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Community Watches Hospital Demolition

PECKVILLE — Many people in one community in Lackawanna County spent time watching their community hospital come down. Demolition began Monday at Mid Valle...
lacka hospital demo

PECKVILLE -- Many people in one community in Lackawanna County spent time watching their community hospital come down. Demolition began Monday at Mid Valley Hospital in Peckville.

It's the part left unused since the hospital became an outpatient center earlier this year.

People in Peckville told us that the building dates back to 1912.

For years, when folks have visited their home in Peckville, Pat and Nancy Fiore have been able to say "turn left at Mid Valley Hospital." They spent their morning watching that landmark come down.

"We were just coming home and I saw the big crane coming up our street that way and I said I want to see it come down, for all the memories, all the memories," Pat Fiore said.

The unused part of Mid Valley Hospital on Main Street in Peckville is being reduced to rubble. Watching it, Nancy Fiore had one memory in particular. She brought her son there years ago after an allergic reaction.

"We were here in minutes, and they just saved his life. They grabbed him, threw him down. It was so quick. We would have never made Scranton. So, it's so sad that a hospital that served so many has to be closed. It's too bad they couldn't have upgraded it," said Nancy Fiore.

The building is being torn down in parts, starting with the oldest part. Former employees say it was built in 1912. Another section, built in the 1950s, will be torn down next.

The newest building was built in the 1980s. It's just been remodeled and is now Commonwealth Health's Mid Valley Outpatient Center.

A few dozen folks stopped by to watch and take pictures of the demolition. Most said they were happy the hospital will still be used for medical care, but they're going to miss a community hospital and a big part of the community's history.

Mike Angeloni was born at Mid Valley Hospital and went on to work there.

"My first job here was a switchboard operator on an old switchboard when you actually have to plug in. It was a really bad switchboard," Angeloni recalled.

Like switchboards, Commonwealth Health found a full hospital here to be obsolete. But patients will still come and go from this spot. The landmark, though, will change.

"It was so like, everybody just said the Mid Valley Hospital, like 'turn at the Mid Valley Hospital.' It was the main landmark here for 100 years."

The new outpatient center on this site opened last month. Crews said the demolition and cleanup will continue for the rest of the week.

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