Mission: We heal, comfort and care for the people of our community by providing advanced and compassionate health care of superior quality and value supported by education and clinical research.

At Lehigh Valley Health Network, we continually go the extra mile to fulfill our mission to heal, comfort and care for the people of our community. Each one of our more than 13,000 colleagues contributes to this mission and helps make the Lehigh Valley a healthier – and better – place in which to live.

Our tagline – A Passion for Better Medicine – reflects a legacy of patient-centered care that began with 13 compassionate, civic-minded women more than a century ago. Caring deeply about the health and well-being of their community, they raised $5,300 for a plot of land at 17th and Chew streets in Allentown, Pa., and in 1899, opened The Allentown Hospital. Their generous example was the first step in our health network’s journey.

In the late 1950s, with the area’s population booming, a group of Lutheran clergy purchased a 102-acre alfalfa field in Bethlehem and set out to build another hospital for the community. Muhlenberg Hospital Center opened its doors in 1961 as a 192-bed facility for the chronically ill.

The inspiration for our modern-day health network came from Leonard Parker Pool, the founder of Air Products. In addition to having a brilliant mind for business, Pool also had a passion for health care and serving his fellow man. In the late 1960s, that passionbecame personal.