POTTSVILLE, Pa. -- A cancer facility in Pottsville was heavily damaged by flash flooding last summer. The damage took nearly 10 months to repair.
Right in the path of all the destruction during a storm last August was Geisinger's cancer facility in Pottsville. In some spots, water was several feet high inside the facility.
After a $3 million renovation, the center is now back open.
With the snip of scissors and cutting of the ribbon, Geisinger's Radiation Oncology Clinic in Pottsville reopened after an arduous nine months.
"We basically had to gut it all the way down to the studs, replace all the drywall. We also had to replace the CT scanner," said Geisinger's Lisa Keifer.
Last August, floodwaters turned Norwegian Street into a rushing waterway. Nearby, Geisinger's local cancer center was nearly gutted by those flood waters.
In the months since, it's been transformed into a modernized, sparkling facility.
"Geisinger probably committed close to $3 million to this project to bring the care back to Pottsville," Keifer said.
In the radiation room, there was about five feet of floodwater. Luckily, there was no equipment there at the time, but now the equipment is brand new and state of the art. There are only two other models like it in Pennsylvania -- in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
"We can focus on the tumor and the cancer, minimize any side effects and get these treatments done in short, few visits very, very effectively," said. Dr. Anand Mahadevan.
A spokesperson with Geisinger tells Newswatch 16 eight full-time employees are able to return to work. Over the past eight months, about 40 would-be patients had to travel to Danville for treatments, including Anne Grochowski of Shenandoah.
"Everyone who works here is good people, they're so compassionate. They're very lucky, whoever is coming after me, really," Grochowski said.