OUR HISTORY
ABIGAIL GEISINGER
A Special Woman of her Age
Abigail Ann Cornelison was born in 1827. Like many individuals of the time, she experienced many personal losses throughout her life. Her mother died while she was just an infant and she lost her father when she was just 15 years old. Abigail married but unfortunately lost her first husband as a casualty during the Civil War. As a childless, middle-aged widow, she married George F. Geisinger in 1866. Mr. Geisinger was an educated and industrious man who in his 30’s came to Danville as a bookkeeper to manage the affairs of a prominent iron manufacturer in the area. Ultimately, he acquired a number of businesses in the region. After divesting his holdings to enjoy a simpler life in retirement, he fell ill in his early 60’s and ultimately died in 1883, leaving his business affairs to Abigail. Mrs. Geisinger led a modest life and set to work using her wealth to better the lives of her fellow community members. She was the principal benefactor of the Mahoning Presbyterian Church which still has a congregation in Danville. She had a special place for children and her fellow widows, supporting programs to provide housing, food and other aid in a quiet and unassuming manner. It is rumored that since Mrs. Geisinger owned one of the only automobiles in Danville that she oftentimes was called upon to lend out her car as a local ambulance to drive people to the small hospital in Bloomsburg. This, coupled with her desire to leave something permanent to care for her neighbors after her death, was a driving force for her idea to build a hospital in Danville.
A WIDOW'S FOLLY
The Making of the George F. Geisinger Memorial Hospital
After many years of using her finances to help others, Mrs. Geisinger decided to fulfill her dream of building a hospital in Danville as a lasting gift to her fellow community members. In her late eighties, she purchased the farm of William H. Magill and set about contracting and supervising the construction of her new hospital building. By all accounts, she was a formidable figure, refusing to heed the advice of bankers and businessmen who saw this project as the folly of an old woman. Mrs. Geisinger was successful in completing her dream, laying the cornerstone for her hospital in 1913, and completing the construction in September, 1915. The opening of the hospital was complicated by a typhoid epidemic that swept through Danville just two weeks before its scheduled grand opening. Despite having planned opening festivities complete with fireworks and a visit from the governor, the hospital opened unceremoniously to care for the townspeople stricken with the disease.
HAROLD L. FOSS, MD
A Man of Vision
Mrs. Geisinger wanted to ensure that her hospital was the very best. To find a dynamic and intelligent physician to carry out her dream, she called upon the Mayo brothers for assistance. After some persistent nudging they offered her the name of Dr. Harold Foss, a former surgical resident of theirs who was from Pennsylvania and at that time working along the banks of the Kiwalik River in the remote mining town of Candle, Alaska. Dr. Foss was ultimately convinced to leave Alaska and return to Pennsylvania to manage the new hospital. By all standards, he was an accomplished physician. Having trained at the Thomas Jefferson College of Medicine and completed residencies in both family medicine and surgery, Dr. Foss understood the medical needs of his community and the advances in the medical and surgical fields that would shape the scope of Geisinger’s practice for the next forty years. Under his leadership, Geisinger grew from a simple 35 bed hospital to a much larger multispecialty facility which served as a referral center for the surrounding community. Dr. Foss was also instrumental in creating our current residency training programs, insisting that the new facility be a site for resident learning since its inception. Dr. Foss ultimately retired in 1959, leaving behind a vision of community service and innovation in healthcare that is the guiding principle for Geisinger’s growth to this day.
GEISINGER PEDIATRICS
An Early Addition to our Hospital
The practice of pediatrics was carried out initially at Geisinger by general internists. The field of pediatrics was not formally established nationally until the 1930’s. In keeping with this new development, Dr. Foss created the Department of Pediatrics in 1943. Given Dr. Foss’ interest in training new physicians, the development of our pediatric residency program followed shortly afterwards. Geisinger’s Department of Pediatrics solidified over the next two decades, being greatly influenced by Dr. Samuel Morrison, Dr. Foss’ son-in-law, who studied Medicine at Harvard before ultimately completing his pediatric training at the Mayo Clinic. Over the ensuing decades, the Department of Pediatrics has grown from just a handful of pediatric providers to a group of over 120 physicians in every specialty within the field. The program has been responsible for the development of the first pediatric transport team in the region, the introduction of both newborn and pediatric critical care units, the initiation of a successful children’s oncology branch, the implementation of the only pediatric trauma center in northern Pennsylvania and many other firsts in our greater community. With the opening of the Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in December, 1994, the vision of a special place to care for children in Danville was realized. The Department of Pediatrics continues to seek new opportunities and looks to meet the medical, psychological and social needs of our region's kids.
GEISNGER HEALTH
A Fully Integrated Health System
Over its 105 year history, Geisinger has seen many changes and additions. Geisinger Health is a fully integrated health system consisting of:
A network of 98 primary care and specialty clinic sites with over 3M visits annually
Twelve hospital campuses in neighboring communities with over of 2,300 licensed beds
24 General and 3 Pediatric Urgent Care sites
Four ambulatory surgical centers
Two medical and clinical research facilities
A medical college located in Scranton, Pennsylvania
A health insurance company that provides coverage for over 500 thousand members
Over 30,000 employees (1600 employed physicians)
While Geisinger’s main hub is in Danville, the health system provides clinical care and medical leadership through a number of facilities located throughout northeastern and central Pennsylvania. All of the medical care is coordinated around a single electronic medical record which has been in use since 1992. In fact, Geisinger was one of the very first organizations to contract with EPIC, and many of the platforms used by this EMR giant were developed, and continue to be influenced by the care delivered at Geisinger.
