An Alternative Care Site at the Glen Mills School is being relocated to East Stroudsburg because leaders of local healthcare facilities now believe they are adequately prepared to handle current  and anticipated patients.

Glen Mills School will be used instead as a 100-bed regional reserve shelter.

Glen Mills School had been chosen by the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) and set up in March for use as a regional medical facility for patients who had not tested positive for COVID-19 but needed treatment for low-acuity conditions if local hospitals were full treating COVID-19 patients.

Local hospitals report they have received extra beds and ventilators.

“While we can’t become lax in our efforts to stay at home and follow the guidance on social
distancing and wearing masks, we can be reassured by knowing that our local hospitals are prepared,” said Tim Boyce, director of Delaware County’s Department of Emergency Services.

Delaware County issued a call for volunteers to work at the alternate site and within days hundreds of volunteers registered to serve.

“There was a need for volunteers to serve their community as we face this pandemic together and hundreds of Delco residents answered that call,” said Delaware County Council Chairman Brian Zidek.

Members of the Pennsylvania Department of Health and National Guard will begin breaking down the site in Glen Mills on April 14.