PA College Magazine - Fall 2022 - 19

PA COLLEGE / EVENTS & ALUMNI NEWS
Q: How have you grown in your
career?
Q: When did you take the helm for
Penn Medicine Lancaster General
Health Urgent Care?
I was named Interim Director in March
2022 and elevated to Director of
Operations in June 2022.
Q: What should people know about
Urgent Care?
It's quality care that's affordable and
convenient. People say the Urgent
Care setting is less intimidating than
a doctor's office and less hectic, with
a shorter wait than in an emergency
room. Urgent Care is the entry point
for care, especially for people who don't
have a primary care physician.
Q: What prompted you to focus on
Urgent Care?
I saw an opportunity. I began working
for LG Health in 2003 as a tech aid
and worked as an X-ray technologist
after I graduated {from PA College's
radiography program} in 2004. I found
out that LG Health was planning to
open an Urgent Care across from the
Suburban Outpatient Pavilion {in East
Hempfield Township} and wanted to
be part of it. At that time Urgent Care
was new to our area. It's a new way to
deliver health care services.
When we opened the Urgent Care, it
was new to LG Health and we didn't
know what to expect. As we went along
I would identify areas of opportunity
and reach out with suggestions about
how things should be done based
on my experience as well as some
research I had done about how other
urgent care facilities operated as well as
feedback from patients. I was promoted
and served a dual role as an X-ray
technologist and site supervisor for
about a year. Then, I was promoted
to site supervisor, practice manager,
and then program manager when we
opened the fifth Urgent Care location
at Duke Street in 2017. Most recently,
I served as manager of ambulatory
operations, overseeing the Norlanco
ambulatory facility as well as Norlanco
and Kissel Hill Urgent Cares.
Q: How did your training at PA
College prepare you for your current
position?
I had courses and instructors that
helped prepare me. The other aspect
of the experience at PA College is
the opportunity to learn from other
students as they share knowledge
gained from their work experience.
Some of the other students in my
classes were co-workers or are current
co-workers, and I work down the hall
from someone in my master's course.
Q: How has the urgent care setting
and the services offered at urgent care
facilities changed over the past 5 to
10 years?
Everyone's lives are so busy, and our
goal at {LG Health's} urgent care
PA College Magazine / Fall 2022
19
centers is to meet people where they
are. What that means is that we've
expanded the number of locations and
the hours at those locations - there
are now seven locations across three
counties (Lancaster, Lebanon and
Chester). During the COVID-19
pandemic, we offered some different
services such as vaccinations and
antibody infusion treatments. One of
our sites was involved in a trial for a
new type of COVID-19 test.
Q: How will urgent care evolve in the
next five years?
The biggest change over the next
few years for health care, in general,
will be greater use of telehealth. At
LG Health we're well positioned for
telehealth and can make it work for
our patients. COVID-19 gave us a
crash course in telehealth and showed
us that change is inevitable and that we
can adapt quickly. As for urgent care,
it will continue to be a component
in health care delivery. Last year our
urgent care facilities as a whole saw
nearly 170,000 patients onsite. We will
be expanding locations and opening
a new urgent care on Queen Street
in Lancaster city in 2023. This will
relocate our current, temporary Duke
Street Urgent Care location, on the first
floor of the Downtown Pavilion, into
its permanent home. It will be a part of
a larger medical office building that will
include a relocated LG Health primary
care office as well as a residential space.
PA College Magazine - Fall 2022

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