The Wright Center Promotes Routine Vaccinations for Infants During National Infant Immunization Week, April 24-30, The Wright Center for Community Health joins with other advocates across the nation in highlighting the importance of protecting children 2 years and younger from vaccine-preventable diseases. Those diseases include hepatitis B, rotavirus, rubella, whooping cough, and other conditions that can cause permanent disability, or even death. Polio, measles, and other once-dreaded diseases are again threatening large numbers of children in the United States, due in part to the viral spread of something that physicians cannot easily cure: Misinformation. The Wright Center for Community Health provides primary and preventive care services for patients of all ages, income levels, and insurance statuses at its network of health care clinics in Northeast Pennsylvania. Dr. Manju Mary Thomas, a pediatrician, provides a well-visit checkup for a pediatric patient at the Mid Valley Practice in Jermyn. Bad advice about vaccines circulates broadly on social media and continues to cause well-meaning parents to delay or outright reject important immunizations in their children’s early years. In turn, that can result in needless sickness and suffering – and put entire communities at risk of outbreaks. “Parents and caregivers of young children, including kids under 2, should check with the child’s health care provider to make sure the child is up to date on all age-appropriate immunizations,” said pediatrician Dr. Manju Mary Thomas, medical director of The Wright Center’s Pediatrics and Community-Based Medical Home Services. “And if a child has fallen behind on any immunization schedule, make an appointment with the doctor’s office to get back on track,” added Thomas, who also sees pediatric patients at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley Practice. “On-time vaccination is of vital importance to provide the best defense against potentially life-threatening diseases.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other promoters of the observance week tout the collective impact that routine childhood vaccinations have made over the past century, calling it a public health success story. They frequently point, for example, to the introduction of the safe and effective polio vaccine in the United States in the mid-1950s as a major milestone. Before the vaccine’s availability, outbreaks led each year to more than 15,000 cases of paralysis. By 1979, polio infections caused by wild poliovirus had been eliminated in the U.S., only emerging when brought into the nation by travelers. Other diseases also have been significantly controlled. In fact, the CDC estimates that routine childhood immunizations among individuals born between 1994 and 2018 will prevent over the course of their lifetimes an estimated 419 million illnesses. That translates into a reduction of 8 million hospitalizations and 936,000 early deaths, according to the CDC. The Wright Center for Community Health provides access to pediatric vaccines at its multiple primary and preventive care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wayne counties. It also routinely dispatches a mobile medical unit, called Driving Better Health, to schools and other community hubs in Northeast Pennsylvania, offering age-appropriate immunizations and other services. The vehicle makes it easier for certain populations to get health care near where they live, work, and play. To find dates and locations of upcoming routine vaccination clinics, visit The Wright Center’s online events calendar, at TheWrightCenter.org/events. A parent or caregiver with questions about pediatric vaccines should talk with a trusted health care provider. In addition to Dr. Thomas, The Wright Center for Community Health retains the services of these physicians who are board-certified in pediatrics: Drs. Prachi Agarwal, Kabir Keshinro, Alberto Marante, Vijay Prasad, and Linda Thomas-Hemak, the latter of whom is president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. They, and the enterprise’s other health care professionals, are available to listen to a parent’s concerns and have fact-based and respectful conversations. Immunizing large swaths of the population is critical to building herd immunity and protecting the most vulnerable members of a community. Those at-risk residents include individuals “who are too young to be fully immunized or others who cannot receive recommended immunizations due to compromised immune systems,” according to the Pennsylvania Immunization Coalition. The coalition’s local chapter, the Northeast Immunization Coalition based in Wilkes-Barre, helps to amplify that important message and support partners, such as The Wright Center, as it strives to correct misinformation, administer shots, and prevent steep declines in immunization rates that have led to recent trouble in some parts of the nation. A measles contagion in central Ohio late last year sickened more than 80 children, reportedly hospitalizing at least 32. Also, in 2022, the New York Department of Health issued a state of emergency after an unvaccinated young adult was paralyzed by polio, and wastewater testing later confirmed the spread of the virus in New York City and nearby counties. Health officials suspect that a backlash to restrictions implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, including mandated coronavirus immunizations in certain schools, might be fanning the current anti-vaccine sentiment. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky has called vaccine misinformation “among the biggest threats” to public health. Parents can do their part to protect their kids – and their communities – from easily preventable illnesses. Make an appointment to talk with a respected pediatrician or other health care professional about routine childhood vaccines. For information about The Wright Center for Community Health’s pediatrics and other primary care services, call 570-230-0019 or visit TheWrightCenter.org.
The Wright Center Welcomes New Residents on Match Day The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education welcomed 66 new resident physicians into its four regional residency programs after achieving a 100% match on national Match Day for soon-to-be newly minted doctors. The National Resident Matching Program’s Match Day is one of the most important events and competitive processes in the medical school experience. On the third Friday of March each year, fourth-year medical students, as well as their graduate medical education programs, learn where they will complete the next stage of their medical training. The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education matched residents in the following regional programs: Internal Medicine Residency (40); Regional Family Medicine Residency (11); Psychiatry Residency (10), and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation (5). Resident physicians will begin their first-year residencies on July 1 in Scranton. The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s National Family Medicine Residency has filled its resident physician positions at the Tucson, Arizona (4); Auburn, Washington (6); Washington, D.C., (6), and Hillsboro, Ohio (3) training sites. The incoming first-year residents for the five residencies hail from 16 countries. They are: China (1), Canada (8), Cayman Islands (1), Dubai, UAE (1), Egypt (2), India (15), Iran (1), Libya (1), Nepal (3), Pakistan (12), Philippines (1), Saint Lucia (1), Trinidad and Tobago (1), Turkey (1), Ukraine (1), and the United States (35). Overall, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education welcomed 85 new residents into the regional and national programs on Match Day. The residency programs received 5,882 applications and interviewed 811 candidates or 14% of the applicants for the available slots in the five residency programs. “Match Day is one of my favorite days of the academic year,” said Jumee Barooah, M.D., the Designated Institutional Official for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. “Our new resident physicians now are one step closer to realizing a lifelong dream of becoming physicians. This day is the culmination of years of hard work and perseverance that began at an early age. Enjoy your residency experience and be sure to take advantage of the opportunities that will be presented to you during your time at The Wright Center.” The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education was established in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, a community-based internal medicine residency. Today, The Wright Center is the largest U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortium in the nation. Together with consortium stakeholders, The Wright Center trains residents and fellows in a community-based, community needs-responsive workforce development model to advance their shared mission to improve the health and welfare of our communities through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve. The Wright Center offers residencies in four disciplines – family medicine, internal medicine, physical medicine & rehabilitation, and psychiatry – as well as fellowships in cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology and geriatrics. The residency and fellowship programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.
The Wright Center Promotes Healthier Eating Habits Walter Wanas, LDN, RD, a registered and licensed dietitian and nutritionist, is the director of lifestyle modification and preventive medicine at The Wright Center for Community Health. He collaborates with primary care teams to offer lifestyle medicine at practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wayne counties. Go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019 for more information about the lifestyle medicine program. For several years now, The Wright Center for Community Health has been promoting healthier eating habits through our lifestyle medicine initiative. With March serving as National Nutrition Month, now is a great opportunity to promote and tout the many virtues and benefits of incorporating lifestyle medicine into your primary care. Created 50 years ago by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, National Nutrition Month promotes the ways in which people can make better dietary and physical fitness decisions in the name of long-term good health. This year’s theme, “Fuel for the Future,” is geared around making smart eating choices that are also environmentally friendly. When we think about good nutrition, the government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans serve as a good roadmap. They are: Follow a healthy dietary pattern at every stage of life; Customize and enjoy nutrient-dense food and beverage choices in ways that reflect personal preferences, cultural traditions, and budgetary considerations; Focus on meeting food group needs with nutrient-dense foods and beverages and stay within calorie limits; Limit foods and beverages high in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium, and limit consumption of alcoholic beverages. These tips make for a great common-sense framework, and better still, they align perfectly with the mission of lifestyle medicine, which The Wright Center launched in 2020 at our primary and preventive care practices throughout Northeast Pennsylvania. There’s no question that medications, surgeries, and other medical procedures are crucial to bettering and prolonging our lives, but it’s also very important that we take a more proactive, rather than reactive, approach to our health and well-being. Lifestyle Medicine adheres to this philosophy by focusing on what we would call the six pillars of health: Nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress management, relationships, and the avoidance of risky substances. It’s not alternative medicine but rather an evidence-based approach that could have long-lasting, positive effects on health care. The data are showing lifestyle medicine can prevent, treat, or even reverse many chronic conditions. One way of doing this is through better nutrition, specifically through adopting a whole-food, plant-based diet that is high in fiber, phytonutrients, essential fatty acids, and vitamins and minerals, and low in saturated fat, transfats, and sodium. A vegetarian diet can also accomplish your healthy diet goal. Today, vegetarian diets come in many formats. Some incorporate eggs and/or dairy products. There are hybrid vegetarian diets such as the flexitarian diet which allows for small amounts of animal products, the pescatarian diet which allows for some seafood products, and the vegan diet which excludes all animal products. These diets are plant based and provide the benefits of a plant-based nutrition profile, while providing the flexibility to match a person’s cultural and personal preferences. If a vegetarian diet is not for you, consider use of the Mediterranean Diet, which emphasizes plant-based foods, moderate amounts of fish, poultry, dairy, and eggs, and limited red meat and sweets. This diet is still ranked as one of the best overall healthy diets and allows for a wide variety of foods. Please use this National Nutrition Month to reexamine your diet and exercise patterns and begin making healthy changes to your own diet and routine. If you stick with it, chances are it will pay big dividends in the long run for your health and overall well-being.
The Wright Center Names Christen Marante as Associate Vice President Christen Marante, BSN, RN, of Roaring Brook Township, has been hired as associate vice president of the Value-Based Performance Program at The Wright Center for Community Health. As a key member of the nonprofit enterprise’s Finance Department, Marante will focus on developing and maintaining excellent relations with payors, including commercial insurance carriers. This responsibility includes implementing pricing strategies and communicating payor participant requirements to The Wright Center’s clinicians and other stakeholders. Marante had previously worked at The Wright Center from 2019-21 as its Luzerne County practice manager. “We are delighted Christen will rejoin our organization and help us in an executive leadership role,” said Ron Daniels, chief financial officer of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “One area in which she will especially focus her attention is assisting in planning and rolling out alternative payment model strategies to strengthen our value proposition.” In 2022, Marante earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Penn State University. She is completing a master’s degree program in nurse executive leadership from Illinois-based Chamberlain University. Marante most recently worked as a nursing house supervisor for Commonwealth Health’s Moses Taylor Hospital and its Regional Hospital of Scranton. She assisted in directing day-to-day administrative and operational functions for the two hospitals’ 286-bed campus, providing guidance to more than 250 employees. In her early career, Marante devoted five years to clinical work, including a stint as a charge nurse in the pediatric intensive care unit of The Children’s Hospital at Palms West in Royal Palm Beach, Florida. Since 2015, she has been president and owner/manager of Pristine Contours LLC, an aesthetic medical spa with locations in Greenacres, Florida, and the Shoppes at Montage in Moosic. For more information about The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019
The Wright Center’s CEO to Share Insights on Primary Health Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FAAP, FACP, president and chief executive officer of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, recently participated with a select group of national primary care experts in a conversation with the head of the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). During the 1.5-hour virtual event, the physicians and other panelists shared their perspectives from the field about the future of primary health care in America with Carole Johnson, HRSA administrator, and other high-ranking officials within HRSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “It was an absolute honor to have been extended an invitation to connect virtually with HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson and the primary care and public health enthusiasts she convened from across our country to explore perspectives on the hopeful future of primary care delivery and workforce development, and also potential levers and accelerants for system improvements,” said Dr. Thomas Hemak. “The gathering was a welcomed, extremely valuable, learning opportunity to share and explore thoughtful, experienced insights on primary health services delivery and integration, health care finance, health equity, and the unique perspectives and struggles of underserved populations and communities. “Such crucial national conversations illuminate the powerful poise of HRSA and its leadership to imagine, ignite, and accelerate national solutions for health care delivery and workforce development,” she added. Participants included Dr. Robert Phillips, founding executive director of the Center for Professionalism and Value in Health Care of the American Board of Family Medicine Foundation; Dr. Tumaini Rucker Coker, chief of the Division of General Pediatrics and professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine and Seattle Children’s Hospital; Dr. Frederick Chen, chief health and science officer at the American Medical Association, and Danielle Potter, family medicine nurse practitioner at El Rio Health in Tucson, Arizona. “I was privileged to lend my voice to this important conversation on behalf of our dedicated Wright Center care teams as well as our patients, many of whom encounter barriers to care because of longstanding, systemic issues that can best be addressed at the national level,” said Dr. Thomas-Hemak. “It’s extremely humbling to be asked to be a part of this event with thought leaders from throughout the U.S. who have a vision for a health system that consistently delivers affordable, high-quality care and is accessible by all.” A first-generation physician and native of Northeast Pennsylvania, Dr. Thomas-Hemak completed Harvard Massachusetts General Hospital’s combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Residency. Today, she is quadruple board-certified in internal medicine, pediatrics, addiction medicine, and obesity medicine. She currently serves as a member of HRSA’s Council on Graduate Medical Education, governor-elect of the American College of Physicians’ Pennsylvania Chapter, Eastern Region, and board chair of the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center. The Wright Center for Community Health, which in 2019 became a HRSA-designated Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike, operates a network of nine primary care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wayne counties. The practices provide safety-net, comprehensive primary and preventive health services that cover the lifespan from pediatrics to geriatrics. A special emphasis is placed on medically underserved populations, and no patient is turned away due to an inability to pay. The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education trains about 250 residents and fellows annually along with more than 250 interprofessional learners from affiliated academic institutions. It is the nation’s largest HRSA-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortium. Together, the complementary parts of The Wright Center nonprofit enterprise work to fulfill its 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. For more information about The Wright Center, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
The Wright Center’s New Talent Acquisition Role The Wright Center‘s Douglas Klamp’s plan to become a veterinarian was upended during a college trip in 1982 to southern Africa, where he saw stark injustice and soon discovered his life’s calling. Klamp, who was then a Penn State University senior, was an eyewitness to how South Africa’s now-abolished system of racial segregation split the population into the haves and have-nots. In neighboring Lesotho, he was especially struck by rural Black residents’ “lack of access to health care.” “There were not any health facilities for many, many miles,” he says. “And very few people had cars, so it would be a half-day or a day-long hike to get to a provider.” Even before he flew home that summer, Klamp had decided to change his career path. He would become a physician. Today, Dr. Douglas Klamp is a valued leader at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, where he remains as committed as he was four decades ago to the cause of expanding access to health care for low-income, rural, and other underserved populations. Klamp, associate program director for Internal Medicine, treats patients and trains new physicians at The Wright Center’s primary and preventive care clinics. This year, he added the role of physician chair of resident and fellow talent acquisition. In the newly created post, Klamp will help recruit top-quality medical school graduates who are a good fit for The Wright Center’s graduate medical education programs, looking especially for individuals with a heart for helping the underserved. The task requires filtering through more than 5,000 applications each year and interviewing hundreds of candidates to fill only 80 available slots, an undertaking that requires considerable effort from all program directors and associate program directors. The chosen physicians then work at The Wright Center’s training locations in Northeast Pennsylvania or one of its partner training sites across the nation. While embedded in those communities and serving patients, each doctor is also fulfilling the requirements of an accredited residency or fellowship program in disciplines such as internal medicine, family medicine, psychiatry, and geriatrics. Klamp seems perfectly suited for the talent acquisition role because he embodies The Wright Center’s mission and ideals. The nonprofit organization was founded in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program with an inaugural class of six internal medicine residents. Today’s Wright Center trains about 250 residents and fellows each academic year, upholding a proud tradition of producing highly skilled and compassionate doctors, and helping to address workforce shortages in medically underserved areas across the U.S. Those workforce shortages could get worse because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which strained the health care system and intensified burnout. But the outbreak also spotlighted the essential and at times heroic job performed by physicians. National Doctors’ Day – observed each year on March 30 – pays tribute to all of the dedicated people who have chosen to devote years of study and training to become physicians. They contribute not only to individual lives, but also to the health of their communities. “Some recognition of the amount of hard work, and the importance of the work, is appreciated,” says Klamp, a Waverly Township resident, husband, and father of two. Klamp attended The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, one of only two students in his class of 110 who had not gone to private school, he says. In the late 1990s, Dr. Robert Wright, the namesake founder of The Wright Center, convinced Klamp to move to this region to serve as associate program director of the Scranton-Temple Residency Program and founding medical director of its associated health center. Klamp would later leave The Wright Center to take on other challenges. He ran a private practice in Scranton for about 17 years, before rejoining the nonprofit organization as a full-time employee in 2020. Throughout Klamp’s career, he has traveled abroad repeatedly as part of volunteer medical and service-related trips. Among the destinations: Bolivia, Gambia, the Republic of Georgia, Guyana, Nicaragua, and Sudan. During a two-month stint in Agra, India, he worked in a charity hospital where common maladies included tuberculosis, malaria, and intestinal worms. “We’d see 80 to 120 patients a day,” he says. On other trips, he primarily taught and lectured to doctors native to those areas. No matter the location or task at hand, Klamp has found one thing constant about his profession ever since his first urge to enter the field: Being a primary care doctor continues to spark his humanitarian impulses. “I still find reward,” he says, “in making people better: emotionally, physically, and financially, in terms of helping them gain access to the health care system without getting poor in the process.” For information about The Wright Center, its services, and its mission-oriented physicians, visit www.TheWrightCenter.org. Captions: FOR PUBLICATION Operating Room in India Dr. Douglas Klamp, left, assists doctors during an operation at a charity hospital in Agra, India, in 1991 as part of a program for the U.S. Medical Aid Foundation. Dr. Klamp recently added the additional role of physician chair of resident and fellow talent acquisition to help recruit top-quality medical school graduates for The Wright Center’s eight residency and fellowship programs. FOR PUBLICATION Dr. Klamp with patient Dr. Douglas Klamp, left, talks to a patient at one of The Wright Center for Community Health’s nine primary care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania. Dr. Klamp, a board-certified internal medicine physician, accepts adult patients ages 18 years of age and older at the Clarks Summit and Scranton practices. FOR PUBLICATION Gambia The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education’s Dr. Douglas Klamp has worked around the world to improve access to health care, including in the West African nation of Gambia. In 1993, he served as the group leader for Operation Crossroads Africa with fellow providers from Gambia and the United States.
The Wright Center Receives Grant The Wright Center for Community Health has received a $25,000 grant from The Scranton Area Community Foundation in partnership with the City of Scranton American Rescue Plan Non-Profit COVID Relief Grant program. The grant will support a project to provide innovative IT infrastructure for data integration at the county level. It will enable nonprofit, community, and educational organizations, the city of Scranton, Lackawanna County, and health care, mental health, and social service organizations to collaborate on successful partnerships and community initiatives. It will create a shift from problem-focused to solution-focused analysis and has the capacity to provide the knowledge needed to optimize health and well-being while addressing structural racism, equity, privacy, and security. The Wright Center for Community Health (TWCCH) was the first community health practice in Northeast Pennsylvania to offer outpatient COVID-19 testing and the first to roll out coronavirus vaccines for health care personnel. Overall, The Wright Center for Community Health’s network of primary and preventive care practices conducted more than 44,564 COVID-19 tests from 2020 through July 2022, with 11,150 performed at the Scranton Practice. In the early days of the pandemic, TWCCH quickly responded to community and patient needs, acquiring personal protective equipment (PPE) and hygiene supplies to safeguard patients and health care providers throughout the region. The nonprofit enterprise implemented new policies to comply with the governor’s orders on matters such as social distancing, hand washing, and face masking. The Scranton Area Community Foundation enhances the quality of life for all people in Northeastern Pennsylvania through the development of organized philanthropy. A public 501c3 community foundation, the Scranton Area Community Foundation serves as a steward, a grant maker, a charitable resource, and a catalyst for change. The foundation manages more than 200 charitable funds established by philanthropic individuals in the community and have granted more than $18 million to assist the educational, human service, environmental, civic, and arts and cultural organizations in Northeast Pennsylvania. The foundation also manages assets of more than $31 million through two private foundations, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Health Care Foundation and the Robert H. Spitz Foundation. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 is a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021. Of the $1.9 trillion bill, $350 billion was allocated to state and local governments to enable them to address strategic economic and infrastructure investments and address governmental budget shortfalls. The city of Scranton has been awarded $68.7 million in ARPA funds to respond to the COVID-19 public health emergency and its economic impacts. Scranton City Council approved ARPA funding to be made available as grants to community organizations, nonprofits, and small businesses that have faced economic hardship resulting from or exacerbated by the pandemic. For more information about The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, please go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
The Wright Center News The Wright Centers Expand Presence in Luzerne County The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education will increase access to high-quality, comprehensive, affordable primary health services and health care career development opportunities through relocation and expansion of their Kingston primary care and workforce development center into downtown Wilkes-Barre. The Wright Center for Community Health recently completed the purchase and is repurposing a 34,460-square-foot building at 169 N. Pennsylvania Ave. The more than 3-acre site enables the nonprofit community health center to expand opportunities for regional residents to receive integrated, whole-person primary health care at one convenient location. The new primary care clinic will educate primary care physicians, medical students, and interprofessional health students from regionally and nationally affiliated academic institutions. The center will open Monday, Jan. 9, at 8 a.m. “We are honored to have this opportunity in Luzerne County to expand the delivery of our mission to improve the health and welfare of the communities we serve through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired and competent workforce that is privileged to serve,” said Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “We are grateful for and inspired by Gov. Tom Wolf’s validating, generous Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program award. “We are also grateful to and inspired by our supportive governmental and legislative leaders, Sordoni Construction, and all of our partners who made this development project in Wilkes-Barre possible. We look forward to giving back through the regional and local community benefit impact we deliver,” Dr. Thomas-Hemak added. “Together, we are building a preferred future in which everyone will benefit from a health system that prioritizes equity, quality, and affordability of comprehensive primary health care services and career opportunities. “Our deep investment into Wilkes-Barre will enable The Wright Center to grow our operations and our collaborative, interprofessional relationships to ensure everyone in the service area has equitable access to whole-person primary health services, regardless of their ZIP code, insurance status, or ability to pay. We are equally committed to pipeline, community-driven partnerships to open up dream mapping about health care career opportunities, so the demographics of our future health care workforce can better and more inclusively reflect the demographics of our regional community,” she added. In 2019, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) designated The Wright Center for Community Health as a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike, providing resources that allow the nonprofit organization to further assist medically underserved rural and urban communities and vulnerable populations, including people who are underinsured and uninsured. With a sliding-fee discount program available, The Wright Center reduces barriers to care by ensuring health care is affordable for everyone in need, regardless of their ability to pay. The Wright Center’s network of clinics in Northeast Pennsylvania primarily serves patients from Lackawanna, Luzerne, Susquehanna, Wayne, and Wyoming counties. The Wright Center is no stranger to Luzerne County. The enterprise has operated teaching health centers in Wilkes-Barre and Kingston for many years and partnered on several public health initiatives with community resource agencies. The Wright Center for Community Health has utilized its 34-foot mobile medical unit, better known as Driving Better Health, to further address barriers to quality care in several underserved communities, partnering with social service organizations and school districts in lower Luzerne County to deliver routine vaccinations, COVID-19 vaccinations, boosters, and testing to where people live, work, and study. The first phase of the new clinical, educational and administrative center in Wilkes-Barre will be open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on holidays that occur Monday through Saturday. The center has ample, off-street parking and is within walking distance of downtown Wilkes-Barre, the James F. Conahan Intermodal Transportation Center, and public transportation bus stops. It will offer family-friendly primary medical, behavioral, and addiction and recovery services across the lifespan, from pediatrics to geriatrics. Ultimately, its integrated services will offer patients the convenience of going to a single location to access full-service primary medical, dental, behavioral health, addiction and recovery services, and other supportive programs. Over the next several months, The Wright Center will hopefully be adding more than 25 medical examination rooms, 30 behavioral health rooms, and 10 dental operators to increase access. The new facility will also include state-of-the-art conference and learning rooms, complete with audio-visual technology, computers, and more for provider care teams and learners, as well as dedicated space for partnering community resource agencies. The full project is expected to be completed by the end of 2023. To make an appointment at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre Practice, call 570-491-0126 or go to TheWrightCenter.org Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, center, discusses how the new Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre Practice will improve the health and well-being of residents in Wilkes-Barre and Luzerne County. New COVID-19 Vaccine Available at The Wright Center Children and infants as young as 6 months old can now receive the updated coronavirus vaccines at several of The Wright Center for Community Health’s primary care practices, increasing their defense against sickness during the upcoming holiday season and new year. Nationally, health officials have in recent weeks reported a surge of respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, more commonly known as RSV. Hospitals in some areas have returned to operating at or near capacity levels due to the sharp rise in seasonal illnesses. Meanwhile, certain cold medications are in short supply, and officials in several large U.S. cities are again urging indoor masking. Lackawanna and Luzerne counties were classified as “low” for community spread of COVID-19 as of Dec. 8. New cases, though, had trended higher in the weeks since Thanksgiving. And, Susquehanna County’s community level is currently “high,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “As winter’s official start draws near, and more activities are conducted indoors, we hope to see more families taking the opportunity to safeguard their health, especially now that adults, children, and even many infants are eligible to get the most up-to-date vaccines,” said Dr. Jignesh Sheth, chief medical officer of The Wright Center for Community Health. Vaccines are the most powerful tool against the highly contagious virus, with demonstrated effectiveness during the pandemic in reducing severe illness, hospitalization, and death. The updated boosters, also called bivalent vaccines, offer protection against the original strain of COVID-19 as well as the now-prevalent omicron sub-variants that account for most new infections in the United States. The Moderna-made pediatric booster is available for individuals ages 6 months through 5 years. Children are eligible for the Moderna booster two months after completing their final primary series dose. Similarly, the Pfizer bivalent vaccine has been approved for children ages 6 months through 4 years old; it will be given as a third primary dose. People can schedule appointments by visiting The Wright Center’s website at TheWrightCenter.org and using the express online scheduling service or by calling 570.230.0019. Locations currently offering the updated pediatric boosters include the Kingston Practice, the Mid Valley Practice in Jermyn, and the Scranton Practice. A patient may choose to receive the booster shot with or without a vital sign assessment and/or primary care office visit, for which out-of-pocket expenses might be billed by the patient’s health insurance provider. Adults and children 6 months and older also are encouraged to get an annual flu shot. All available flu vaccines in the U.S. for the 2022-23 season are the quadrivalent variety, meaning they are designed to protect against four different flu viruses. Appointments to receive the flu vaccine can be made at any of The Wright Center’s locations in Northeast Pennsylvania. The Wright Center for Community Health, headquartered in Scranton, is a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike that operates eight primary care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wayne counties. The Wright Center provides comprehensive primary and preventive health services – including medical, dental, behavioral health, addiction and recovery, and infectious disease services – that cover the lifespan from pediatrics to geriatrics. The Wright Center’s sliding-fee discount program ensures health care is affordable for everyone in need. No patient is turned away due to an inability to pay. The Wright Center Presents Healthy MOMS Program to Participants at Conference Maria Kolcharno, LSW, director of addiction services, and Marcella Garvin, Healthy Maternal Opiate Medical Support program lead case manager, at The Wright Center for Community Health, recently collaborated on the presentation, “Healthy MOMS: It Takes a Village,” at the Family Service Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania’s National Family Week Conference at Mohegan Pennsylvania. The presentation provided a forum to discuss the variety of services available in the region and the best practices to advocate and link mothers with substance use disorder to supportive programs for them and their young children. “The presentation focused on the strong foundation we are building of healthy mothers in our community. It’s a collaborative effort among many organizations across nine counties,” said Kolcharno, who also addressed basic facts about addiction, and how mothers can connect with the program and how they gain independent through their own recovery. The Wright Center for Community Health, for example, recently collaborated with Maternal and Family Health Services to share a lactation specialist who serves as a mother’s coach after the child is born. “This population wouldn’t normally get a lactation coach,” said Kolcharno, who is a key leader of the Healthy Maternal Opiate Medical Support program. “A lot of insurance companies will not cover this service. By offering it, we are seeing healthier babies and mothers.” The Healthy MOMS program is part of The Wright Center for Community Health’s Opioid Use Disorder Center. It was co-founded with multiple agencies to assist women who are pregnant and have a substance use disorder. Healthy MOMS provides prenatal, perinatal, and postpartum care, including medication-assisted treatment to women coping with a substance use disorder. The program strives to break the stigma associated with addiction while building patients’ self-esteem during and after their pregnancies, ideally engaging them in recovery support services. Currently there are 149 mothers active in the program, with 204 babies born through the program. Since its founding, more than 300 mothers have participated in the program. For more information about the Healthy MOMS program, call 570.995.7821 or text healthymoms to 555888. Information about the program and its partners is also available at healthymoms.org. Go to thewrightcenter.org/services for information about the Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence. New Pediatrician joins The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice Dr. Prachi Agarwal, a board-certified pediatrician, will join The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave., beginning in January. The Wright Center for Community Health provides primary and specialty care for children of all ages, from newborn check-ups and well visits to vaccinations, school physicals, and overall anticipatory guidance through a child’s developmental stages. Dr. Agarwal earned her medical degree at KLE University, Belgaum, India. She completed her pediatric training and graduated with excellence from Rutgers Health/Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, New Jersey. She is an active member of the American Academy of Pediatrics and possesses certifications from the Brazelton Touchpoint Parenting Program and the Neonatal Resuscitation Program. The Wright Center was designated a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike in 2019. It offers high-quality, affordable integrated health care at its network of primary care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania, providing patients with the convenience of going to one location to access medical, dental, and behavioral and mental health care, plus addiction treatment and other supportive services. To schedule an appointment with Dr. Agarwal at the Scranton Practice, go to TheWrightCenter.org to use the express online scheduling system or call 570-941-0630.
The Wright Center Awarded Trio of Grants From City of Scranton The Wright Center for Community Health recently received three grant awards from the city of Scranton as part of a distribution of federal funds to promote residents’ recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Scranton awarded a total of about $1 million in wellness grants to nearly two-dozen area nonprofits. City officials focused this round of grant giving on three categories: drug overdose prevention, behavioral health and violence prevention, and wellness. The Wright Center – a Scranton-based provider of primary health care and preventive services – is active in all three of the targeted categories and was chosen to receive a combined $145,000 in grant support. The organization will inject those public resources into three ongoing programs to benefit patients, health care providers, and the larger community. The first award, to be used for overdose and prevention programs, will enable The Wright Center for Community Health to further engage community partners and patients in the services of its state-designated Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence. A portion of the $50,000 grant will provide community training on the topics of substance use disorder, medication-assisted treatment, and stigma surrounding addiction. Among the intended recipients of the educational sessions are law enforcement professionals, first responders, and government officials. This grant also will assist with harm reduction and long-term recovery support services in the region, which aim to reduce fatal overdoses. The second award of $50,000 will be used to enhance The Wright Center for Community Health’s existing resiliency and wellness programming. Its Lifestyle Medicine service line will be integrated more fully into primary health care services, with the intent of engaging more high-risk patients in programs designed to help them positively adjust their behaviors. A prime focus will be on treating obesity as a chronic disease that contributes to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea, cancer, and overall premature death. The third award, in the amount of $45,000, will underwrite The Wright Center’s participation in a training program conducted by the New York-based Sanctuary Institute to promote employee wellness and create a supportive, trauma-informed environment for the benefit of the organization’s workforce, patients, and the broader community. The institute’s training model is seen by many as a needed antidote to the intensified pressure on health care workers and others brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Scranton’s mayor announced the wellness grant distributions at a news conference on Nov. 22. The funds are part of $68.7 million that Scranton had received through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to address the pandemic’s economic and health-related fallout on city residents. All applications were reviewed by the city, including by its public health coordinator, Dr. Rachna Saxena, and compliance consultants from Anser Advisory to ensure that organizations were not receiving duplicate federal benefits, per the guidelines set by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Applications were also reviewed for project sustainability, service to city residents, and more. “The thoughtful and generous allocation of American Rescue Plan Act funds by Scranton City Council will support our mission-driven efforts to improve the health and well-being of the patients and communities we humbly serve,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “Thanks to our local and federal officials,” she said, “these resources will help us to expand and augment our ongoing efforts to address the opioid epidemic and empower recovery, our resiliency and wellness programming, and trauma-informed training for our governing board, executive management, health care providers, interprofessional learners, and patients.” The Wright Center for Community Health operates a network of primary care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania, three located in the city, providing access to affordable, nondiscriminatory, high-quality services including medical, dental, and behavioral health care. The nonprofit enterprise also maintains an administrative and educational hub in Scranton’s South Side neighborhood.
The Wright Center News Wright Center Names Dr. Shah as Medical Director of Behavioral Health, Associate Program Director, and Physician Faculty A board-certified psychiatrist with more than 35 years of experience at clinical sites in Northeast Pennsylvania has joined The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education where she will train and educate the next generation of psychiatrists and provide behavioral health services to adult patients. A graduate of M.P. Shah Government Medical College in India, Dr. Jyoti R. Shah is an American Psychiatric Association Distinguished Life Fellow. She completed a psychiatry residency, including a rotation in neurology, at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York. She will provide patient care, and education and administrative leadership as the medical director of The Wright Center for Community Health Behavioral Health Service Line. She will begin seeing patients ages 18 and above at the Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave., Scranton, on Nov. 1. In addition, she will serve the nonprofit enterprise as a psychiatric physician faculty member and as the associate program director of the Psychiatry Residency. Shah will provide administrative and clinical oversight of the educational program, ensuring high-quality patient care, teaching and supervision of resident physicians. Overall, more than 250 resident physicians are enrolled in The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s five residency and three fellowship programs. For the past two years, Shah has served as the medical director of Behavioral Health Services at Commonwealth Health First Hospital in Kingston after being the assistant medical director for nine years. She began her professional career in the local health care system at the VA Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre as a staff psychiatrist, before assuming the roles of acting chief and chief of the psychiatric service line for 20 years. Shah is also active in her profession and community. She is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, and served as vice chairperson and chairperson of the National Alliance for Mentally Ill Keystone Pennsylvania chapter and president of the Pennsylvania Psychiatry Society. At King’s College in Wilkes-Barre and Penn State School of Health and Sciences in Williamsport, she held academic appointments in clinical medicine. Patients can schedule appointments for behavioral health services by directly calling the primary care practice. To find a convenient location, go to The Wright Center’s website at TheWrightCenter.org. To learn more about The Wright Center’s mission and integrated health care services, call 570-230-0019. Wright Center Employee Receives Apex Honor for Customer Service Excellence The Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers has presented Kari Machelli, R.N., the associate vice president of Integrated Primary Health Services at The Wright Center for Community Healthy, with the Awards for Primary Care Excellence (APEX) in recognition of her stellar customer service. An APEX represents the pinnacle of service, quality, innovation and achievement in primary health care. The association bestows its awards in 10 categories to recognize the outstanding efforts of dedicated individuals and teams who work or volunteer for Pennsylvania’s community health centers. Machelli received the award at the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers Annual Conference and Clinical Summit in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. “Kari Machelli ranks as one of the most competent and patient- and family-centered nurses I have ever encountered,” says Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “She is most deserving of the APEX Customer Service Award, and our organization is privileged to have her on our team. My career continues to be tremendously enriched by the honor of working with Kari.” In her executive leadership role, Machelli oversees the nurse care managers and community health workers across the organization who provide medical and socioeconomic support services for patients. She also supervises and supports the case managers and certified recovery specialists within The Wright Center’s Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence. A resident of Blakely, Machelli began her career at The Wright Center as an R.N. care manager and has been with the organization for more than 20 years. She earned her nursing degree from The Pennsylvania State University and remains passionately committed to providing high-quality, compassionate, whole-person care to each of her patients and their families. She and her husband, Anthony, have two daughters, Mia and Gianna. Patients can schedule appointments at the most convenient location in Northeast Pennsylvania by using the express online scheduling service at TheWrightCenter.org. To learn more about The Wright Center’s mission and integrated health care services, call 570-230-0019 or visit TheWrightCenter.org.
