Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Scanlon urges FEMA action at Glen Mills
She says the former boarding school “will provide much needed medical support to our constituents.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency designated the shuttered Glen Mills Schools as a Federal Medical Station Thursday at the urging of a bipartisan bicameral group of federal legislators led by U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-5 of Swarthmore.
“As our region faces the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, we need as many federal resources as possible to save lives and help our healthcare workers,” said Scanlon in a release late Thursday. “We are hopeful that the new facility at Glen Mills will provide much needed medical support to our constituents.”
“This FMS is critical to our region’s ability to address urgent and expanding medical needs in our districts,” according to a March 26 letter to FEMA Administrator Peter T. Gaynor, written by Scanlon and signed by Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, and U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-1, Dwight Evans, D-3, Madeleine Dean, D-4, and Chrissy Houlahan, D-6.
“COVID-19 is rapidly spreading across the country and is disproportionately impacting our counties in southeastern Pennsylvania,” the letter says. “Given the urgency of this matter, we are pleased to report that the request for the FMS at Glen Mills School represents a collaborative effort within the region, reflects the counsel of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and has the support of our County Departments of Emergency Services and the regional Health Care Coalition.”
The letter indicates the primary functions of the FMS would include serving patients who cannot be discharged to a long-term care facility, those in non-critical need from critical care hospitals, and those who are in hospitals and stable but are too ill to be discharged. The FMS could also serve as a standing medical station in case a long-term care facility is evacuated, the letter says.
“Based on the observed progression of COVID-19, we expect that hospitals in our region will require significant assistance from a
Federal Medical Station in order to provide high quality care to our constituents,” the letter says. “We ask that you move quickly to approve the application for a Federal Medical Station
at Glen Mills School.”
Glen Mills Schools Acting Executive Director Christopher Spriggs wrote in an emailed statement Thursday that he agrees with the move, and is glad to offer campus facilities to first-responders and other important emergency response personnel for as long as needed.
“At this critical time in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Glen Mills Schools stands in support of state and regional efforts and is glad to partner with Delaware County Emergency Services by serving as a much-needed resource for the community,” he said. “We have a campus that is being underutilized
and want to step up and be a resource for the community as well as partner to the broader region in its efforts to establish Glen Mills Schools as a Federal Medical Station. We will all be judged by how we respond to this pandemic and Glen Mills Schools is willing and able to be part of this critical response.”