Officials from Lehigh Valley Health Network and Air Products ‘virtually’ cut the ribbon to officially open the new Air Products Center for Connected Care and Innovation at LVHN at the health network’s One City Center location in downtown Allentown Nov. 3.

The Air Products Foundation announced a major donation in November 2015 to launch the center.

“This space has special meaning,” Brian Nester, DO, MBA, FACOEP, Lehigh Valley Health Network president and chief executive officer, said. “It is intended to be a place to create, innovate, transform and reimagine how we provide care to our community.”

Nester said the vision for LVHN is to become an innovative leader in population health. He said with the support of Air Products – via a donation of $5 million made through the Air Products Foundation – the dedicated space is now available for collaboration with the community, leading industries, educational organizations, and other health care systems in the world to develop and implement innovative ideas that help to lower costs and provide better care and better health services to the communities LVHN serves.

Nester gave the example of LVHN’s Street Medicine program as an imaginative, innovative way to deliver better care at less cost instead of the homeless requiring more expensive emergency care in a hospital emergency room when an illness or condition becomes more serious. Using the Center’s interactive technology wall, Nester displayed maps identifying the homeless camps around the Lehigh Valley and said a geocoding system will be used to track the camps going forward. This will allow the Street Medicine team to continue to deliver primary and urgent care, including medications, lab tests and diagnostic studies to the homeless in their daily environment.

“We’re looking to get ahead of their health problems,” Nester said. “The earlier we can address their needs, the more success stories we will have. In this center, we will find ways for our community to stay healthier and happier longer than ever before.”