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New rules, procedures for area hospitals

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Keystone College moves to online learning

Geisinger Health System on Wednesday afternoon announced the following changes in response to the evolving COVID-19 situation:
				Inpatient visitation limited
				Geisinger is limiting inpatient visitation to one visitor per patient. Visitors must be age 18 or older, an immediate family member or caregiver and not displaying symptoms of respiratory disease; have not traveled out of the country in the past two weeks; or have not had, in the past two weeks, significant contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. Visitors are encouraged to call the hospital operator for visitation hours, which may vary by location.
				Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center
				All emergency patients will enter the campus at the east entrance and must enter the building through the tent outside of the emergency department.
				All other patients and visitors must enter through the main (west) entrance.
				The Valley Medical Building entrance is closed.
				Patients who have appointments in the Valley Medical Building should enter through the main entrance where they will be guided to their destination.
				The Henry Cancer Center, Pearsall Heart Hospital and Women&rsquo;s Imaging entrances will remain open with normal operating hours.
				Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre
				All emergency patients will enter through the tent outside of the emergency department on Roosevelt Terrace.
				All other patients and visitors will enter through the main entrance on Church St.
				The pediatric urgent care entrance will be closed.
				Elective, non-urgent procedures on hold
				Beginning March 19 and for the next two weeks, elective, non-urgent procedures are on hold.
				Non-urgent appointments may be rescheduled, or patients will be offered other care options, such as telephone or telemedicine visits.
				Patients with urgent appointments will be cared for, and we will use the screening process already in place for identifying potential infection or exposure.
				Scheduled imaging will continue as planned; however, patients will be screened at the time of their scheduling and/or at their appointment. We will continue to monitor the situation to determine whether we need to extend this process beyond two weeks.
				Screening tents at ERs
				Geisinger has set up screening tents outside of emergency departments to screen for COVID-19 or other respiratory illnesses. They are not a response to an existing increase in demand, but rather, they are being established so we can be prepared to care for our communities in the event of increased COVID-19 activity.
				If patients or visitors to our emergency departments are showing symptoms of respiratory illness, we will immediately take precautionary infection control measures such as proper gowning, masking and more while moving the patient to appropriate area for care, whether that be a specially equipped room in the hospital or the nearby treatment tent.
				Patients should only come to the emergency department if they are experiencing severe symptoms in need of emergency care.
				Please call first
				Geisinger experts continue to ask that before visiting a doctor&rsquo;s office, convenient care clinic or emergency department, people call their primary care doctor&rsquo;s office or Geisinger&rsquo;s 24/7 novel coronavirus hotline at 570-284-3657 if they may have been in contact with someone with COVID-19 or if they have:
				&#8226; Cough
				&#8226; Fever
				&#8226; Shortness of breath
				For general questions and information about COVID-19, people can visit geisinger.org/coronavirus. Using these resources before going to a doctor&rsquo;s office, walk-in clinic or emergency department can help lessen the possible spread of the virus.

Geisinger implements more preventive measures