In this edition of local health business news: HNL Lab Medicine, which operates at a location in Gilbertsville, is stepping up tests for bird flu among hospitalized patients. At Chestnut Knoll Senior Living in Boyertown, management thanks 13 employees with perfect attendance.
HNL Labs in Gilbertsville, Elsewhere Enhance Tests for Bird Flu
GILBERTSVILLE PA – Health Network Laboratories L.P., the Allentown-based parent company of medical testing service HNL Lab Medicine, says it is enhancing influenza tests of hospitalized patients in an effort to monitor for cases of bird flu.
HNL operates more than 50 patient service centers regionally. They include a laboratory at the Lehigh Valley Health Network hospital in Gilbertsville, 1107 Grosser Rd.
Bird flu, technically known as H5N1 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, recently has been found to infect and cause illness in a still-rare number of humans. The company on Thursday (Feb. 20, 2025) said it is “subtyping all positive influenza A samples” to detect the virus.
Its efforts, HNL says, are “in response to updated recommendations” from the national Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Bird flu is often fatal to the birds it infects. It has been cited as a reason millions of farm-raised birds, such as chicken and geese, have been destroyed in containment efforts across parts of the nation. Rising egg prices for consumers are being attributed to a resulting shortage of chickens. Variants also are being detected in cattle.
“Recent detections of H5N1 in geese and poultry in the Lehigh Valley highlight the need for increased monitoring,” HNL says. Its presence “in local animals raises concerns for potential transmission,” its clinical lab director, Dr. Caitlin Murphy, adds. The company’s additional tests should “help quickly identify any potential human cases of H5N1 and enable a swift public health response,” she says.
Chestnut Knoll Recognizes 13 Employees Who Keep Showing Up
BOYERTOWN PA – Comedian Woody Allen, now age 89, is credited with saying that “80 percent of success is showing up.” If so, 13 employees of Chestnut Knoll – the senior living community at 120 W. 5th St., Boyertown, – may easily claim they’re eminently successful.
All 13 were recently honored by their employer for perfect attendance records during 2024. Chestnut Knoll Executive Director Holly Heydt presented each of them with a certificate, and a Visa gift card valued up to $500, in thanks. “We are so fortunate and grateful to have this group of people who are so deeply committed to our residents,” she said.
Witnessing the presentation ceremony were center residents and managers.
The group includes employees Kathy Flicker, Mary Mast, Ann Conrad, Sheryl Edwards, Shirley Harkins, Diana Care, Michele Harmon, Ella Moyer, Brenda Bishop, Amy Hansen, Stacy Kriebel, Diana Pelliciotii, and Rebecca Radosen.
Top photo provided to Travels With The Post
by the Lehigh Valley Health Network, part of Jefferson Hospital
