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Taking the G-CMC Tour

If you’ve driven past Geisinger CMC in Scranton lately, you have no doubt seen – or heard – the construction.  It’s been going on...

 

If you've driven past Geisinger CMC in Scranton lately, you have no doubt seen - or heard - the construction.  It's been going on since last fall.  Officials there thought it was time for us to get a look inside.

First up is an entrance to the emergency department, with an ambulance entrance and patient drop-off parking.  Then we walked upstairs, led by project superintendent Rick Thomas.

"It's a very difficult project just because of the logistics of the site. The existing facility, you're right next to the street," Thomas noted.  He says the crew, from Alvin H. Butz in Allentown, is make up of about 140 workers per day.

"We lost a log of time due to the rough weather this winter. We're gaining most of that back now. By the new year we should be back on schedule," said Thomas.

The $97.1 million dollars Geisinger has spent on the project was part of the plan when the hospital system bought CMC a few years ago.  It was a good hospital but was built in the late 1960's, according to Dr. Anthony Aquilina, Chief Medical Officer at G-CMC.

"It needed some upgrades. And the areas we chose to focus on were the operating room and the intensive care units, and of course the ER department," Dr. Aquilina told us.

Currently under construction are 14 new operating suites and 19 new intensive care units.  Also in the plans is new clinic space, new exam rooms, and a radiology room.  The ORs and ICUs will be connected by new patient elevators to the emergency room as well.

"We're gonna have a multi-disciplinary care team, so physicians, nursing, nutrition, care management, physical therapy, all working together making sure the patients get the care the need day to day," said Lisa Golden, VP of Clinical Operations.

There will also be a pedestrian sky bridge connecting the hospital to the parking garage.

As for what happens to the current hospital facility, officials say it's not going anywhere.  It'll be re-purposed, although they don't have specific plans yet.  The main, goal, according to Dr. Aquilina, is to let people know the quality of care that will be available right here.

"We can take care of their most serious needs right here in Scranton," he said.

As for when the project will be completed, it's happening in phases.  The new main lobby should be open by next April, the new ICUs and clinics next June, and the new operating suites by next October.

 

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