Each year we have more than 300,000 visits in our emergency rooms. Located in Allentown, Bethlehem, East Stroudsburg, Hazleton and Pottsville, our expert providers care for minor injuries such as sprains or lacerations – up to severe medical emergencies like strokes, heart attacks or significant traumatic injuries.
You will receive care from board-certified emergency medicine physicians who are supported by advanced practice clinicians with emergency care training and specially trained emergency nurses. We have one of the largest emergency medicine residencies in the country, which also gives us access to top emergency medicine trainees.
Visiting an LVHN emergency department
When checking in to one of LVHN’s emergency departments, you will be greeted by a staff member. A registered nurse will discuss your concerns, take your vital signs and possibly start other tests. You may then be asked to return to the emergency room (ER) waiting area until a treatment space is available. Once you are assigned an available treatment space, a specially trained ER nurse will complete a thorough exam and relay findings to your ER team. If needed, your team may order other tests before developing a plan of care and providing treatment.
Depending on the findings, you may be given a referral for a specialist visit at another time or admitted to the hospital if your needs are more urgent.
Quick care in LVHN emergency rooms
Both Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest and Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg provide a designated area to care for patients with less severe injuries like simple broken bones or cuts during daytime/evening hours. We do our best to help each person as quickly as possible and prioritize care based on the seriousness of the condition. Our goal is to treat minor illnesses and injuries in less than 90 minutes.
Emergency care: Trauma services
Lehigh Valley Hospital provides trauma services to adults and children in three trauma centers (Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)–Cedar Crest, LVH–Hazleton and LVH–Pocono). Our accredited trauma centers are prepared to stabilize and treat individuals with life-threatening or disabling injuries. All sites also provide initial care for burn injuries, but burn injuries that require extensive care will be managed at the Regional Burn Center at LVH–Cedar Crest.
Emergency medicine for heart attack
Lehigh Valley Heart Institute consistently ranks among the nation’s leaders in heart attack survival.
Our MI Alert for Heart Attacks program saves lives and limits the amount of heart damage by educating area paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to diagnose heart attacks in the field.
If you’re suffering from a heart attack, paramedics will immediately begin treatment and call ahead to alert our emergency medicine providers of your arrival.
Heart attack-related services at LVHN include:
- Angioplasty to open blocked arteries within 90 minutes
- Cardiac bypass surgery to open blockages that cannot be fixed with angioplasty
- Therapeutic hypothermia after the heart stops to lower the body’s core temperature – this slows metabolism and prevents swelling that can cause brain damage
- Transfers of heart attack patients to LVHN hospitals where they receive treatment within 90 minutes or less
Emergency care for stroke
Every second counts when it comes to stroke. Fast, aggressive care minimizes brain damage by ensuring adequate blood flow to the brain.
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Cedar Crest is designated as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, a designation awarded by the American Heart Association and The Joint Commission. Comprehensive Stroke Center certification means a hospital is ready 24/7 to deliver advanced stroke care. It is the highest level of stroke certification earned by meeting rigorous standards for the most complex cases of stroke.
Lehigh Valley Hospital–Hazleton, Lehigh Valley Hospital–Pocono and Lehigh Valley Hospital–Muhlenberg are certified as Primary Stroke Centers.
At all centers, patients will be rapidly diagnosed and treated, which dramatically improves the likelihood of recovery.
Stroke-Alert Program at all of our hospitals ensures stroke patients are:
- Assessed quickly
- Given a CT scan within 20 minutes or less
- Treated appropriately or transferred to a facility that can provide a higher level of care
MedEvac transportation crews deliver care in emergencies
If you or a loved one needs critical care transportation, LVHN–MedEvac delivers it on land and in the air, 24/7. Staffed by LVHN clinicians with training in critical care medicine as well as prehospital medicine, the team is qualified to deliver medications and perform procedures beyond what emergency medical service (EMS) crews typically provide.