Geisinger bringing babies back to GCMC
Midwifery program new for Scranton
“We listened to the Lackawanna County community who told us from day one they want to choose Geisinger for their maternal care,” said Dr. Anthony Aquilina, regional president of Geisinger Northeast. “Geisinger is excited to provide the same excellent, innovative obstetric care in Scranton that we’ve been providing across the health system for more than 100 years.”
The new, $15 million GCMC maternity center will be a part of Geisinger’s Women and Children’s Institute. Set to open in 2019, the center will initially include eight delivery and postpartum suites on the hospital’s third floor in a totally refurbished and renovated area.
“The brand-new facility will be fully equipped to provide patient-centered care in spacious new rooms as well as the latest medical technology, equipment and staff expertise to assure a joyous and safe delivery,” said Ron Beer, chief administrative officer for Geisinger Northeast. “It will be our privilege to bring our newest neighbors into the world.”
Geisinger is recruiting a labor and delivery team for the Scranton location that includes obstetricians, midwives, nurses and support staff. GCMC’s midwifery program will be the first in Scranton offered by a hospital system.
“This is just one of many women’s health initiatives we plan on introducing in Scranton,” said Gloria Gerrity, vice president, Geisinger Women and Children’s Institute. “We’re looking at a broad range of outpatient and specialty services we’d like to bring to that market, all focused on improving the health of women.”
“Geisinger is committed to caring for women at every stage of their lives,” said Dr. Sandra Culbertson, M.D, Geisinger’s chair of Women’s Health. “That commitment includes extending new services into the communities we serve.”
When Geisinger acquired CMC five years ago, the health system made a $158.6 million commitment to providing new programs and services to Lackawanna County, including a $97.1 million construction project at the Scranton hospital that increased the hospital’s footprint by more than 35 percent and features a five-story 143,000 square foot tower that houses a brand new 14-room operating suite and 18-room intensive care/critical care unit.
That $158.6 million commitment was fulfilled in 2015. Geisinger continues to build programs in Lackawanna County including a new pediatric specialty clinic in Dunmore, an outreach program that offers pediatric cardiology, oncology, hematology, endocrinology, neurology, nephrology, infectious disease and pulmonology.
About Geisinger
Geisinger is among the nation’s leading providers of value-based care, serving 1.2 million people in urban and rural communities across Pennsylvania. Founded in 1915 by philanthropist Abigail Geisinger, the nonprofit system generates $10 billion in annual revenues across 126 care sites — including 10 hospital campuses — and Geisinger Health Plan, with more than half a million members in commercial and government plans. Geisinger College of Health Sciences educates more than 5,000 medical professionals annually and conducts more than 1,400 clinical research studies. With 26,000 employees, including 1,700 employed physicians, Geisinger is among Pennsylvania’s largest employers with an estimated economic impact of $15 billion to the state’s economy. On March 31, 2024, Geisinger became the first member of Risant Health, a new nonprofit charitable organization created to expand and accelerate value-based care across the country. Learn more at geisinger.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.