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$64.3 million state-of-the-art facility has been performing laboratory services since Aug. 23

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

DANVILLE, PA -- Conrad Schuerch, M.D, has waited 34 years for a new laboratory. Geisinger’s chairman of laboratory medicine will now tell you that the new $64.3 million state-of-the-art facility at Geisinger Medical Center has been worth the wait.

The laboratory medicine staff has been conducting all inpatient laboratory services from their new 162,000 square foot Laboratory Medicine Building since Aug. 23. The building was officially christened during a morning ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 24.

The building features four laboratory medicine levels, with a lower level devoted to Geisinger’s food service department. It provides space for programmatic growth, expanding Geisinger laboratory medicine’s clinical, research and teaching programs. And it’s conveniently located by GMC’s Hospital for Advanced Medicine (HfAM) and parking garage, with connections to both.

It replaces the interim lab building, which was built in 1984.

“I think we have actually achieved the ideal in terms of efficiency,” Dr. Schuerch said. “This is something that’s been needed for a very long time.”

Ground was broken on the Laboratory Medicine Building on March 21, 2013. It provides enhanced laboratory testing, education and research areas, as well as staff and employee offices, meeting rooms and support areas.

While a pneumatic tube system was already sending medical materials throughout GMC, the one installed in the new building uses “Smart Path” technology to greatly reduce turnaround time for delivering specimens to other parts of the lab.

The building also features Remstar storage units, which extend up to 40 feet vertically from floor to floor through unused ceiling space. These units provide centralized storage for specimens, reagents, supplies, surgical blocks and slides at a diminished cost of equivalent linear space. The model provides highly efficient access for all necessary supplies to enhance workflows.

The facility also provides space to expand laboratory medicine’s teaching capacity to accommodate a future pathology residency program, a larger cytopathology fellowship program, and – eventually – a transfusion medicine fellowship program.

“Abigail Geisinger challenged us all to ‘Make it the best,’ and I think this new building is an example of how we’re doing just that in laboratory medicine,” said Geisinger President and CEO David T. Feinberg, who spoke at the grand opening. “While this is truly one of the world’s finest laboratory facilities and expands upon our food service capabilities, the most important thing is that it allows us to better serve our patients and improve upon their care.” 

About Geisinger
Geisinger is committed to making better health easier for the more than 1 million people it serves. Founded more than 100 years ago by Abigail Geisinger, the system now includes 10 hospital campuses, a health plan with more than half a million members, a research institute and the Geisinger College of Health Sciences, which includes schools of medicine, nursing and graduate education. With more than 25,000 employees and 1,700+ employed physicians, Geisinger boosts its hometown economies in Pennsylvania by billions of dollars annually. Learn more at geisinger.org or connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.