With a snip of oversized shears, a mother who gave birth to her first child at St. Luke’s Allentown Campus cut a ceremonial ribbon Feb. 12 to open its new Women & Babies Pavilion.

This expanded facility will increase the community’s access to high-quality birthing, postpartum and newborn services, including neonatal intensive care.

The 5-story, 85,000 square-foot tower, built onto the east side of the hospital, will meet the growing patient needs for these services at the Allentown hospital campus. Pavilion medical personnel were ready to start delivering babies Feb. 14.

“Today marks a significant milestone in our continued commitment to providing exceptional care for mothers and infants, and it’s a delivery on the promise for a bigger and better hospital for our patients and our community,” St. Luke’s University Health Network CEO Richard A. Anderson, who hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the facility Feb. 12 said.

“This incredible facility is complimented by the most amazing and caring team of providers, nurses and support staff who work as a team to ensure the best experience for expecting families,” Bill Moyer, St. Luke’s West Region president said.

The new addition, which doubled the size of the hospital’s previous unit, can accommodate several thousand patients a year.

Three floors of the wing were being put into service immediately. The second floor houses the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where babies born prematurely will be cared for.

New technically advanced air purification technology creates an ultra-sterile, negative air flow environment on this unit to protect the tiny and often ill newborns, their parents and caregivers from infections.

The third floor’s Labor & Delivery Unit and fourth floor postpartum unit contain additional rooms and amenities, with each floor almost twice the size of the hospital’s former unit.

“We are thrilled to give patients access to this brand-new facility, new services and an increased level of care, which enables babies to remain in their own community with their families,” Elizabeth Dierking, M.D., chair of St. Luke’s Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology said. “Delivering access to safe care of the highest quality starts families on a happier and healthier journey.

“St. Luke’s patients get to know their physician through their prenatal care and that physician will then deliver their baby. The state-of-the-art birthing units offer parents the comforts of a safe, family-centered atmosphere to welcome their new babies into the world,” Dierking said. “St. Luke’s is a leader in perinatal care, high-risk deliveries and breast-feeding education. Its NICUs provide advanced care to critically ill newborns and premature babies.”

The building’s ground, first and fifth floors are shelled in for future use. Construction site preparation and renovations to existing hospital “tie in” points, began in August 2022. Excavation work for the new tower began in November 2022 and the structure’s first steel beams were erected the following month.