The photo on Cathy Ortolani\u2019s LinkedIn page says it all. She and her sister, Danielle Godfrey, are St. Luke\u2019s proud, as evidenced by their branded baseball caps and sweatshirts and their winning smiles.<\/p>\n
They took the selfie just before Godfrey joined the Network as a program specialist for the\u202fRural Psychiatry Residency and Addiction Medicine Fellowship programs at the St. Luke\u2019s Miners and Anderson Campuses.<\/p>\n
\u201cI stopped at the gift shop and\u202fgot us matching swag, and we did the photo shoot at our\u202fsister Tori\u2019s house on Easter Sunday,\u201d recalled Ortolani who, at 33, is the older sibling.<\/p>\n
A talent acquisition specialist at St. Luke\u2019s Monroe Campus, Ortolani had been trying for several years to\u202fconvince Godfrey to switch to St. Luke\u2019s from the large New Jersey health system where she worked as a\u202ffellowship coordinator and assistant physician recruiter. Finally, after the residency program specialist vacancy was posted, her sister applied and was chosen for it.<\/p>\n
Though she has been with St. Luke\u2019s only a short time, Godfrey says she already feels pride in working for the Network, which is the Lehigh Valley\u2019s only locally-based, independent health care system, serving the community for over 150 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew immediately that I had made the right decision coming here,\u201d says the 28-year-old, who lives in\u202fAllentown\u202fwith her husband.<\/p>\n
Hailing from Long Island,\u202fwhere their brother still lives and works, the sisters launched their careers in health care at Northwell Health.<\/p>\n
The siblings graduated from Kings College in Wilkes Barre, and Ortolani moved back to Pennsylvania in\u202f2020, settling with her husband and daughter in East Stroudsburg.\u202fFrom 2020 to\u202f2021 she worked on her house, traveling back and forth from Long Island to Pennsylvania. She wasn\u2019t very familiar with St. Luke\u2019s until a few years ago when a fall by her young\u202fdaughter led to a pivotal trip to the St. Luke\u2019s Monroe ER.<\/p>\n
The staff there showed them the kind of expert and compassionate care the Network is famous for and also shared tips with them on nearby restaurants, schools and shopping. That convinced Ortolani and her husband that this would be a great place for her to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought if the care here is that good, and the people are this nice, this organization must also be a good place to work,\u201d she explained. In 2022, Ortolani again experienced St. Luke\u2019s award-winning care during the birth of her second child, Lucas, at St. Luke\u2019s Anderson Campus.<\/p>\n
The sisters talk shop when they\u2019re together with family, citing the benefits of working for St. Luke\u2019s and living in the lovely Pocono Mountains. With two of four siblings at the Network, Godfrey and Ortolani are planning to convince their\u202fbrother and sister to join them at some point.\u00a0\u201cWe travel in a pack,\u201d Ortolani said with a chuckle.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile,\u202fthese two\u202fsisters are all in, embracing their daily duties passionately to build the organization\u2019s workforce as they bring in qualified professionals to fill vacancies.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt St. Luke\u2019s we provide excellent care to our patients and their families, and it is an honor to work alongside my sister to play a role in that care,\u201d said Ortolani. \u201cI\u2019m hiring and onboarding\u202four new employees, and Danielle helps ensure her residents and fellows have everything they need to complete their St Luke\u2019s training and become fully practicing physicians.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adds her younger sister, \u201cI\u2019m just getting started here, but I already feel like St. Luke\u2019s is home.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n Founded in 1872,\u00a0St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s 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\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s 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\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a015 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest-cost providers.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Information provided to TVL by: The photo on Cathy Ortolani\u2019s LinkedIn page says it all. She and her sister, Danielle Godfrey, are St. Luke\u2019s proud, as evidenced by their branded baseball caps and sweatshirts and … Continue reading These St. Luke\u2019s Sisters are a Picture of Pride<\/span>
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"