Glen Mills School To Be Coronavirus Federal Medical Station

GLEN MILLS, PA — The closed Glen Mills School will be used to house a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) medical center for the new coronavirus response.

FEMA is setting up a medical site at the former Glen Mills Schools in Delaware County, according to U.S. Rep Mary Gay Scanlon (D-5th District).

The site is being established in preparation for a high volume of COVID-19 patients.

There will be 250 beds at the site, but that number could expand if needed, according to Action News.

The facility would serve patients who can't be discharged to a long-term care facility, who are in non-critical need from critical care hospitals, who are stable in hospitals but are still too ill to be discharged, and serve as a standing medical station in case long term care facilities are evacuated.

Patients who are not being treated for COVID-19 would be transferred to the site for continuing care.

Scanlon led the effort to use the school as a FEMA site, with bipartisan support from Senators Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, as well as Representatives Dwight Evans, Brian Fitzpatrick, Madeline Dean, and Chrissy Houlahan.

"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 officials said in a letter to FEMA.

According to KYW News, acting director at the Glen Mills Schools Christopher Spriggs suggested using the school for the site a few weeks ago, to which Scanlon and others agreed.

The school closed in March last year after allegations of abuse and cover-ups surfaced.

Then in April last year, all 14 licenses issued to the Glen Mills Schools were revoked due to the schools failing to abide by codes and regulations following documented instances of abuse against former students.