Geisinger-Community Medical Center's new tower and lobby opens Monday, May 18

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

SCRANTON, PA -- Two years and $97.1 million after contractors first broke ground on what has become the priciest healthcare construction project in the history of Lackawanna County, Geisinger-Community Medical Center (G-CMC) will open its new tower and lobby to the public on Monday, May 18.

The public is advised:

• The hospital’s main entrance and emergency department entrance will relocate back to Mulberry Street.
• The Multi-specialty Clinics, including neurosurgery/neurology, cardiology, orthopaedic trauma, GI nutrition and pulmonary medicine will relocate from the third floor to the first just off the new main lobby.
• The hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) will relocate from the second floor to the new tower’s third floor. All patients currently being treated in the ICU will be transferred to the new location via their hospital care team.
• Free valet parking is available at the Mulberry Street main entrance. Patients and visitors can drive up to the main doors via the new circular driveway where G-CMC staff will be stationed to assist.

The new, five-floor, 143,000-square foot structure at the corner of Colfax Avenue and Mulberry Street extends G-CMC’s overall square footage by more than 35 percent. It includes new Multispecialty Clinics, a state-of-the-art 18-room Intensive Care Unit and a new main lobby. Free parking is also available for patients and visitors in the Visitors’ Parking Garage located on Colfax Avenue in addition to the free valet parking option.

Double the size of the hospital’s previous main lobby, the renovated Mulberry Street Main Lobby features a new gift shop, coffee shop/café, chapel and a vending and seating area, in addition to five new elevators and an expansive information desk.

Located adjacent to the new main lobby, the 10,000-square foot clinic includes 22 state-of-the-art examination rooms and large registration and waiting areas. Neurology, neurosurgery, trauma, orthopaedic, cardiology, GI nutrition, pulmonary medicine and infectious disease services will be offered. The Interventional Pain Management Clinic will remain in its current location on the third floor of G-CMC.

The new ICU, located on the tower’s third floor, offers 18 state-of-the-art rooms equipped with the newest technology, including eICU capabilities, which allows for 24-hour, real-time monitoring of our most critical patients. Nurses’ stations are located just outside every one of these 18 rooms, allowing G-CMC’s patient care teams – consisting of board-certified, critical care specialists – to always be nearby. The ICU also features two patient rooms with bariatric lifts for patients up to 1,000 pounds, two negative pressure isolation rooms and an elevator dedicated to transporting patients between the ED, ICU and OR.

“With the expansion project’s new towers and technology, we welcome the future of healthcare to Scranton,” said Anthony D. Aquilina, D.O., chief medical officer, G-CMC. “This expansion project allows us to provide greater comprehensive care, close to home.”

Construction continues on both the 14-room operating suite and the hospital’s sky bridge over Colfax Avenue, both expected to be finalized in late summer. In 2016, G-CMC will also unveil a new G.I. suite.

The 297-bed G-CMC has been an integral community asset since 1897, and merged into Geisinger Health System in February 2012. G-CMC is home to Scranton’s only Heart Attack Receiving Center, Level II Trauma Center and adult inpatient behavioral health unit. The hospital is also a certified Chest Pain Center and Primary Stroke Center. More than 1,400 trauma patients, 12,000 inpatients and 47,000 emergency room patients pass through the G-CMC doors each year. Other programs at G-CMC include neurosurgery, cardiothoracic surgery, orthopaedic and joint replacement surgery and a broad range of other specialized surgical and radiological services. For more information, visit www.geisinger.org/gcmc.