Photo courtesy GEISINGER-LEWISTOWN HOSPITAL
Dr. Lionel Varela came to Geisinger-Lewistown Hospital as part of the Hospital Rural Residency Program, but the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic changed those plans.
LEWISTOWN Back in July 2018 when Dr. Lionel Varela joined the newly accredited Geisinger-Lewistown Hospital Rural Residency Program it was like any other residency you would expect at a hospital in rural America. That is until the COVID-19 pandemic swept into the region.
Varela, who was born in California, raised in Arizona and spent time in Mexico before moving to Yonkers, New York, was among the first group of four residents to be selected to the hospital’s 3-year program. According to Varela a typical residency program consists of two types of structures one is patient practice where doctors can apply what they learned in medical school and gain hands on training and experience treating patients and the other is the didactic side of the program which sees resident