After 10 years, the community’s only children’s emergency room, located at Lehigh Valley Hospital - Cedar Crest, has a new, bigger space. The new Breidegam Family Children’s ER is doubled in size and built just for kids to get the specialized care only Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital can provide.

Dan Breidegam spoke during a news conference July 13 to cut the ribbon. Dan is DeLight Breidegam Jr.’s son. DeLight started a battery business that became East Penn Manufacturing with his father in the 1940s.

DeLight’s wife, Helen (Dan’s mother), a labor and delivery nurse many years ago, recently died and didn’t get to see the finished product of their generosity to support the children’s ER. So her background as a labor and delivery nurse and helping to bring children into the world aligned with her interest and thus the family’s in supporting children’s health. They have been philanthropic supporters of LVHN for a long time.

DeLight died in 2015 and Helen died June 23.

Highlights of the expansion, made possible by the generous support of the Breidegam Family, include:

•Dedicated entrance and waiting area. The waiting area includes a play area and family-friendly amenities, like a café.

•More treatment rooms. The number of beds has increased from 12 to 27. Each room is equipped for any type of treatment and resuscitation, depending on the level of care needed. With dedicated behavioral health rooms and a fast-track area, kids get the appropriate level of care in the safest and most efficient way possible. Additionally, there will be a 12-bed pediatric observation area when kids need extra care without a full inpatient hospital stay.

•Pediatric-specific services. The children’s ER will be supported by dedicated X-ray, ultrasound and pediatric pharmacy services.

•Expert physician and nursing staff. Board-certified pediatric emergency physicians will provide 24/7 coverage along with pediatric nurses and nurse practitioners.

“Our children’s hospital brings more than 20 years of pediatric expertise under one roof to give you access to more than 30 pediatric specialties, close to home,” Brian A. Nester, DO, MBA, LVHN’s president and chief executive officer said. “The opening of this new space concludes more than two years of construction to expand both the adult and children’s ER.”

The children’s ER at Lehigh Valley Reilly Children’s Hospital treats nearly 22,000 children annually, nearly double the number of patients compared to when it first opened. The new Breidegam Family Children’s ER will provide even greater access to expert emergency care and will enhance LVHN’s ability to care for children and their families in a new space with features just for kids, including:

•Child-life specialists to help kids cope with an ER visit

•Child-friendly designs for kids of all ages – newborn to teens

•Sensory friendly spaces

•Spacious waiting room with a play area and café

When a child has an injury or illness that requires emergency care, they may be transported to the Breidegam Family Children’s ER by ambulance or helicopter.

The LVHN MedEvac transportation team is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by paramedics and registered nurses with education and experience in providing pediatric critical care.

The health and safety of a child is of the utmost importance. LVHN has designed a sophisticated MedEvac transport service where team members can administer medication and perform procedures that typical emergency medical service crews cannot.

The LVHN – MedEvac helipad is now elevated above the new ambulance entrance with immediate access to the ER and Level 1 Trauma Center, the only one in the region with qualifications in pediatric trauma.

The opening of the expanded children’s ER comes seven months after LVHN cut the ribbon providing access to the largest and most advanced emergency department in Pennsylvania at LVH - Cedar Crest.

The project included an expanded adult emergency department, new observation unit and trauma facilities.

The new ER added 130,000-square-feet of space to the hospital’s current ER, bringing the total size to almost 160,000 square feet. About 90,000 adult and pediatric patients receive care in the LVH – Cedar Crest ER annually.

The $111 million investment brings the number of care spaces to more than 200.