DANVILLE– As counties in the Valley continue to move into the “yellow” phase of the Governor’s COVID-19 mitigation plan, Geisinger says they are managing the capacity across their system very tightly.
President and CEO, Dr. Jaewon Ryu, says one of the advantages of being a multi-campus system is that they have the opportunity and ability to cross-leverage their capacity, as it relates to beds, staffing, and supplies, “Systemwide, we’re very lucky and we’ve managed things really, really tightly and diligently, and we do have bed capacity. That’s something we’ll continue to measure and keep track of as we’re reintroducing some of these procedures and visits.”
Dr. Ryu says the phased approach that the Commonwealth is taking, is one that resonates with their hospital system even though they are aware that it’s a tough time for many, especially local businesses, “In trying to have a methodology where you color code different counties, I think that resonates with us.”
“I think the phasing nature of how the reopening is scheduled is also something that resonates with how we’ve thought about even reopening our services, as I’ve described, so I think that is the right approach,” he said.
Governor Wolf announced more counties moving into the yellow phase Friday, including Columbia County which had voted this week to defy the Governor’s order if he did not make them yellow by May 22.
Dr. Ryu held a news briefing Friday. We’ll hear from Kendra Aucker, President and CEO of Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg Monday.
