consider last year to have been pretty effective at bringing new doctors into the area. Our organization has become very proficient at getting new doctors and, more importantly, retaining new doctors."

Lobitz explained the new LVHN facilities, which opened last year to address specific healthcare needs in the Hazleton community.

"As we know, with Rite Aid closing, our patients have had their options for picking up prescriptions restricted. By having a spot for them to pick it up on the way out of a check-up, for instance, we're saving them all one more trip to the pharmacy," Lobitz said. "Similarly, we've opened a new pediatric rehab center in Hazleton, where outpatient children's therapy can be conducted."

The Lehigh Valley Pharmacy is located on 101 East St., Hazleton and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., from Monday to Friday.

The meeting concluded with a summary from Lobitz of the philanthropic work the hospital had performed over the last year, including a mention of its new annual Shining Diamond award, intended to honor the hospital's medical staff.

"This is an annual award, named after Christine Farvello's birthstone, for which patients at Lehigh will be able to nominate members of our staff to receive it. Recipients will be given a modest cash prize and have their names placed on a plaque on the first floor for hospital visitors to see on their way in."

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