New Wing at St. Luke’s Upper Bucks Campus Opens

St. Luke’s University Health Network’s (SLUHN) Upper Bucks Campus is opening its three-story addition March 1, doubling the size of its hospital in Milford Township that was completed in 2019. The official ribbon-cutting was Monday.

The $79 million project adds more than 117,275 square-feet of space dedicated to stateof-the-art cancer care at the Cancer Center and to women’s health, birthing and neonatal care in the Women & Babies Pavilion as well as room for future expansion.

Dennis Pfleiger, President of the Upper Bucks and Quakertown Campuses, said the expansion allows St. Luke’s to continue to meet the growing demand for diverse health care needs of residents of the greater Upper Bucks Community without their having to go far.

“We are excited to enhance close-to-home access and bring our nationally recognized quality care to the growing population of this region and especially to the aging and childbearing age segments,” Pfleiger said. “The demand is only expected to rise as the region continues to grow.”

The first-floor of the new wing expands St. Luke’s comprehensive cancer care and palliative services. The infusion suite has expanded from 10 to 16 chairs and the first floor will also be home to a suite of oncology practices (medical, surgical, radiation, and gynecological.) “The expanded infusion center has lots of natural light making patients’ infusion experience much more comfortable,” said Mary-Kate Cellmer, Administrator of St. Luke’s Cancer Center.

The addition includes the installation of a True Beam linear accelerator giving patients access to highly advanced radiation therapy services at this campus. Patients will no longer have to travel to other Network sites or elsewhere for their radiation services. "Patients can now receive high quality comprehensive cancer services in the Upper Bucks community,” Cellmer said. Shell space for future expansion also is included.

The second-floor addition has five labor and delivery rooms, 12 post-partum rooms, four triage rooms, six NICU beds, and two C-section suites.

“The addition of the Women & Babies Pavilion allows patients who choose St. Luke’s as their OB/GYN to deliver in their community at a state-of-the-art facility with private, spacious rooms, and, if needed a Level II NICU,” said Nicole Nye, Administrator at St. Luke’s OB/GYN. “The opening of the Women & Babies Pavilion allows us to expand OB/GYN services to Bucks and Montgomery Counties and surrounding areas that will enhance their quality of care. It clearly shows St. Luke’s commitment to ‘delivering’ even more for the community.”

The third floor is shelled space to accommodate future growth of the campus based on the needs of the community. It is designed to accommodate 36 medical/surgical beds.

The campus is located at the intersection of Route 663 and Portzer Road, near Route 476 in Milford Township. Construction began in the fall of 2021 and was completed on schedule.

(left) Molasses Creek Dog Training held its Puppy Bowl VII on Sunday, February 5th where dogs and their owners competed for the coveted Vince Lombarki trophy. They raised $775 for the Mullen Family. Thank you to sponsors Karen Quinn, Hometown Town Pet Center, Quakertown Veterinarian Clinic, Perkiomen Animal Hospital, Pets Plus, and Annamaet Dog Food.

(right) Quakertown Community High School senior Rebecca Kadlecik spoke to the Quakertown Business and Professional Women’s group about her experience competing in SkillsUSA District in the field of esthetics. BPW also made a donation to the Upper Bucks Technical School SkillsUSA program. Pictured (L-R) Rebecca Kadlecik, Toni Rubic, and Judy Guise. photo by crystal smith

Where Do Bee Pollinators Go During the Winter?

Well, it depends on the bee. But for all the bees, you can help by providing good habitat for their nests and overwintering places such as twigs, leaves, and logs. As the recent article cited below discusses, “[o]verwintering is a critical step in the life cycle of bee pollinators, so providing this habitat during the winter is as important as providing floral resources during spring, summer, and fall.”

Bees use three types of strategies to survive the Winter.

Active adults: Honey bees (Apis mellifera) are the only species in the mid-Atlantic region that remain active year-round. They overwinter as adults inside the hive and feed on the honey reserves. By vibrating their flight muscles, honey bees generate heat and can actually rear a brood in January so that young worker bees are ready to forage in early spring.

Hibernating mated females: Another strategy used by social bees and some solitary bees is overwintering as adults but in a hibernating state. This strategy is used by bumble bees, carpenter bees, and some sweat bees. After mating in the fall, females of these bees spend their time consuming as much pollen and nectar as possible before winter to increase their fat reserves. After that, they look for overwintering sites, which can be dry leaves or rotting logs, and then enter a stage called diapause, where bees reduce their metabolism and use the fat reserves to survive the cold winter months.

Diapausing adults or prepupa: The vast majority of bee species in the mid-Atlantic region are solitary and overwinter inside their natal nest. For these species, eggs hatch into the larval stage that can feed on the pollen and nectar provisioned by their mother before they turn into diapausing prepupae or adults in preparation for the winter.

Read on: Margarita López-Uribe, PhD. (2022). “Where Do Bee Pollinators Go During the Winter?” https://t ly/de89J

Article Summary: Cynthia Glass, Master Gardiner: Edited by Joan Pavlica, Master Gardener/Master Watershed Steward Gardening Advice for Spring Plantings – Many early spring plants such as onions, leafy greens, radishes , carrots and other cold tolerant vegetables can be planted as soon as the soil is workable. Grasp a handful of your soil and squeeze. If moisture drips or the soil compacts it is too early to plant. Soil temperature is also an important factor. For example: peas can be planted when the soil reaches a temperature of 40°F. Carrots can be planted when the soil reaches 45°F. Most other seeds need a soil temperature of 60°F to 80°F. Raised vegetable beds are more likely to be ready earlier than ground level gardens. Find the soil temperatures in your area on this website: Soil Temperature Maps | GreenCast | Syngenta (greencastonline.com)

Gardening Tips for March

• Make sure your gardening tools are clean, sanitized and sharpened

• Sharpen mower blades and inspect string trimmers

• Start some seeds

• Wake up your houseplants with fertilizer

• Prune summer blooming shrubs and trees. Remove any damaged or dead branches from of air) which allow water to drain, nutrients to move in the soil and roots to penetrate. Compaction occurs when pressure is applied which reduces or eliminate the pore spaces making it difficult if not impossible for plants to survive.

• Resist cleaning up your garden beds until after birds are finished foraging seeds and berries, and when spring nectar plants entice hibernating bees and pollinators to come out to play.

Contact the Bucks County Garden/ Watershed Hotline at Bucksmg@psu.edu or 267-483-2020

Our Home Garden/Watershed Hotline is open remotely Monday thru Friday, 9-12 and 1-4.

Our new office is being staffed in person on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Please call before visiting.

Penn State Extension Bucks County, 576 Penns Park Road, Newtown, PA 18940

Please mention that you heard about us in the Upper Bucks Free Press!

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