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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8211; Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre has been part of the Geisinger family since 2005 and is ever evolving in response to the needs of the South Wilkes-Barre community.</p><p>Since 2015, Geisinger has invested more than $20 million to offer additional services to the South Wilkes-Barre community and is continuing to improve the building both aesthetically and in regard to provision of services.</p><p>In January of this year, the facility opened a new 8,000-square-foot $3.1 million inpatient wing on the hospital&#8217;s sixth floor, with 14 private rooms available to those with medical and surgical needs.</p><p>This new addiction brings the total number of beds available to 48, with a multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, laboratory and radiology technicians, physical, occupational, speech and respiratory therapists available to care for patients.</p><p>The detail of each room has been carefully planned out from lighting that can be adjusted to allow medical personnel to check on patients in the middle of the night without waking them up to wide screen televisions and internet accessibility.</p><p>&#8220;The opening of this new inpatient unit is our latest investment to better serve our community,&#8221; said Dan Landesberg, Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre administrative director</p><p>The addition complements the Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre Emergency Department which reopened last summer and cares for more than 50 patients a day.</p><p>Many residents of South Wilkes-Barre remember using the emergency room under previous ownership of the hospital for everything from bringing a loved-one in after an accident to bringing children to the ER because they had a respiratory illness.</p><p>The reopening of the ER, a $5 million project, Landesberg said, reinforces a sense of community to the facility, with residents no longer having to drive past the hospital and away from their neighborhoods to receive emergency treatment.</p><p>Not only have South Wilkes-Barre residents appreciated having emergency treatment close to home, many staff members that previously worked at the facility returned to the hospital.</p><p>&#8220;As we were recruiting doctors, nurses, physician assistants and other medical personnel to care for our patients, something special happened,&#8221; said Angelo Venditti, chief nursing 0fficer, Geisinger Northeast. &#8220;Providers who worked here in the emergency room before 2009 have returned. For them, this Emergency Department re-opening means coming home.&#8221;</p><p>The round-the-clock emergency room provides comprehensive emergency care, working closely Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Plains Township and Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.</p><p>The facility has not only been attentive to the medical needs of the community, but has also responded to the mental, emotional and behavioral needs of patients.</p><p>In September of 2017 in partnership with Geisinger Health Plan, a Medically Assisted Treatment clinic came to Geisinger&#8217;s South Wilkes-Barre location, which combines medication and behavioral health therapy to treat addiction.</p><p>As a part of treatment, patients are connected to drug and alcohol counseling and behavioral therapies designed to provide the tools for living a productive life while avoiding relapse. A dedicated case management team at the clinic involves community resources and family members in the treatment process as needed, and at the discretion of the patient.</p><p>Also responding to the ever increasing problem of opioid addiction, Geisinger South has recently launched a Free2BMom program which aims to support moms in recovery, provide moms and babies with support services and improve quality of life.</p><p>Free2BMom will help women who are in recovery during pregnancy and two years after childbirth. The program is compassionately designed to provide counseling, community-wide social support and medication-assisted treatment, empowering the mother and her baby to thrive physically, psychologically and socially.</p><p>The care team includes a peer recovery specialist, obstetrician/gynecologist, pediatrician, social worker, addiction medicine specialist and behavioral health specialists.</p><p>The program is open to all pregnant women or those who have recently given birth and are enrolled in medication-assisted treatment, regardless of ability to pay.</p><p>Geisinger also opened an outpatient clinic at 560 Pierce Street, Kingston, in December of last year.</p><p>The $8.5 million facility offers primary care, outpatient services for children and adults, pharmacy, medication-treatment management, radiology and laboratory services.</p><p>The 21,000 square foot state-of-the-art space includes 26 exams rooms and two treatment rooms.</p><p>Staff features physicians, advanced practitioners, a clinical pharmacist, a licensed social worker, community health assistant and teaching faculty for family medicine residents.</p><p>The goal of Geisinger&#8217;s Kingston facility, according to the website, is to maintain a caring, comfortable and convenient health care destination for patients and families on the Westside. &#8203;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Mary Lou Kotch, operations manager at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, shows off the new lighting system in patients&#8217; rooms on the sixth floor of the facility in Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_gwvs1_faa.jpg</photo0><caption0>Mary Lou Kotch, operations manager at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, shows off the new lighting system in patients&#8217; rooms on the sixth floor of the facility in Wilkes-Barre. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_gwvs2_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Show is the surgical specialties clinic on the third floor of Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_gwvs2_faa.jpg</photo1><caption1>Show is the surgical specialties clinic on the third floor of Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_gwvs3_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A patient at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre walks with the aid of physical therapist Theresa James recenlty. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_gwvs3_faa.jpg</photo2><caption2>A patient at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre walks with the aid of physical therapist Theresa James recenlty. </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_gwvs4_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The main enterance to Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre is undergoing construction. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_gwvs4_faa.jpg</photo3><caption3>The main enterance to Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre is undergoing construction. </caption3><photoCredit3></photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_gwvs5_faa.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Show is one of the bedside lamps from the patient rooms at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_gwvs5_faa.jpg</photo4><caption4>Show is one of the bedside lamps from the patient rooms at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre. </caption4><photoCredit4></photoCredit4></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre continues to evolve</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Geri Gibbons</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach the Times Leader newsroom at 570-829-7242 or on Twitter @TLnews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

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