Featured image: Nicole Dixon and son Jacob. (provided by SLUHN)
One good experience at St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital led to another for the Dixon family of Hanover Township. And another.
Last October, Nicole and Nate Dixon took their 10-month-old son Jacob to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital in Bethlehem for a circumcision procedure he couldn’t receive as a newborn due to a complex anatomical issue.
Dr. Gregory Dean performed the procedure, and the pediatric anesthesia team used a caudal block to minimize post-operative pain.
But seeing her 10-month-old prep for and undergo surgery was difficult for Nicole, herself a St. Luke’s hospitalist physician assistant who is used to being on the other side of procedures.
“It was very scary for me, a first-time mom, to see my son undergo anesthesia and surgery,” she said, “but the entire staff was so wonderful and supportive, making sure I felt good and completely informed.”
St Luke’s Children’s Hospital is a place where compassionate care meets expertise, featuring comprehensive pediatric specialty and surgical care, state-of-the-art facilities, pediatric emergency care, pediatric inpatient care and critical care, and an experienced team of board-certified pediatric hospitalists, pediatric intensivists and pediatric nurses available 24/7 to ensure your child received the best care possible. The goal is to make kids – and parents – feel better.
Nicole said the entire staff “was outstanding.”
The nerve block worked so well that Jacob was sent home a few hours following surgery after observation to make sure he could eat and drink as normal.
A month later, Jacob, who had a cow’s milk protein issue, was at the St. Luke’s Pediatric Specialty Center in Center Valley for a pediatric gastroenterology visit, but was also experiencing fever and a cough, his first real illness.
They went to the nearby St. Luke’s Care Now walk-in facility, who sent them to The Isaacman Family St. Luke’s Children’s ER, where staff was already awaiting their arrival after notification from St. Luke’s Care Now.
Emergency medicine attending physician Eric Eustice, DO, ordered a battery of tests that determined Jacob had a rhinovirus, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) and an ear infection, all at once.
“Everyone was so great there,” Nicole said. “We were sent there mid-day, a busy time, and we truly got in right away. They were waiting for us. I was obviously nervous, and everyone made me feel so at ease. Jacob was obviously in a lot of distress, and this was our first visit to The Isaacman Family St. Luke’s Children’s ER, and my first time being on the other side of an emergency, and for my own child.
Jacob spent about six hours in the pediatric ER before being sent home.
A few months later, Jacob returned to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital to have tubes placed in his ears by pediatric otolaryngologist Ahmad AbuAlsoud, MD, following a snowstorm that closed school.
“They called us in the morning and said they were there if we were still willing to drive in,” Nicole said. “Even on a snow day, everyone was fantastic. It is so reassuring that these doctors are not just urologists or gastroenterologists or ENTs, but they have the specialized extra training to be pediatric specialists.
“In my training dealing with adults, kids aren’t just mini adults. They’re kids. They have different ways about them and different health needs. As a parent, knowing these doctors did the extra training and are able to take care of my favorite person in the world, my son, is incredibly reassuring. Everyone was nothing but wonderful to work with.”
About St. Luke’s
Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites. With annual net revenue of $4 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke’s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital.
Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only four-year medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke’s, a member of the Children’s Hospital Association, established the Lehigh Valley’s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.
SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare’s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency, and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s is a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. The Network’s flagship University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from Fortune/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2021 when it was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. In 2021, St. Luke’s was also identified as one of the 15 Top Health Systems nationally. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.
Information provided to TVL by:
Sam Kennedy
