{"id":145692,"date":"2025-10-22T19:57:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T23:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=145692"},"modified":"2025-10-22T19:57:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T23:57:55","slug":"only-pediatric-rheumatology-practice-in-the-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=145692","title":{"rendered":"Only Pediatric Rheumatology Practice in the Region"},"content":{"rendered":"

Only Pediatric Rheumatology Practice in the Region<\/strong><\/p>\n

St. Luke\u2019s Pediatric Rheumatology is the only pediatric rheumatology practice in the region.\u00a0Led by pediatric rheumatologist Dana Toib, MD, St. Luke\u2019s Pediatric Rheumatology\u00a0plays a vital role in serving children with inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are truly fortunate to provide pediatric rheumatology services close to home, right here in the Lehigh Valley,\u201d said Morgan Needham, PA-C, a certified physician assistant who specializes in both pediatric rheumatology and nephrology.<\/p>\n

“Otherwise, the nearest options for receiving treatment would be Philadelphia or farther out in New Jersey,\u201d she said. \u201cIt can feel challenging for families while awaiting their child\u2019s diagnosis in order to determine a treatment plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Luke\u2019s Pediatric Rheumatology,\u00a0located at the St. Luke\u2019s Pediatric Specialty Center in Center Valley,\u00a0sees patients for a variety of different conditions, including juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), psoriatic arthritis, AMPS (amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome), and autoimmune diseases like lupus, sarcoidosis, Sjogren\u2019s syndrome (causes joint pain, dry mouth and dry eyes) and dermatomyositis (causes muscle inflammation, weakness and rashes).<\/p>\n

Needham said that\u00a0pediatric rheumatologic conditions affect well under 1% of children\u00a0but can be alarming to the child suffering with them, as well as the parents and families as they seek to alleviate the pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make sure to take the time to evaluate and determine what the children are being affected by.\u201d said Needham, who noted that there is both a physical and mental toll on the entire family when navigating care for a child who is in pain and discomfort from rheumatologic conditions.<\/p>\n

Treatment options range anywhere from over-the-counter products like ibuprofen to prescribed oral medications, to newer biologic medications.\u00a0Physical and occupational therapies are often utilized as additional treatments for many rheumatologic and musculoskeletal conditions.<\/p>\n

Once the child is diagnosed and treated, Needham sees a general uplift and sense of relief in the entire family. St. Luke\u2019s Pediatric Rheumatology is also able to connect the patients and families with resources like support groups and advocacy groups.<\/p>\n

This expert accessible care is one more way St. Luke\u2019s helps kids \u2013 and their parents \u2013 feel better.<\/p>\n

About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 1872, St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network with annual net revenue of more than $4 billion. With 23,000+ employees at 16 hospital campuses and 350+ outpatient sites, it is the Lehigh Valley\u2019s biggest employer.<\/p>\n

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. In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school. It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 50+ fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 500+ residents and fellows.<\/p>\n

St. Luke\u2019s has been named a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World\u2019s Best Hospital. It is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s five-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. In 2025, the Network earned straight A\u2019s from Leapfrog across all of its 11 acute care hospitals. It has earned 100 Top Hospital designations from Premier 11 years in a row, including in 2021 when its flagship University Hospital was identified as THE #1 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY. 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\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nKennedy, Samuel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only Pediatric Rheumatology Practice in the Region St. Luke\u2019s Pediatric Rheumatology is the only pediatric rheumatology practice in the region.\u00a0Led by pediatric rheumatologist Dana Toib, MD, St. Luke\u2019s Pediatric Rheumatology\u00a0plays … Continue reading Only Pediatric Rheumatology Practice in the Region<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/sluhn-medical-advice.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145692"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=145692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/126321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=145692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=145692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=145692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}