The Travel Clinic St. Luke’s can help those who are planning on traveling by administering vaccines and preventive measures necessary to travel safely across the globe.

Established by St. Luke’s Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Jeffrey Jahre in the early 1980s, the St. Luke’s Travel Clinic provides easy access to travel medicine for anyone in the Lehigh Valley who will be traveling abroad.

The clinic, at the St. Luke’s Hospital Campus, Bethlehem, helps those planning to travel address the following health issues, among many others: COVID-19 travel testing, yellow fever, hepatitis A and B, typhoid, malaria, meningitis, and travelers diarrhea.

Polymerase Chain Reaction tests administered by St. Luke’s are $99 and are the gold standard for accurately diagnosing COVID-19.

“A PCR test is a molecular test and is the best option to provide the most accurate results,” explained Jeffrey Kowalski, St. Luke’s senior network director of Urgent Care and Occupational Medicine Services. “PCR tests return far fewer false results, both negative and positive, compared to antigen tests, which are less sensitive than the PCR tests.”

Results of COVID-19 travel tests are generally available within 24 hours from the time the sample is received by the St. Luke’s lab.

Results are then returned to patients through MyChart.

The travel clinic also offers information about outbreaks around the world, country-specific safety tips and appropriate medications for the trip.

Travel recommendations during a pandemic are subject to frequent revision.

Those who use the clinic receive the up-to-date guidance in accordance with the latest developments.

“Between the work of the travel clinic and the availability of testing through the primary care physicians and Care Now centers, St. Luke’s provides easiest access and the highest level of care to our community members who want to safely travel anywhere in the world,” Kowalski said.

Call 484-526-6200 Monday to Friday between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to schedule an appointment with a health care professional at the St. Luke’s Travel Clinic.

The clinic recommends that travelers schedule appointments six to 12 weeks before traveling.

While the St. Luke’s Travel Clinic offers COVID-19 travel tests, it is not the only location to get COVID testing within St. Luke’s University Health Network.

Patients can simply call their St. Luke’s primary care physician to schedule a COVID-19 travel test.

Those without a St. Luke’s PCP may call 1-866-STLUKES (785-8537), option 7, to be directed to the nearest Care Now location for testing.