The Wright Center Launches New ‘Care Team’ Approach The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education have launched an innovative program to enhance patient care while nurturing the skills of tomorrow’s physician workforce. Medical residents at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education are now members of “care teams” that provide whole-person primary health services to people of all ages, income levels, and insurance statuses. The novel initiative elevates the standard of care provided at The Wright Center’s nine community health center locations in Northeast Pennsylvania while providing a platform for residents to refine their skills as compassionate healers. By seamlessly integrating hands-on experience with comprehensive training, the program embodies The Wright Center’s mission to improve the health and welfare of communities through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve. “Patients get two sets of eyes – the resident and the doctor,” said Dr. Timothy Burke, a primary care physician at The Wright Center for Community Health – Mid Valley in Jermyn, Pennsylvania, and the associate program director of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency. “Seeing the same resident and the same doctor each time means the patient doesn’t have to repeat their medical history over and over. Both know who you are, the care you’re receiving, and the obstacles you face.” Patients will benefit from building personal relationships with The Wright Center’s resident physicians, according to Dr. Erin McFadden, a primary care doctor who also serves as deputy chief medical officer and medical director of The Wright Center for Community Health’s locations in Scranton, North Scranton, and the Scranton Counseling Center. “That’s the beauty of primary care. It’s not just learning the medicine, it’s learning how to develop the relationship with the patient,” Dr. McFadden said. “It’s important to build that patient-doctor trust so you can see how their health is changing and, hopefully, improving.” Dr. McFadden, for example, said a resident physician will prescribe a patient with diabetes a particular drug to help with blood sugar levels. Now, as part of the patient’s care team, they can monitor how effective that medication is – and what side effects the patient may or may not experience – at subsequent appointments. “We’re giving an opportunity to our patients and our resident physicians to build a relationship,” she said. “If you want to take care of a disease and improve health, you need multiple pictures over time to watch cause and effect.” The care team concept is not new at The Wright Center for Community Health, which typically integrates medical, dental, and behavioral health care, as well as community-based addiction treatment and recovery services, at a single location for the convenience of patients. To ensure residents could become more involved in patient care teams, The Wright Center collaborated with its Electronic Health Record (EHR) vendor to redesign the scheduling of patient appointments to honor patient continuity. The program also means changing the way resident physicians are scheduled for rotations, which are completed at The Wright Center’s community health centers, local hospitals, and other medical settings in the region. Typically, resident physicians cycle through a number of assignments, each lasting a few weeks to a month. Now, the residents who are part of the new care teams are assigned to their doctor’s clinic location once a week. “That came from a buy-in across the medical residency program leaders that continuity was important and a priority, so no other rotations were going to supersede their regularly scheduled continuity clinics,” said Tiffany Jaskulski, vice president of health innovation and strategic initiatives at The Wright Center. First-year Internal Medicine resident Dr. Ketaki Pande sees patients at The Wright Center for Community Health – North Scranton on Fridays with Dr. McFadden. She’s enjoyed getting to know patients on a deeper level and says the team approach is helping her become a more effective physician. “One of the big parts of primary care is managing chronic conditions,” Dr. Pande said. “For example, not everyone responds to a particular medication the same way. So, I prescribe something, and now I can follow up weeks and months later, to see how it’s working and if something else is needed.”
Wayne Bank Welcomes New Vice President and Manager Jim Donnelly, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wayne Bank, is pleased to introduce Deborah Kennedy as Vice President and PA Retail Banking Market Manager. According to Mr. Donnelly, “We are incredibly excited to welcome Deb to our team. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in the banking industry which will be invaluable as we continue to expand our footprint and enhance our services. I am confident that Deborah’s leadership and vision will play a crucial role in driving our growth and providing exceptional customer service.” In this role, Mrs. Kennedy will direct and drive the Bank’s profitability, development, and growth in the PA Market. She will manage and coordinate the delivery and support of all bank services, including loans and other banking products. Mrs. Kennedy has over twenty years of banking experience and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Kings College and a Master’s in Business Administration from Capella University. She is very passionate about giving back to her community and is a Board Member of the Rotary Club of Scranton and the Abington Heights Civic League, as well as a Co-Chair of the Scranton Diocese Catholic Women’s Conference. Mrs. Kennedy resides in South Abington Township with her husband, John. They have three children and five grandchildren.
Outreach Center Receives Robert H. Spitz Foundation Grant Outreach’s programs and services awarded $15,000 for The Robert H. Spitz Foundation grant to support Outreach’s programs and services to the regional community. Outreach Center for Community Resources delivers a variety of programs to promote family stability and economic self-sufficiency. Outreach improves the lives of over 4,900 adults and children each year, and evidence-based family development programs support individuals as they navigate life’s challenges.For over 35 years, Outreach has made helping families thrive our highest priority. Outreach builds strong families and communities by offering resources for employment training, parenting, early childhood education, youth mentoring, community reentry, adult GED services, wrap-around case management, and more. Outreach is very grateful to the Robert H. Spitz Foundation for its continued support. This funding has helped Outreach advance its mission of assisting families in our region.The Robert H. Spitz Foundation awards grants to nonprofit organizations, providing support for programs that aim to break the cycle of poverty, remove economic barriers, and encourage independence in adults and children through access to safe, affordable housing, transportation, and education to Northeastern Pennsylvania. Robert H. Spitz was born in Scranton and was a 1955 graduate of Scranton Central High School and the University of Miami, Florida. Before retirement, Mr. Spitz had been employed by the U.S. Department of Labor and owned several local Arby’s restaurants. Since 2015, the Robert H. Spitz Foundation has provided over $4.6 million in funding to the community. The Scranton Area Community Foundation serves as the administrator of the Robert H. Spitz Foundation.
Johnson College Receives Grant from Robert H. Spitz Foundation Johnson College has been awarded an $8,000 grant from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation’s 2023 grant cycle to support recycling and sustainability enhancements throughout its Scranton campus. The funding will be used to update the College’s current recycling receptacles with more user-friendly containers. The College displayed the new receptacles to the campus community during an Earth Day celebration on Monday, April 22, 2024. The event featured environmental-themed games and activities throughout campus including a scavenger hunt to introduce students to the locations where the new recycling containers will be located. The new, three-stream receptacles will be placed in heavily traveled areas of the Scranton campus. They will be more consistent in appearance than previous receptacles and feature vibrant, color-coded bins to improve recycling practices at Johnson College. The new recycling bins will support the College’s campus-wide recycling and sustainability plan reducing the College’s environmental footprint. Supported efforts include reducing the amount of recyclable material going to the landfill and dumpsters currently used on campus, and turning some of the College’s highly recyclable educational program materials like lumber, copper, and wiring back to the community for use where possible.
The Wright Center Explains Alzheimer’s and Dementia Complex The Wright Center states there’s a pretty good chance that someone close to you has been affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s disease is indeed a devastating condition with profound impacts on those afflicted and their families. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 6.7 million people 65 and older live with Alzheimer’s dementia in the United States, including more than 280,000 Pennsylvanians. The disease’s impact goes beyond those diagnosed, affecting their families significantly. In Pennsylvania, for example, there were an estimated 404,000 family caregivers statewide in 2022. These caregivers often provide extensive and demanding care, facing emotional, physical, and financial challenges as they support their loved ones through the progression of the disease. Medical progress on the disease has been frustratingly slow, but awareness campaigns like Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month in June certainly help the cause. The observance educates people about the disease’s risk factors, signs, and symptoms and the importance of early detection and diagnosis. It’s also a vehicle for raising funds geared toward much-needed Alzheimer’s research. The month is also known for the Alzheimer’s Association’s The Longest Day, the June 21 observance when people from around the world come together to “fight the darkness” of Alzheimer’s through a fundraising activity of their choice. The Wright Center is doing its part via their Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care (ADC) Program, which is based on the award-winning model established at UCLA and designed to help patients and families with the complex medical, behavioral, and social needs of Alzheimer’s and related dementias. First launched in 2020, the program is led by a dedicated group of geriatricians, advanced practitioners, and dementia care specialists who collaborate closely with patients’ primary care physicians to ensure care is comprehensive and coordinated for both the patient and their caregivers. ADC has several core components, including a 90-minute in-person visit with a dementia care specialist; a personalized care plan developed with the primary/referring physician; follow-up phone calls and/or in-person visits to ensure the plan is implemented or modified as needed; 24/7, 365-day-a-year access to caregivers for assistance and advice in order to avoid emergency department visits and hospitalizations; and ongoing patient monitoring with at least one annual in-person visit to ensure that ongoing and emerging needs are being met. The Wright Center is proud to announce that the program recently received some major visibility when it was listed in Best Programs for Caregiving, a partnership between the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging and Family Caregiver Alliance, a free, searchable, and interactive database that helps families and caregivers find the right program for their loved one with Alzheimer’s or dementia. The website includes descriptions of the program, whether it is offered in-person or online, information on providers, eligibility criteria, how to enroll, languages offered, and more. ADC is part of the comprehensive list of services we provide under the Geriatric Care service line, geared to aging adults who may find themselves unfairly categorized as frail or not being listened to by other doctors. The Wright Center employs a holistic, whole-person approach to every patient at every age, giving them the tools and care to live a full and healthy life. The approach has been recognized by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement as an Age-Friendly Health System Partner for providing a full spectrum of whole-person primary health and support services for our patients who are young at heart. The Wright Center is hopeful that as awareness increases and more families seek testing and treatment early, they may see some real breakthroughs in Alzheimer’s and dementia care treatment within the next few years. Nonetheless, they will continue to ensure that their patients are getting exemplary care and that caregivers are receiving the tools and support needed to get through this difficult experience. Tanureet Kochar, M.D., is a dual board-certified internal medicine and geriatric physician at The Wright Center for Community Health. She also serves as a core faculty member of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency and Geriatric Fellowship programs. In addition, Dr. Kochar is the regional director of medical education for A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona.
Keystone College Signs Letter of Intent for Strategic Alliance On May 24, 2024, Keystone College announced that it has signed a letter of intent with a strategic partner to form a new alliance that provides Keystone with a more secure roadmap for a long-term path forward. Both parties have agreed to keep the name of the partner and details of the agreement private at this time. The letter of intent creates the means for both parties to move expeditiously to a definitive agreement, which will require the approval of the College’s accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). MSCHE has been notified of the parties’ intentions. Approvals from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the United States Department of Education, as well as the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General, will also be necessary. During the review period, which is expected to take up to a year, Keystone intends to continue operation of classes, as well as all other college activities and intercollegiate sports, and continues to accept and enroll freshman and transfer students for the Fall 2024 semester. The executed agreement stipulates that day-to-day operations of the College and its academic mission will remain essentially unchanged. Additional details of the agreement will be made available after reviews by the necessary accrediting and regulatory agencies. “Keystone College is very fortunate to have secured this letter of intent with a committed strategic partner as we navigate the future of the College in this highly competitive education marketplace together,” said Keystone President John F. Pullo, Sr. “The entire College community is grateful to our partner for the shared commitment to Keystone’s future. Over the past two months, our talks have solidified a collective determination to secure a path forward for Keystone, which will continue to offer a quality education at an affordable cost to our students while also seeking to expand opportunities for a diverse array of learners across the ever-changing landscape in higher education.” Pullo continued, “While this newly executed letter of intent creates a renewed path forward, there is still a significant effort ahead to create a more durable future for the College. At the same time, we are delighted and energized by this opportunity. We have shared these documents with Middle States and will work very closely with them on these items as well as the information required for submission at the beginning of August.” On May 15, the College submitted all of the necessary components of an “implementable teach-out plan” and a Supplemental Information Report (SIR) as requested by MSCHE. While both submissions are currently under review by MSCHE, Keystone did submit additional information to notify MSCHE of the secured letter of intent. “We are aware that there will be additional requirements to work through with Middle States as they review these documents and request additional information on the proposed alliance. We intend to be in frequent communication with them and to provide all of the necessary documentation,” Pullo added. The agreement brightens the future for the College. “While we understand the necessary work going forward, we are grateful for this commitment to continue the 156-year legacy of Keystone. The challenges that face many colleges and universities across the country are well-reported and are causing disruption within the industry. Keystone is extremely fortunate to be bolstered by this strategic alliance as we look forward to continuing to offer all of the opportunities and benefits of a Keystone education,” said Tim Pryle, Keystone’s Vice President of Enrollment, Institutional Advancement, and Marketing.
Black Scranton Project’s 5th Annual Juneteenth Celebration & 5th Birthday! In Black Scranton Project’s efforts to build tradition and community, they present, for the 5th consecutive year, the annual Juneteenth Celebration, Saturday, June 15, 2024, from 12 PM-5 PM. Join all at the Black Scranton Project Center for Arts & Culture (BSPCAC) for music, food, games, giveaways, and more, as we honor Black culture, tradition, and perseverance; observe Freedom Day; and celebrate BSP’s 5th birthday! This year’s Juneteenth celebration will feature free roller skating and skate rental, vendors, crafts, and activities for the whole family. At this free, family-friendly event, guests will enjoy a day of fun, community, and discovery for all ages. Black Scranton invites neighbors, businesses, community partners, and friends to participate in the Freedom Day celebration!
Mohegan Pennsylvania Presents Summer Fun Kick-Off featuring a Tribute to Queen At 7:30pm at Mohegan Sun Pennsylvania, Almost Queen: A Tribute to Queen takes the stage with a classic set guests won’t want to miss! They don’t just pay tribute to the legendary band, Almost Queen transports guests back in time to experience the magic and essence of Queen themselves. This deliberate four-piece band is “guaranteed to blow your mind” with iconic four-part harmonies and expertly executed musical interludes. Almost Queen’s impressive tribute to Queen is nothing short of breathtaking. The band’s authenticity shines through in their impeccable attention to detail and genuine costumes, while their live energy and precision will leave music fans of all ages with an unforgettable concert experience. Tickets to the Hot Summer Fun Kick-Off featuring Almost Queen: A Tribute to Queen go on sale Friday, May 24th via ticketmaster.com. Guests looking to use Momentum Dollars and all other forms of payment to purchase tickets can visit the Box Office located at the Hotel Front Desk. For the safety and security of all Mohegan Pennsylvania guests and team members, all bags and persons are subject to search. Glass bottles, outside food & drink, portable chairs and weapons of any kind are prohibited in the event area. Bags and purses will not be allowed in the event area. Small 4×6 clutch purses with or without a strap will be permitted. All guests must be 21+ to attend. Valid identification required for entry. Additionally, most areas of Mohegan Pennsylvania are restricted to guests 21 years of age and older, including the hotel, gaming areas, and several restaurants. Valid, unexpired photo identification is required (driver’s license, passport, military ID). Expired identification will not be accepted.
