The Wright Center Fights Against National Lack of Maternal Health Services One of the more unfortunate trends in American medicine is the lack of access to health services available to new mothers and their babies. Fortunately, this dire situation is getting some much-needed attention via the annual observance of Maternal Health Awareness Day, which will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 23. This year’s theme is the highly appropriate “Access in Crisis.” All over the country, maternal health services are becoming increasingly unobtainable for too many mothers and their babies, due to financial, staffing, and policy challenges that have led to more and more labor and delivery units shutting down, both in urban and rural areas. More than 2.2 million women ages 15 to 44 live in maternity care deserts with no hospitals that provide obstetric care, birth centers, OB-GYNs, or certified nurse-midwives, according to a 2022 March of Dimes report. Meanwhile, numerous mothers in the postpartum period lost their Medicaid coverage as the COVID-19 public health emergency drew down. That 12-month period is enormously critical to patients, given the potential for pregnancy-related complications. This is a significant crisis, so people should be striving to play a role in raising awareness about the crucial role maternal health care access plays for mother and baby. The Wright Center is happy to say that locally they have high-quality maternal health care providers, among them Maternal & Family Health Services. The Wright Center also delivers exceptional pediatric services. From newborn check-ups and well-visits to vaccinations, school physicals, and guidance through all the development stages, The Wright Center is here to help patients navigate their child’s health and well-being from infancy through the beginning of adulthood. The Wright Center’s pediatricians, family medicine physicians, and medical care teams are specially trained to manage all aspects of your child’s health care needs. Services include newborn care, routine vaccinations, well-child visits that test children’s hearing, vision, height, and weight, same-day sick appointments, back-to-school and daycare physicals, sports and camp physicals, asthma management, mental health screenings for ADHD, anxiety, and depression, and counseling centered on growth, development, nutrition, safety, and injury prevention. Great work is also being done by the Healthy MOMS (Maternal Opiate Medical Support) program, which was launched by The Wright Center and several other community organizations more than five years ago to assist pregnant women and new mothers overcome addiction and embrace a life in recovery. The program provides medication-assisted treatment, behavioral health, case management, and social services, ideally engaging mom and baby all the way up until the child’s second birthday. The evidence suggests that mothers who join the program and participate in recovery services well before their delivery dates are less likely to give birth to babies who experience neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), a potentially painful and costly medical condition caused when a newborn withdraws from opioids or other drugs that the baby had been exposed to in the womb. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of community partners representing Northeast Pennsylvania’s health care, legal, housing, and social service organizations, Healthy MOMS has proven to be a resounding success, with more than 151 mothers active in the program today and 257 children born in the program since its inception. The Wright Center will continue doing it’s part to ensure local mothers have the care and resources needed for them and their children to enjoy a happy, healthy life.
Wright Center Executive Completes Workforce Leadership Program Tiffany Jackson, MSM, SHRM-CP, organizational development director at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, recently completed the 2023 Northeastern Pennsylvania Workforce Leadership Academy and joins alumni of the program as members of the Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunity Fellows Network. The Scranton Area Community Foundation, in partnership with the Aspen Institute and Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, hosted the Workforce Leadership Academy. The 10-month peer-learning community engaged 22 fellows from Lackawanna and Luzerne counties in a series of retreats, workshops, and action learning projects. The regional program aims to create system changes in the workforce development field. Fellows worked with leading practitioners throughout the country as they deepened networks, strengthened systems leadership skills, applied race, equity, and system change frameworks to their work, and increased their understanding of effective strategies and programs. The Northeastern Pennsylvania Workforce Leadership Academy is one of eight national academies that were launched in 2023. As an alumnus of the academy, Jackson joins fellows from 14 previous academies in 11 cities in the United States and Canada. The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy organization based in Washington, D.C. The Wright Center for Community Health operates 10 primary and preventive care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania, including a mobile medical and dental unit called Driving Better Health. Its practices offer integrated whole-person care, meaning patients typically have the convenience of going to a single location to access medical, dental, and behavioral health care, as well as community-based addiction treatment and recovery services. The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education is one of the nation’s largest Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums funded by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. It develops the physician workforce of tomorrow in eight residency and fellowship programs.For more information about The Wright Center, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
The Wright Center Welcomes Therapy Dog to the Team To promote employee wellness, The Wright Center for Community Health recently added a new member to the team: She works like a dog and gets rewarded mainly with handfuls of Cheerios. Sadie Ann Finegan, 2, is a bona fide therapy dog. She has been certified by the Alliance of Therapy Dogs and earned the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen certificate, signifying she completed a 10-skill test on good manners. Sadie and her handler, Olyphant resident Melissa “Missie” Finegan, routinely visit each of The Wright Center’s nine primary care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania to provide employees and resident and fellow physicians with a brief workday break. For many, it seems to lift their spirits, too. “If you watch Sadie interact with the staff, you immediately see their body language soften, you see their faces soften, you see grown men on the floor talking baby talk to an animal,” says Finegan. “I don’t know how many times we’ve heard, ‘I really needed this today.’” The Wright Center introduced the program in November 2023 and refers to it as “animal-enabled wellness services.” Finegan and Sadie travel monthly to the nonprofit organization’s clinics in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wayne counties. During each hour-long visit, employees are invited to drop by a conference room or other non-public area for a few minutes of Sadie time, dispensing gentle pats, pets, scratches, and snuggles – but no ruff-housing! “If people need a little reprieve or a happy boost, they can take a moment away from their desks and interact with Sadie,” says Allison LaRussa, associate vice president for health humanities, trauma-informed sanctuary frameworks, and justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging at The Wright Center. “It makes you instantly feel good.” When Sadie struts into a clinic, she often draws a crowd of admirers, many of them snapping cellphone photos like paparazzi at a Taylor Swift sighting. Fans gawk and talk. Look at her long eyelashes. Is that a new bandana she’s wearing? Oh my gosh, she has a Wright Center ID badge with her name on it! But beneath the fuss and fun – including the distribution of dog treats – lies a serious purpose for the pooch’s presence. The health care industry is coping with workforce challenges, including employee burnout and high turnover. The troubles intensified in hospitals and other health care settings during the COVID-19 outbreak. But they reflect a malaise impacting many modern U.S. workplaces in which people wrestle with anxiety, depression, and other behavioral health issues that can contribute to physical illness as well as poor productivity and job dissatisfaction. The Wright Center’s leadership team has introduced a range of long- and short-term initiatives, each demonstrating its commitment to promoting employee wellness. These efforts include ongoing participation in the Sanctuary Institute’s model for organizational change, which gives workers the tools to improve their daily interactions with colleagues and others and to create a safer, trauma-informed workplace. Employees can also access a whole-person wellness blog, mindfulness sessions, art sessions, and other support, such as Sadie’s visits. The intent is to foster good health and resiliency among The Wright Center’s staff and the many professionals who train within its clinics, including resident and fellow physicians, physician assistants, medical assistants, and others. “If our clinicians are not well, how do we provide the best care for our patients? We simply cannot,” explains LaRussa. “So, allowing even a few minutes during a workday for some of these wellness initiatives to help people process – or to help them relax or whatever they might need – is really beneficial.” ‘Quick fix to a bad day’ As a stress-buster, Sadie might be just what the doctor ordered. Her handler describes her as “72 pounds of teddy bear.” The goldendoodle (a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle) has floppy ears, a huge button nose, and a molasses-sweet disposition, the combination of which puts smiles on the faces of almost everyone she meets. During her visits at The Wright Center, efforts are made to not disturb patient care or infringe on employees who have pet allergies or don’t enjoy animal encounters for other reasons. For most people, she’s a dose of joy. “Sadie is a quick fix to a bad day,” says Finegan. “She brings that tail-wagging, panting, unconditional love that just makes everything OK.” Finegan, 48, is a longtime patient of Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. Finegan initially asked to bring the dog to her doctor’s appointments at the Mid Valley Practice in Jermyn purely for her personal support. Later, the two women discussed possibly engaging Sadie in a bigger mission. “It just kind of snowballed into Sadie doing staff support,” Finegan says. Elsewhere, therapy dogs have been used on college campuses and in schools to decrease students’ stress before pressure-filled exams. Similarly, the Lehigh Valley Health Network has enlisted therapy dogs at its COVID-19 vaccine clinic to ease the minds of worried children, and the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia sometimes opens its campus doors to a therapy dog to spread positivity among staff and patients. Beyond health care settings, therapy dogs have been spotted serving in airports. At the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport, for example, participants in the all-volunteer Therapy Animals Integrating Less Stress, or TAILS, program serve to decrease humans’ tensions while they wait for takeoff. ‘An amazing contributor’ Sadie might expand her scope of service to more places in the future, Finegan says. For now, however, the duo is focused on learning the ins and outs of The Wright Center’s primary and preventive care clinics, such as which employees will permit Sadie’s face-licking “kisses” and which prefer to keep their distance. Sadie is one of three dogs in the Finegan home. Around family members, she can become playful and excited. But when Finegan pulls up to a Wright Center clinic with Sadie for their contracted duties and says the word “work,” the dog knows it’s time to be calm and extra attentive. Sadie recognizes commands such as “leave it” – to disregard a pill or other item accidentally dropped on the floor, for instance – and “place” – to remain seated in a particular spot. However, this therapy dog seemingly needs no verbal prompt to do what she does best: radiate happiness. “Sadie is an amazing contributor to our household,” says Finegan. “We’re just grateful that she can now do that out in the world.”
Wright Center Pediatrician Receives Board Certification in Obesity Medicine Dr. Manju Mary Thomas, a board-certified pediatrician at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley Practice, recently earned board certification in obesity medicine to prepare her better to help patients manage obesity, its many comorbidities, and to lose weight. Obesity is one of the nation’s most prevalent chronic diseases and is associated with many of the leading causes of preventable, premature death. The condition is linked to a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, sleep apnea, arthritis, certain cancers, and many additional comorbidities. The certification from the American Board of Obesity Medicine gives physicians the insights and tools to help patients who are struggling with the complex issue of obesity. Thomas is also the medical director of pediatrics and community and school-based medical home services, and serves as physician faculty for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Family Medicine Residency Pediatrics program. She earned her medical degree from St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, India, and completed her residency in pediatrics at Brookdale University Hospital, Brooklyn, New York. Thomas provides primary and preventive care for pediatric and adolescent patients at the primary care practice in Jermyn. For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health and its network of primary and preventive care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
Wright Center Internal Medicine Resident Continues Cancer Research Wright Center Internal Medicine resident Dr. Lekha Yadukumar presented scholarly research in December on the demographics and disparities in Large Granular Lymphocyte (LGL) Leukemia at the American Society of Hematology’s 65th Annual Meeting and Exposition in San Diego, California. The third-year resident, who plans to pursue a career in hematology-oncology, worked with a University of Nebraska Medical Center hematology-oncology fellow to perform a retrospective cohort study of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database for patients diagnosed with the rare blood cancer from 2000-2020. They analyzed statistics on patient demographics, year of diagnosis, and timeline of treatment. Dr. Nirali Patel, core faculty with The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency and associate program director of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Geriatrics Fellowship,served as the study’s faculty mentor. The study examined statistics from 2,589 patients, with a median age of 67 years and 52.7% being men. In addition, 81.5% were Caucasians, 9.6% were African Americans, and 5.3% were Asians/Pacific Islanders, followed by 2% Hispanics and 1.5% American Indians. Nearly 92% of those included in the study were diagnosed after 2010, leading Yadukumar to note the increasing incidence over the last decade. “Younger age groups, females, and marital status have improved outcomes. Caucasians have better prognosis compared to other races,” said the Bangalore, India, native, adding that the findings spotlight the need for better representation of other races in clinical trials and to further investigate the tumor biology of the cancer. “The conference was a great opportunity, as I got to present my work to the leaders in this field,” Yadukumar said. “Next year, I am headed to the University of Iowa for my hematology-oncology fellowship, and the conference was a good platform for me.” The findings will also be published in “Blood,” a peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Society of Hematology. Yadukumar’s first time exploring racial disparities in cancer research. She served as the lead researcher in a study that found Black men were diagnosed with breast cancer at a later age and had a higher mortality rate compared to white men. The findings were presented in a research poster at the May 2023 European Society for Medical Oncology Breast Cancer Annual Congress in Berlin, Germany. She worked on that study with several other doctors, including fellow Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Internal Medicine Resident Dr. Amninder Singh. The study’s findings drew media attention, including an article in MD Edge, an online magazine dedicated to hematology and oncology news. Additionally, Yadukumar was inspired to study esophageal cancer hospitalizations in the transgender population after meeting a patient at The Wright Center for Community Health’s Ryan White HIV/AIDS Clinic. She utilized the national inpatient sample database from 2015-2020 for her study. Together with Wright Center Cardiovascular Disease Fellow Dr. Yaser Khalid and several other doctors and resident physicians from across the country, Yadukumar analyzed mortality, length of hospital stays, and total hospital costs for 212,425 patients, including 97,950 transgender patients. The research team presented their findings at the European Society for Medical Oncology’s World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer in Barcelona, Spain. “Our study showed transgender patients had a 5.1 times increased risk of death. They had increased total hospital costs and longer length of stays compared to the general population,” she said. “Our takeaway was that there is a significant difference in outcomes when we compare transgender people to the general population. While cis-gender differences in cancer prevalence and outcomes are well investigated, there is a need to study transgender populations to understand the existing disparities in their outcomes.” Through her research on this project, Yadukumar found the option to document a patient as transgender is not available in most cancer databases. “The health care system is truly biased against this population in our community, and there is a need to actively work on bridging this gap from a clinician perspective, as well as with research,” she added. For more information about The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, visit TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
The Wright Center’s Top Executive Receives 2023 Pennsylvania Impact Award Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, received a 2023 Pennsylvania Impact Award from City & State Pennsylvania magazine, recognizing her leadership in social responsibility. Dr. Thomas-Hemak, a Lackawanna County native, was one of 75 honorees from across the commonwealth to be chosen by the magazine for its special recognition. She accepted the award during a ceremony in Philadelphia. “I am extremely humbled and honored to be recognized for living the mission of The Wright Center,” said Dr. Thomas-Hemak. “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.” The Pennsylvania Impact Awards honor residents “who are pillars of sustainability, diversity and inclusion, charity, and community engagement,” according to the publication, known for its coverage of the Keystone State’s business, political, and community leaders. The publication noted that “there are a lot of ways to make a difference.” For example, the changemakers “have raised funds and galvanized support for patients with Alzheimer’s and autism and for children in need of early intervention.” In addition, “they have programmed software to help Pennsylvanians access medical care and legal services. The influential difference-makers included state Sen. Lisa M. Boscola, state Sen. Art Haywood, Associate Professor Teresa Hunter-Pettersen, Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine; Clayton Jacobs, executive director, Alzheimer’s Association Greater Pennsylvania Chapter; and President Jessica Ritchie, UPMC Pinnacle Foundation. Under Dr. Thomas-Hemak’s leadership, The Wright Center remains deeply immersed in community engagement activities, routinely collaborating with dozens of regional, state, and national partners on health care and workforce development initiatives. The Wright Center, for example, is spearheading an effort in Northeast Pennsylvania to establish interoperability across multiple hospital, health care, and social services systems, with the goal of giving patients and providers access to timely, actionable health care data to improve patient outcomes. Dr. Thomas-Hemakalso serves as board co-chair of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement,a subsidiary of the health center. The group is active throughout the year in providing material goods and other support to community members challenged by poverty and other negative social determinants of health, such as food insecurity and homelessness. Earlier this year, Dr. Thomas-Hemak hired the enterprise’s first environmental, social, and governance (ESG) specialist. He is now developing a strategic plan to tailor existing policies and decision-making systems so the enterprise can fulfill its mission while being socially responsible to the community and the planet. Similarly, The Wright Center’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is evident in the year-round programming offered to employees and community members, including a monthly DEI blog and workshop. An emphasis is currently being placed on fostering a safe, trauma-informed workplace for employees, patients, and visitors. Dr. Thomas-Hemak, who has served as The Wright Center’s top executive for more than a decade, has helped the health center optimize federal and state resources, allowing it to establish 10 primary and preventive care clinics that collectively serve more than 32,500 patients a year. She also expanded the enterprise’s graduate medical education programs, which now train about 250 resident and fellow physicians annually in eight residency and fellowship programs. These programs attract needed medical expertise, such as behavioral health and specialized geriatric care providers, to the region. Her leadership has enabled the enterprise to create hundreds of jobs and improve community health. Today, The Wright Center employs about 645 people. Dr. Thomas-Hemak graduated from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and completed Harvard’s Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency in Boston, Massachusetts, before returning to Northeast Pennsylvania to practice primary care. She is quadruple board-certified in internal medicine, pediatrics, addiction medicine, and obesity medicine. She directly cares for patients weekly. In April, she began a four-year term as governor for the eastern region of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians. For more information about The Wright Center, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570.230.0019.
The Wright Center Healthy MOMs Program Receives Grant from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation The Wright Center for Community Health was recently awarded an $8,000 grant from the Robert H. Spitz Foundation in support of the collaborative Healthy Maternal Opiate Medical Support (Healthy MOMS) program that focuses on helping pregnant women and new mothers overcome addiction and rebuild their lives in recovery. The grant will support working mothers enrolled in the Helping MOMS Out of Poverty (HOP) program with initial costs related to housing – including security deposits, rent, and utility bills. Having stable housing is an important step for program participants in maintaining their sobriety, caring for their children, and building a better life. The lack of affordable housing remains an issue, with more than one-third of the mothers in the program needing financial assistance with housing and utilities, according to Maria Kolcharno, MSW, LSW, director of addiction services at The Wright Center for Community Health. “The Helping Moms Out of Poverty project addresses these vital needs,” Kolcharno said. “Many moms live in transitional housing and are exposed to drug use, violence, and unsafe conditions. Stable housing plays a vital role in recovery from substance use disorders. The inability to pay rent and utilities can trigger substance misuse and relapse. While the mom can manage the rent, initial costs are hardships. Funding will help with one-time upfront rental costs and assistance with emergency utility bills for gas, electric, and water to alleviate shut-offs.” The Healthy MOMS program assists women in recovery from substance use disorder and aims to lower the incidence of babies born with neonatal abstinence syndrome. Since October 2018, the program has helped more than 445 moms across nine counties in Northeast Pennsylvania. Currently, there are 144 active moms and 233 babies have been born into this program. The Robert H. Spitz Foundation awards grants to registered nonprofit organizations that support initiatives and programs serving Lackawanna County and Northeast Pennsylvania. Among the foundation’s five priority areas are programs that break the cycle of poverty, veterans’ affairs and veteran-oriented programs, animal welfare, Jewish culture and cemeteries, and environmental projects. To date, the Robert H. Spitz Foundation has provided over $3.7 million in funding to the community. For more information about the Healthy MOMS program, call 570-955-7821 or visit HealthyMOMS.org.
The Wright Center Names Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr. Erin McFadden, a board-certified internal medicine physician and medical director of The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice, has been named deputy chief medical officer of The Wright Center for Community Health. In her new role, Dr. McFadden will oversee various critical administrative duties to deliver high-quality primary and preventive care services to patients of all ages, regardless of their insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay. She will also lead training initiatives and various educational and professional development opportunities for resident and fellow physicians, providers, and support staff. As medical director of the Scranton practice, Dr. McFadden will continue serving as the clinical leader for all ambulatory health and primary care services and provide clinical oversight and direction to all support services, including nursing, laboratory, radiology, pharmacy, and related functional areas. She will also serve as medical director for The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Counseling Center location and other clinics as needed. Dr. McFadden received her undergraduate degree from the University of Scranton and her medical degree at Temple University School of Medicine. She completed her internal medicine residency training at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. Dr. McFadden began working for The Wright Center in 2020 and has been the medical director of The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice since 2021. In addition to providing patient care, Dr. McFadden will continue serving as the dean of undergraduate medical and interprofessional education and as a core faculty member for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency. Dr. McFadden is also involved in The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Geriatric Fellowship program. In addition, she plays an integral role in developing the lifestyle medicine curriculum and serves as co-regional director of medical education for A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine – Arizona (ATSU-SOMA). The Wright Center for Community Health operates 10 primary and preventive care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania, including a mobile medical and dental unit. For more information about the primary and preventive care services provided by The Wright Center for Community Health or for the nearest location, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
Two Wright Center Locations Earn National Recognition Two of The Wright Center for Community Health’s primary and preventive care practices recently received commendations from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for delivering high-quality, patient-centered care. The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave., and The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre Practice, 169 N. Pennsylvania Ave., each achieved the NCQA’s Patient-Centered Medical Home certificate of recognition, acknowledging that they have the tools, systems, and resources to provide patients with the right care at the right time. Both practices initially earned the NCQA voluntary accreditation in 2021. Every year, the practice locations undergo a formal review to ensure they comply with the Washington, D.C.-based organization’s high standards. For the public, the NCQA accreditation is a signal that The Wright Center for Community Health maintains a focus on quality improvement and has key processes in place so that its clinics are prioritizing the needs of patients by following the patient-centered medical home model of care. The model is designed to allow patients and their care teams to build better relationships, help patients to more effectively control chronic conditions, and improve the overall patient experience. In addition, the patient-centered medical home model has been shown to increase staff satisfaction and reduce health care costs. “We are proud to retain this recognition seal for both practices, which is a reflection of the dedicated work being done by The Wright Center’s employees to use our information technology and team-based delivery system so we can coordinate care and get the best results possible for patients,” said Dr. Jignesh Y. Sheth, chief medical officer of The Wright Center for Community Health. “The NCQA seal lets people know these practices will be open outside traditional business hours to meet their primary care needs and that we do all we can to put our patients at the forefront of care.” The NCQA was founded in 1990 with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It seeks to improve health care quality through measurement, transparency, and accountability. The Wright Center’s Mid Valley and Clarks Summit practices also maintain the NCQA’s respected recognition seal, undergoing annual renewals. Overall, The Wright Center operates 10 primary and preventive care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania, including a mobile medical and dental vehicle called Driving Better Health. Its practices offer integrated whole-person care, meaning patients typically have the convenience of going to a single location to access medical, dental, and behavioral health care, as well as community-based addiction treatment and recovery services. The Wright Center accepts most major health insurance plans, including Medical Assistance (Medicaid), Medicare, and CHIP. No patient is turned away due to an inability to pay. To learn more about The Wright Center for Community Health’s primary and preventive care services, call 570-230-0019 or visit TheWrightCenter.org.
The Wright Center and Wayne County Commissioners Collaborate on Hunger-Fighting Initiative The Wayne County commissioners and The Wright Center for Community Health have teamed to expand access in two rural locations to free, nutritious food for individuals and families facing food insecurity and hunger. The county’s Food Pantry Program recently began supplying nonperishable items to two of The Wright Center’s primary and preventive care clinics: Hawley and North Pocono. Clinic employees will hand out the county-provided food boxes – each containing about 25 pounds of shelf-stable items such as soups, pasta, canned vegetables, tuna, and chicken – to patients who disclose on intake forms that they are in need. In addition, the clinics will periodically promote and hold larger-scale distribution events, called pop-up food pantries, during which boxes will be made available on a first-come, first-served basis to patients and members of the broader community. The next pop-up food pantry at the Hawley Practice, 103 Spruce St., is scheduled for noon to 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25. Volunteers from The Wright Center will coordinate the event and dole out the boxes. For more information about The Wright Center’s pop-up food pantries, contact Holly Przasnyski, director of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement, at przasnyskih@TheWrightCenter.org, or call 570-209-3275. Wayne County residents who utilize The Wright Center for Community Health North Pocono Practice, 260 Daleville Highway, Suite 103, Covington Township, are also eligible to receive county-provided food boxes. “We are so appreciative of commissioners Brian Smith, Jocelyn Cramer, and James Shook for seeing the value in using our Wright Center practices as distribution sites and for generously contributing via the county’s Food Pantry Program to enable us to provide this service to vulnerable individuals and their families,” said Holly Przasnyski, director of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement. The Wright Center’s hunger-fighting initiative in Wayne County supplements the county’s existing Food Pantry Program, sponsored by the county government and coordinated by private citizens. The program distributes U.S. Department of Agriculture items and private food donations each month at five sites. “It is important to use funds wisely and target the need as best we can,” said Commissioner Cramer. “We are grateful that the Wright Center can help identify those that need this assistance and help them. No one with food insecurities can overcome health challenges, financial challenges, and employment challenges. We are grateful to the Wright Center for this extra support.” Through the new arrangement, The Wright Center will be able to offer extra support and convenience to families who are struggling to afford quality foods for their tables, Przasnyski said. She said that food assistance requests from under-resourced individuals, including senior citizens, have risen locally and nationally since May when the COVID-19 public health emergency declaration ended. Experts attribute the increased demand for food banks and related charitable programs to the federal government’s rollback of certain pandemic-era health and food benefits, such as emergency allotments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). About one out of every 20 households receiving SNAP benefits experienced food insufficiency after this year’s discontinuation of emergency allotments, according to a study released in August by the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Elsewhere, researchers have previously done studies linking food insufficiency with poor health outcomes, identifying it as a potential contributor to chronic conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes. These and other health impacts that people experience due to certain social and economic conditions are a prime focus of Przasnyski and others involved with The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement, known as PCE. As a subsidiary of the nonprofit health center, PCE strives to help people in Northeast Pennsylvania overcome food insecurity and other non-medical issues that can affect their ability to focus on achieving and maintaining their maximum wellness. Those issues commonly include transportation barriers, lack of access to educational opportunities, homelessness, and poverty. In rural Wayne County, where transportation and other quality-of-life issues require broad-based solutions, county government leaders have for more than a decade been working in collaboration with residents to strengthen the county’s human services safety net and support a prosperous community. They created Wayne Tomorrow!, a planning initiative to guide the county’s development. The commissioners have encouraged The Wright Center’s involvement in Wayne Tomorrow!, welcoming input on task forces that address issues of mutual concern, such as how to assist residents who face transportation hurdles and how to implement solutions to the affordable housing crunch, Przasnyski said. “The Wayne County commissioners are very active in trying to address the needs of the county’s residents, including those who are economically disadvantaged,” said Przasnyski, a Wayne County resident. “Many of the things they are doing align with The Wright Center’s mission, so we are glad to partner with them on initiatives to improve the health and well-being of the population.” For information about The Wright Center for Community Health’s primary and preventive care services and locations, visit TheWrightCenter.org.
