Hanover Hospital Offers Inclement Weather Hotline

Hanover Hospital offers an Inclement Weather Hotline  (717) 646-7100, which will provide up-to-date information about cancellations, delays and closings of hospital and satellite facility services in the event of hazardous weather conditions.

Though these announcements will continue to be sent to the local radio stations (WHVR and WGET), patients are encouraged to call the new hotline number to hear an accurate, up-to-date list of any opening delays or program cancellations affecting hospital programs, or outpatient satellite facility hours of service.  The weather crawl on WGAL-TV 8 will not display individual satellite closings or other information, but instead will direct the public to call the hospital’s hotline.

According to Joanne Wantz, Manager of Community & Network Relations, “Our primary concern is the safety of our patients.  We want them to call our hotline before they venture out to their healthcare appointments.”       

The volume of closings and delays that need to be announced on the radio or on the TV news crawl is tremendous.  “With so many hospital and satellite services, we can’t expect the media to communicate the various schedule changes, and communicate them in their entirety,” she explained.                       

Most of the closings and delayed openings affect the hospital’s outpatient services at the many satellite facilities, which can include Hanover Rehab Centers (numerous locations); Diagnostic Centers; Medical Laboratory (blood drawing station) Services (numerous locations); the new Wound Care Clinic, the Hanover Medical Fitness Center located at the Hillside Medical Center, and/or the Hanover Apothecary.  The hospital also offers outpatient Radiology/Imaging/Xray, a medical lab, and cardiovascular services at Hillside. 

Though the hospital remains open no matter what the weather, some of its outpatient services (located in the hospital) such as Cardiac Rehab and Physical Therapy may change their hours during blizzard-like conditions.  Programs such as childbirth classes, diabetes classes, etc. may also be cancelled due to bad weather.

“We hope,” said Wantz, “that folks will use the new Inclement Weather Hotline, and will find it to be informative and helpful.  We want them to be healthy AND safe!”

Small wallet-sized cards with the Inclement Weather Hotline (646-7100) number are available at all Hanover Hospital outpatient and satellite locations.