Geisinger med center expansion opens

WILKES-BARRE - Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center has opened its $60 million expansion just outside Wilkes-Barre.

Officials opened the doors yesterday, showing off a new high-tech emergency department, and a surgical department that will permit more advanced procedures, such as heart transplants.

A landing pad is on the roof for a $6 million "Life Flight helicopter" that will transport severely injured patients.

The medical center is one of three competing with each other in that part of northeastern Pennsylvania. Wilkes-Barre General Hospital is less than 5 miles away by ambulance, and Scranton Community Medical Center is 13 miles to the north as the helicopter flies.

One official, John Zelonis, told the Citizens' Voice newspaper, the expansion puts Geisinger "on par as far as the market is concerned."    -AP