The wait will soon be over.
A bright airy lobby, stone work and mantles crafted from timbers saved from the original property farmhouse framed the entry way as visitors took self-guided tours during an open house Nov. 16 of St. Luke’s Upper Bucks.
The facility is expected to be open in December.
“I’m thrilled there will be more resources and a state-of-the-art facility here,” said Scott Godshalk of Richland Township.
“The biggest thing patients are going to notice is a brand new building and service model. Everything you need from cafeteria to outpatient reception and waiting area will be centrally located,” said Dennis Pfleiger, president of St. Luke’s Upper Bucks and St. Luke’s Quakertown.
Pfleiger said the building was designed with patients and their loved ones in mind.
“It’s a stressful enough situation to come into a hospital and try to find something,” once there, he said.
The cozy atmosphere aims to take the edge of that first step through the door and accessing hospital services.
Located on the site of a family farm the new building aims to honor the “farmhouse feel with stone work and beams to create a warmth and familiarity,” Pfleiger explained.
He said the development process involved the community.
“When we were talking to the community in the beginning of the process, we asked, what did they like,” Pfleiger explained.
He said the building aesthetic at St. Luke’s Upper Perkiomen Outpatient Center on Gerryville Pike, a former garden center was a recurring theme.
St. Luke’s Upper Perkiomen was constructed to emulate the site’s horticultural roots.
“What the community really respected [with St. Luke’s Upper Perkiomen] was that St Luke’s worried about what it looked like in the past and wanted it to fit into the community it was serving,” Pfleiger said.
The same process shaped St. Luke’s Upper Bucks, he said.
Private rooms include pull-out beds where family may stay with patients. Calming visual features include wood and nature elements, like leafy wallpaper motifs.
“Health care is stressful. We wanted to do what we can to create a warm, comfortable environment,” Pfleiger said.
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Emergency Department services will be relocated from St. Luke’s Quakertown 1021 Park Avenue, Quakertown to St. Luke’s Upper Bucks Campus 3000 St. Luke’s Drive at 7 a.m. on St. Luke’s Upper Bucks opening day.
Once the transition is made, the Quakertown ER will no longer be available to patients.
For information visit sluhn.org.
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