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WILKES-BARRE — Emergency room service is coming back to South Wilkes-Barre.

Geisinger Health System has announced a $5 million investment to create a new emergency center at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre, where the emergency facility was converted to an urgent care operation in 2009.

“We made a commitment to our communities to provide quality, specialty care close to home,” Geisinger Northeast regional President Anthony Aquilina said in a media release. “That commitment was behind the decision to bring back emergency services to GSWB.”

Geisinger acquired the former Mercy Hospital on Church Street in 2005 and wasted little time altering services, focusing the location on urgent care, same-day and short-stay surgeries, pain management and rehabilitation. Geisinger Wyoming Valley in Plains Township expanded to accommodate acute care and major medical, including emergency room services.

The return of an emergency department comes with other expansions. GSWB will have 13 “newly renovated medical and surgical units that will offer all-private patient rooms” to house patients coming from the emergency department or who undergo surgical procedures requiring an inpatient stay. Full-service radiology and expanded laboratory services are also in the mix.

“The re-opening of a state-of-the-art, refurbished emergency department represents another critical step toward a very bright future for GSWB,” said Ron Beer, chief administrative officer, Geisinger Northeast.

The changes are expected to be completed next year.

Geisinger south Wilkes-Barre. AIMEE DILGER Photos/The Times Leader 6/25/2008
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/web1_Geisinger_South_Wilkes-Barre-1.jpeg.optimal.jpegGeisinger south Wilkes-Barre. AIMEE DILGER Photos/The Times Leader 6/25/2008

By Mark Guydish

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Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish