Health system opens center

WILKES-BARRE – The Wyoming Valley Health Care System opened the doors Monday to its Wilkes-Barre General Hospital Auxiliary Center for Information Technology.

The $4 million building on North Franklin Street houses the management information systems department and the School of Nurse Anesthesia.

Charles “Rusty” Flack Jr., chairman of health system’s board of directors, said the hospital auxiliary donated $2 million for the building.

The auxiliary supports the hospital through the fundraisers it conducts throughout the year, such as the Starlight Ball, golf tournament and the operation of the hospitality and gift shoppes. The 22,000-square-foot, two-story structure is the latest addition, literally, in the health system’s $100 million expansion begun last year. The nearby Medical Arts Building will be demolished soon to make room for the hospital’s new emergency services department and critical care pavilion. Groundbreaking is set for next spring.

“It’s the hub of our organization’s vast computerized network,” Flack said of the information systems department during a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony in the lobby.

The building also will be home to the region’s only school of nurse anesthesia, he said. The school is run in conjunction with the University of Scranton.

The information system’s 31-member staff has moved in, said Chris Galanda, chief information officer. In addition to office space, there are classrooms, a conference room and technical work areas for the staff. On the first floor, a secure, climate controlled computer room contains the information systems’ hardware.

Patient records are already electronically archived as well as radiological data. The department will be adding clinical and financial records to the system. “We’ll be bringing them online,” Galanda said.

Jerry Lynott, a Times Leader business writer, can be contacted at 570 829-7237.

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Building houses school of anesthesia

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