Photo caption, left to Right: Francis Rincon Garcia, phlebotomist training graduate; Johanna Bolanes, ESL student; U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA); Victoria Montero, Network Director, Community Workforce Development, St Luke’s University Health Network; Raymond Santiago, Executive Director, Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley.

U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) visited Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley in South Bethlehem Monday morning to announce a $350,000 workforce development grant.

Casey personally thanked St. Luke’s Network Director of Community Workforce Development Victoria Montero for leading the effort secure the funding.

“We are grateful for her leadership,” Casey said of Montero at a news conference. “We going to help people get jobs. … This is about knocking down barriers to employment.”

The Hispanic Center will use the funds, in collaboration with St. Luke’s and Northampton Community College, to provide English and other instruction, skills training and employment services.

Casey’s office ushered the grant request through a challenging federal appropriations approval process. “This has overcome a lot of hurdles,” he said.

The overarching goal of the project, Montero said, is “to assist minority communities break the cycle of poverty.”

In recent years, St. Luke’s has provided significant financial and other support to Hispanic Center Lehigh Valley. St. Luke’s President & CEO Rick Anderson served as co-chairman of the Hispanic Center’s Vision for Renaissance Capital Campaign, which raised several million dollars for renovations to the Basilio Huertas Senior Center and the establishment of the nearby Fowler Community Wellness Center in a stately former bank building.

At the news conference, Casey noted with evident pride that Monday’s visit was his third to the Hispanic Center.

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital.  The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.  In 2021, St. Luke’s was identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally.  Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  The Network is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest-cost providers.

 

Information Provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy