LVHN Responds To Racist Social Media Remarks Going Viral

The Lehigh Valley Health Network responded today on social media to screenshots of apparent LVHN employee's racially centered comments. Their response:

"Lehigh Valley Health Network would like to thank the community for bringing a recent inappropriate social media post to our attention. Our Hispanic community is very important to us, and the statements go against everything LVHN upholds as our mission and values. They are egregious and in direct violation of several LVHN policies, which include our harassment, diversity and inclusion, code of conduct and social media policies. You can rest assured that this behavior is not and will not be tolerated, and we are addressing the situation immediately and fairly. If intentional violations of these policies are found, appropriate action will be taken."

Hazleton News 1 was able to find two recent posts circulating Facebook concerning LVHN employees. The first employee will be referred to as Employee 1. 

Employee 1's Facebook profile lists her as a respiratory therapist at Lehigh Valley Hospital Hazleton. Employee 1 allegedly commented the following on a social media post: "I know no Hispanics that are good. I don't trust any of them due to many things that happened. They need to learn our language and live the American way. They hate us like we hate them."

In another comment, Employee 1 wrote things like "The Hispanic population ruined this area. Made it filthy and made the working class people suffer to pay more taxes and have to wait to get into appointments for the uninsured." and "If they left the area it would bring better more non ignorant people here where they would feel safe again to take a walk." and "They brought violence from NYC and their countries and live filthy with windows and doors open so all the critters could come in and out and infest housed with feces."

Employee 2, the lesser of the two posts found, lists her employer on social media as Communications at Lehigh Valley Hospital Hazleton. Employee 2 shared an all-caps word wall on her social media. The post appears to have been copied and pasted as a status on her page, but was not of her own writing. The screenshotted post begins with "THE LATINO COMMUNITY --DOES NOT CARE AND THEY ACT AND HAVE ACTED VERY IRRESPONSIBLY!" before going into local Hazleton COVID-19 cases. Employee 2's post touches on transients from NYC and using Hazleton as the hub for "their" illegal activity. The post continues into a message of assimilation for Spanish speaking immigrants who have "flocked to Hazleton", pointing out that assimilation is not integrating into Spanish speaking groups according to the screenshot.

Below are the two screenshots with names redacted because we don't want to get sued. Employee 2's entire message was not able to be found. Below is the portion available in a screenshot which has been spread across social media.

Employee 1:

Employee 2: