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Patient & Visitor Information

Note: Due to COVID-19, we’ve updated our visitation policy. Check our current visitation policy before visiting this facility.

Just ask
If you have any questions about your healthcare, your room, the hospital, or our services, just ask your nurse or patient liaison.  

We know it can be hard to be away from home — and in a hospital — for any reason. We make sure that we listen to every request or question and then get answers. Talk to us. The goal of every Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital employee is to make your experience as a patient or visitor as pleasant as possible.  

The Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital Patient Handbook will give you most of the information you need to know in an easy-to-read format.

Admission: Registration hours
Monday – Friday, 7 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.  

Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital Level I PICU
The Level I pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital provides the highest level of medical care for seriously ill or injured children in central and northeast Pennsylvania and beyond.  

Equipped with the latest technology, it is staffed by fellowship-trained pediatric critical care specialists, surgeons and subspecialists, as well as pediatric critical care nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, therapists and other health professionals who serve the unique needs of children 24 hours a day.  

The PICU provides young patients with healthcare that equals or surpasses that of the best dedicated children’s hospitals anywhere in the country. Since 1981, the professionals at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital have been saving lives and helping children get back to their families, schools, and playgrounds as quickly as possible.  

Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital Level IV NICU
The hospital’s Level IV neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) offers the highest possible level of intensive care for newborns with complex medical conditions or those who require surgery.  

It is staffed by fellowship-trained neonatologists and more than two dozen pediatric specialists and subspecialists. The neonatologists here are board certified and work closely with our pediatric specialists and pediatric surgeons — something families can’t always find at neonatal units that are not in major city hospitals.  

NICU teams at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital are available 24/7 to care for babies born prematurely or facing a wide range of life-threatening conditions. For babies who are most at risk, our Level IV NICU is a safe place to recover and thrive.  

Child Life Services
Child Life specialists at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital are dedicated to making a child’s time with us more understandable and less intimidating.

Being familiar with their surroundings can help children relax and be less fearful. That’s good for them, their siblings and you, their caregivers.

Members of the Child Life team can help explain procedures and the medical equipment used at the hospital. They’ll help children cope with pain, discomfort or anxiety.

They also plan age-appropriate activities for children and siblings, including pet therapy (Tender Paws), shows by visiting performers, movies and other special pastimes. In addition, the team can help caregivers deal with the social and emotional impact illness may have on the extended family. To learn more about Child Life Services call 570-271-5661.

Well Child Guide
Being a new parent can be daunting in many ways. You have questions about your baby’s health and development — and they don’t always occur to you when you are at the pediatrician’s office.

That’s why Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital has a detailed online “Well Child Guide” where parents can see what kind of developmental milestones they can expect their newest family member to achieve.

Spanning a child’s life from 2 weeks to 3 years, the interactive guide gives new parents an easy-to-read list of behaviors to watch for, as well as information on when immunizations are due, daily habits of young children, feeding, biological functions, sleep schedules and safety tips.

It is a useful tool not only for making sure that your child is progressing, but also to help you organize your thoughts and questions for those times when you are seeing your baby’s pediatrician or other healthcare professional.

Ronald McDonald House of Danville
The Ronald McDonald House of Danville is a privately owned nonprofit corporation and is located on the Geisinger Medical Center campus next to the Knapper Clinic. The Ronald McDonald House of Danville is a home away from home for families of hospitalized children, or those receiving extensive outpatient care for cancer and other illnesses in area hospitals.

You have the option include with your child’s photo the date and time the baby arrives, along with length and weight. A personalized message may also be created. You may also download the image if you wish. There is no cost for having the photo taken.

PRAYERnet
Geisinger PrayerNet is a website offering patients and their families comfort, support and prayer from a network of volunteers around the world. With PrayerNet, it’s easy to request prayer, share your prayer requests with loved ones around the world, or pray for others. The site is free to use, nondenominational and respectful of patient and family privacy. 

Visitors
Visitors are often good medicine for patients. Family and friends are encouraged to visit patients during their hospital stay. There may be some restrictions, based on the patient’s safety, well-being or medical condition. (See Geisinger's equal visitation policy.)  

For the welfare of patients, the nursing staff may request that visitors leave a patient room at any time. Patients may also request the restriction of visitors simply by notifying the nursing staff.

Visitation guidelines

  • Do not visit the hospital if you have any signs of illness, such as a cough, runny nose or fever. If you are not sure whether it is safe to visit, please ask your doctor or one of the nurses caring for patient you want to visit.
  • Quiet hours are from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. each day.
  • Ask the patient's nurse if it is OK to bring plants or flowers to a patient’s room. In some cases, they can increase the risk for infection for patients.
  • Visitors may be asked to leave the hospital if they become disruptive or interfere with the comfort or care of patients, other visitors or staff.
  • Alcohol is not allowed on the GMC campus. 

Tobacco use
Geisinger cares about your health and the health of our employees. The entire Geisinger Medical Center campus, including Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital, is a tobacco-free environment.

Weapons policy
For the safety of patients, visitors and employees, Geisinger prohibits the possession or carrying of weapons, firearms/handguns within all Geisinger owned or leased facilities and parking lots, as well as in the performance of all employment duties, including off site patient visits. This prohibition includes private citizens and staff members with carry permits. Lethal weapons are defined as any weapon, firearm, handgun or other device calculated to inflict serious bodily injury or death. Knives with a blade length greater than three inches are considered weapons under this policy.