By Evamarie Socha
The Daily Item
COAL TOWNSHIP -- The biggest clue that Shamokin Area Community Hospital is now part of Geisinger Medical Center isn't the sign atop the facility declaring its new name. It's the crowded parking lots.
Finding a parking space has never been an issue at the 70-bed Northumberland County medical facility just off Route 61.
But now in the Geisinger fold, which occurred Jan. 1, the Coal Township hospital showed some of the hallmarks of the huge and usually bustling Danville-based medical facility.
It was the same way in the lobby Wednesday morning of what's now the Geisinger-Shamokin Area Community Hospital, a campus of GMC, as staff members and officials of both facilities gathered for an official welcome of Shamokin employees to Geisinger and observance of 2012 as G-SACH's 100th anniversary year.
All 362 Shamokin employees became Geisinger employees through the merger, which was announced in November 2010 and received state approval last summer. Employees were given saplings, and a fir tree was on display that will be planted in the spring as a tribute to Shamokin's long history and the new chapter with Geisinger.
The merger was "the most optimal result to ensure the future of health care services for this area," Thomas Harlow, named chief administrative officer of G-SACH, said to the crowd.
"During a time when small hospitals are suffering, cutting services and even closing, our proactive approach" kept the hospital open, he said.
Dr. Glenn Steele, president and chief executive officer of Geisinger Health System, said the merger will help "to maintain services close to where patients live. There's no need to sacrifice great care and efficiency because it's now close to home."
About 80 percent of G-SACH patients are Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries, said Earl Foura, former SACH chairman of the board, which now serves as a community advisory board, and part of the team that put together the merger.
"It feels good to have this hospital here because of that factor," he said.
By official accounts, the transition has been smooth. Tom Sokola, Geisinger's chief administrative officer, credited technology employees who worked over the New Year's holiday for a seamless transition of Shamokin's medical records into Geisinger's computer records system.
He also said G-SACH is hiring, looking for additional surgical staff among other professionals.
