The Wright Center News The Wright Center Accepting Appointments To Receive COVID-19 Boosters Children as young as 5 years old can receive the updated coronavirus booster vaccines at several of The Wright Center for Community Health’s primary care practices, helping to defend themselves, their families and the broader population from sickness. The updated boosters, also called bivalent vaccines, offer protection against the now-prevalent omicron variant that accounts for most new COVID-19 infections in this region and across the United States. Federal health officials had previously authorized the use of the new shots in adults and teens, and on Oct. 12 expanded those eligible to also include elementary-age kids. Age restrictions vary by product. The Pfizer-made pediatric booster has been approved for children 5 to 11 years old, while the Moderna pediatric booster is available for individuals ages 6 to 17. Both companies’ pediatric boosters are approved for use at least two months after a child has completed the initial two-shot series. Updated boosters – the first redesigned coronavirus vaccines to be released in the U.S. since the initial rollout in late 2020 – are intended to help contain a possible surge of new cases this fall and winter. Vaccines have proven to be the most powerful tool against the highly contagious virus, with demonstrated effectiveness during the pandemic in reducing severe illness, hospitalization and death. “These bivalent boosters pack a one-two punch against COVID-19, protecting against the initial virus as well as the variants responsible for the most suffering today,” said Dr. Jignesh Sheth, chief medical officer of The Wright Center for Community Health. “As the holiday season approaches, and more activities are conducted indoors, we hope to see more families taking the opportunity to safeguard their health, especially now that adults and most children are eligible to get the most up-to-date boosters.” People can schedule appointments by visiting The Wright Center’s website at TheWrightCenter.org and using the express online scheduling service. 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. Wright Center Names Dr. Gil as Associate Program Director And Physician Faculty A board-certified family medicine physician, with a deep interest in the integration of oral health into primary care, has joined The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education where she will train and educate the next generation of physicians and collaboratively provide primary care for adults and children of all ages as a preceptor alongside a high-quality empaneled care team of resident physicians. Dr. Stephanie A. Gill received her Doctor of Medicine from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and completed her residency in family medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s St. Margaret Hospital in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania. Gill completed a fellowship in faculty development at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where she also earned a multidisciplinary Master of Public Health degree. As the associate program director and a member of the physician faculty for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Regional Family Medicine Residency, Gill will provide administrative and clinical oversight of the educational program, provide patient care, precept family medicine residents, and teach and supervise resident physicians and medical students at clinical sites. She is accepting patients at the Kingston Practice, 2 Sharpe St. After Wright Center Residency,This Physician Is Ready Rather than aim to retire at the earliest opportunity, Dr. Kevin Beltré plans to stay in medicine for the long run and be “one of those doctors working well into their 70s.” “My professional goal is to keep practicing medicine and serving the patients and community as long as I possibly can,” says Beltré, 32, who is on track to soon complete The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Regional Family Medicine Residency. To lessen the likelihood of career burnout, the physician already made one bold decision: He switched a few years ago from an emergency medicine focus, which he realized wasn’t the right fit for him, to the family medicine field, where he found his niche and an urge to make primary health care a lifetime pursuit. Recently the former Philadelphia resident made another significant life choice, one which demonstrates his commitment to his profession and to Northeast Pennsylvania. He signed an employment contract with the Lehigh Valley Health Network that will keep him actively treating children and adults in the heart of Lackawanna County – where he attended medical school and where he is set to finish The Wright Center’s residency in December. He expects to begin the job in early March 2023 at offices near the newly opened Lehigh Valley Hospital-Dickson City. For Beltré, it will be a major personal milestone. “I just can’t wait to be there March 6 as an attending physician,” he says. For The Wright Center, it will signify that its mission is being met – and the organization’s still-unfolding success story continues to be written. From its start in 1976, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education has been committed to generating a steady stream of competent, compassionate and community-minded physicians to help keep pace with rising patient demand and address persistent shortages of health care professionals in the region and across the United States. Early proponents of the Scranton-based physician training program were especially interested in developing doctors who would choose to practice locally. These community leaders, including namesake founder Dr. Robert Wright, foresaw the coming challenge in filling the slots of retiring physicians and tending to the ever-broadening health care needs of an aging population. They launched an internal medicine residency, whose initial class consisted of six trainees. In the more than 45 years since then, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education has grown in size and scope to reflect the community’s and the country’s evolving needs, now training about 250 residents and fellows each academic year. Today, The Wright Center is proud to be the largest U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education consortium in the nation. It offers residencies in four disciplines – family medicine, internal medicine, physical medicine & rehabilitation, and psychiatry – as well as fellowships in cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology and geriatrics. All of its programs are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Many of its learners have expressed an inclination to work in community-based settings, as opposed to hospitals, and to treat patients from traditionally marginalized populations. Ideally, after graduation, The Wright Center’s alumni will opt to use their talents in the Scranton region – as Beltré plans on doing – or in one of America’s many medically underserved areas, such as low-income urban neighborhoods and rural communities. “Doctor Beltré’s journey in many ways exemplifies why The Wright Center exists,” says Dr. William Dempsey, deputy chief medical officer for The Wright Center for Community Health. “He’s a bright empathetic physician who grew up in this state, did his training with us and now will apply his skills and knowledge in this community for the benefit of local residents – possibly for decades.” Sensible Lifestyle Changes Can Combat, Prevent Diabetes Most of us have been affected by diabetes in some way, be it firsthand or through a family member, as this common yet extremely serious disease continues to create serious health concerns for the populace. Thankfully, though, more people than ever are being proactive about their diabetes care, while observances like World Diabetes Day help advance the cause. Created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization, World Diabetes Day became an official United Nations Day in 2006. Since then, it has been observed every Nov. 14 – the birthday of Sir Frederick Banting, who co-discovered insulin along with Charles Best in 1922 – and has become the world’s largest diabetes awareness campaign, reaching a global audience of more than 1 billion people in more than 160 countries. The campaign is represented by a blue circle logo that serves as a global symbol for diabetes awareness. This year’s World Diabetes Day theme is “Access to Diabetes Care.” The IDF is calling on policymakers to increase access to diabetes education to help improve the lives of the more than half a billion people living with the chronic disease worldwide. It’s certainly a message well worth sharing, given the dire statistics. According to the IDF Diabetes Atlas, 537 million adults (1 in 10) were living with diabetes in 2021 – and that number is expected to grow to 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045. Nearly one in two adults (44%) with diabetes remain undiagnosed (240 million), and the majority of them have Type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, more than 1.2 million children and adolescents (0-19 years) live with Type 1 diabetes. Plenty of people manage their diabetes and live long, healthy lives. Still, the disease remains a killer, claiming 6.7 million adult lives in 2021 – 12.2% of all deaths globally. And the costs associated with diabetes care are astronomical – it was responsible for at least $966 billion in health expenditures last year, equating to 9% of the global total spent on health care, according to the IDF. The Wright Center for Community Health is doing its part to combat diabetes locally, including through our Lifestyle Medicine initiative, now a central component of all of our primary care practices throughout Northeast Pennsylvania in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wayne counties. While medications and cutting-edge treatments and surgeries are obviously key to bettering and prolonging our lives, it’s also very important to note that happiness is linked to good overall health and sadness facilities sickness. Too often we look for relief in all the wrong places, such as unhealthy foods and life choices. That’s why we need to take a more proactive, rather than reactive, approach to our health. Lifestyle Medicine adheres to this philosophy by helping individuals and families improve their health and quality of life by adopting and sustaining lifestyle behaviors, including eliminating tobacco use, improving diet, practicing stress relief techniques, increasing physical activity, strengthening personal relationships and connections, and adjusting sleep habits for better, more restorative rest. It’s not alternative medicine, but rather an evidence-based approach that very well could revolutionize health care in this country. The concept is gaining significant traction in the medical community, precisely because the data is showing it can prevent, treat or even reverse diseases like diabetes, cancer and hypertension. Lifestyle Medicine is all about making those conscious choices to alter our behaviors for the better. Our team of primary care providers, trained in both conventional medicine and Lifestyle Medicine, work with patients to create a personalized lifestyle self-care plan that you can implement and sustain. Diabetes is a very serious disease, but prevention and treatment are well within reach thanks to modern medicine and concepts like Lifestyle Medicine that allow people to be enthusiastic participants in their own long-term care. The Wright Center Encourages Individuals To Get Vaccinated Against Flu in 2022 Flu vaccines are now available to patients at The Wright Center for Community Health’s network of community health centers in Northeast Pennsylvania. Most individuals are encouraged to receive a flu shot before Halloween to help minimize the seasonal resurgence of the virus this fall and winter. Vaccines developed for the 2022-23 flu season – including higher-dose vaccines recommended for older adults – are in stock at all of The Wright Center’s primary care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wayne counties. To schedule an office visit that includes the flu vaccination, call 570-230-0019 or go online to TheWrightCenter.org and use the express scheduling system. It is recommended that everyone ages 6 months and older, with few exceptions, receive the flu vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Flu vaccines are approved by federal health officials and made widely available at health centers, doctors’ offices, pharmacies and certain other locations to encourage widespread participation by people who want to protect themselves and others in their community, including young children, senior citizens and other high-risk populations. “The flu can pose serious health risks, even the possibility of death, for certain people,” says Dr. William Dempsey, deputy chief medical officer of The Wright Center for Community Health. “That’s why we encourage everyone to be a good citizen, a good neighbor, and roll up their sleeve to get vaccinated. It might be a momentary discomfort, but it’s far better than the potential misery caused by body aches, sore throat and the flu infection’s other symptoms.” Experts advise that people in the U.S. get vaccinated at this time of year, preferably before the end of October. The flu season in North America typically starts in the fall and peaks between December and February. For people ages 65 and older, the CDC this year is recommending the use of higher-dose flu vaccines that are potentially more effective than the standard dose. In addition to older adults, other populations at increased risk of developing severe flu symptoms and potential complications include adults with chronic health conditions such as heart disease, HIV/AIDS, asthma, diabetes and kidney disease; pregnant women; cancer patients; young children; and children with neurologic disorders. Individuals in a high-risk category who experience flu-like symptoms are urged to call a health care provider right away. Prompt treatment with a flu antiviral medication can often prevent serious complications. 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. Talk with your primary care physician or another trusted health care provider if you have questions about the flu vaccine. The clinical team at The Wright Center is available to provide fact-based advice and proven strategies for coping with the seasonal respiratory virus and other issues that affect health and wellness. Wright Center Names Director of Behavioral Health Integration The Wright Center for Community Health has named Danielle Sholcosky, MSW, LCSW, CPRP, of Dickson City as director of Behavioral Health Integration and Therapist Services. Sholcosky has worked as a licensed clinical social worker for The Wright Center for Community Health since 2021. Sholcosky received her Master of Social Work degree from Marywood University and a Bachelor of Arts in liberal studies with a minor in human development and family studies from Penn State University. She has also earned several continuing education certificates, including Eye Movement, Desensitization and Reprocessing Basic Training from The ClearPath Training Center; Mental Illness and Substance Abuse from Drexel University College of Medicine; and Certified Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner from the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association. In addition, she has made several scholarly presentations at national and state conferences, including the National Conference for Undergraduate Research Annual Conference, the Annual Convention of the Pennsylvania Communication Association and the Eastern Psychological Association Annual Conference. Sholcosky’s presentations also have been cited in Reuters’ Health: Health eLine, Psychology Today, Prevention magazine and more.
The Wright Center Schedules Winter Coat and Clothing Giveaways As winter approaches, The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement aims to help underserved individuals and families in the community prepare for colder temperatures by offering free coats, warm clothes and personal care items. Two distributions are scheduled for November in Lackawanna County. During these Community Closet events, patients and community members are invited to select items for children and adults from among an assortment of new and gently used coats, hats, boots, gloves and other outerwear. Community Closet events are planned at these practice locations on the listed dates: The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley Practice 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn Thursday, Nov. 3,from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice 501 S. Washington Ave., Scranton Monday, Nov. 14, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Each attendee will be awarded 10 “points” to exchange for clothing and 5 “points” to exchange for hygiene items that will be marked with points, rather than prices. Quantities will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Organized by The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement, this year’s clothing distributions are made possible by generous donations from The Wright Center’s employees, board members and valued supporters such as Operation Warm. The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement focuses on improving access to health care while addressing the negative social and economic determinants of health that can affect underserved patients, including food insecurity, limited educational opportunities, homelessness and poverty. For more information about the Community Closet events, call Gerri McAndrew, director of community outreach and engagement, at 570-591-5273.
The Wright Center News Wright Center Launches National Physician Assistant Program The Wright Center for Community Health recently welcomed eight master’s degree-level students who will be gaining knowledge and experience in its primary care practices as they complete a program to become physician assistants. The students are part of the first class to enroll in the Central Coast Physician Assistant program, a new initiative of A.T. Still University of Health Sciences (ATSU) in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers and select health centers across the country. Participants in the 24-month program attend ATSU’s Santa Maria campus in California for one year during their pre-clinical phase. Then they enter a clinical phase, which includes 35 weeks of supervised clinical practice experiences at The Wright Center or other partnered community health center. “The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education are deeply immersed in and passionately committed to developing and inspiring our current and future interprofessional health care workforce,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “We are excited to embrace an expanded role in preparing physician assistants to work in community-based teaching health center settings, where they will serve and care for historically underserved populations. “Our partnership with ATSU’s College for Healthy Communities will force-multiply the delivery of our shared mission to improve the health and welfare of America,” she added. “Future graduates of the program will be essential for the continued workforce renewal of safety-net community providers such as The Wright Center for Community Health, which depend on dedicated teams of caring, patient- and community-centered healers.” Physician assistants Bryan Boyle and Angelo Brutico, each of whom is a Marywood University alumnus and Wright Center employee, will provide on-site program supervision and leadership as ATSU’s regional directors of physician assistant education. The Central Coast Physician Assistant program prepares its graduates to be “highly competent professionals in the science of medicine” who are “steeped in the osteopathic tradition of body, mind, and spirit care for the whole person.” The Wright Center and ATSU have a long track record of successfully collaborating to conceptualize and launch programs that develop compassionate, skilled physicians and other health care professionals to help address workforce shortages in the nation’s rural and other underserved communities. Representatives from the A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA), based in Mesa, were involved in the planning stages of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s National Family Medicine Residency – a first-of-its-kind program that places resident physicians in one of four partner training sites in the U.S. In 2020, as part of a separate program, The Wright Center for Community Health became a rotational host site for aspiring doctors enrolled at ATSU-SOMA – which prides itself on being “the medical school of the future.” The school’s unique medical education model allows students to spend their first year on campus in Mesa, Arizona, followed by three years at a community health center, where an emphasis is placed on fostering community-minded physicians who will be advocates for equitable health care access. About 30 ATSU-SOMA medical school students are currently based at The Wright Center’s primary care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania. These programs, in combination with The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s existing residency and fellowship programs, have positioned The Wright Center nonprofit enterprise to be a true regional provider of interprofessional health care education. The inaugural cohort of physician assistant students is scheduled to complete its clinical rotation at The Wright Center in June 2023. To learn more about opportunities in the Central Coast Physician Assistant program, visit ATSU’s website at atsu.edu. Or contact Carla Blakeslee, The Wright Center’s coordinator of clerkships, by calling 570-591-5116 or sending an email to blakesleec@thewrightcenter.org.
Regional Business Leaders Encouraged to Complete Survey Business leaders in select counties in Northeast Pennsylvania are being asked to complete an online regional workforce survey that is being conducted in support of Project PROGRESS, a collaborative program that advocates for people in recovery by seeking to reduce the stigma associated with substance use disorder and connecting them with family-sustaining employment and educational opportunities. The Institute, a nonprofit applied research and economic consulting organization, recently distributed the brief survey through the local chambers of commerce and other business organizations in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties that are served by the Project Providing Recovery Opportunities for Growth, Education and Sustainable Success (Project PROGRESS) initiative. Spearheaded by The Wright Center for Community Health, Project PROGRESS participating organizations include Luzerne County Community College, Northeast PA Area Health Education Center, The Institute and Wayne Pike Workforce Alliance. Project PROGRESS helps employers meet their workforce needs while assisting prospective workers in securing and maintaining employment – an important recovery milestone. To accomplish its goals, The Institute is gathering data to educate program organizers on the need for substance use disorder education and support in the region. The short survey is part of the data-gathering process and will require less than 10 minutes to complete. It is entirely confidential. Employers requesting additional information will be referred to ProjectPROGRESSnepa.org. Project PROGRESS is funded in part through a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission along with financial support from several partner organizations. “The goal of the project is to reduce the impact of stigma related to recovery on employees, employers and the region. People who are committed to their recovery make excellent employees. Their work ethic and dedication to their employer are unmatched,” said Meaghan Ruddy, Ph.D., senior vice president of Academic Affairs, Enterprise Assessment and Advancement, and chief research and development officer for The Wright Center for Community Health. In November 2020, Gov. Tom Wolf declared a state health emergency due to the opioid epidemic. From 2015 to 2018, 1,149 people died from opioid overdoses in the project’s six-county service area, according to OverdoseFreePA. “A community’s capacity to create anything at the community level will in large part rely on the community’s understanding of a need and their commitment to creating solutions to meet that need. Leadership and innovative organizations in the six counties of focus for Project PROGRESS are painfully aware of the impact the opioid crisis is having on our friends and neighbors,” added Dr. Ruddy. For more information about Project PROGRESS, please go to ProjectPROGRESSnepa.org or email info@ProjectPROGRESSnepa.org or call 570-591-5136.
The Wright Center Tribute Dinner A tribute dinner in honor of pioneering physician and longtime community leader Dr. Robert E. Wright and his late wife, Carole, will be held this fall to benefit one of the couple’s favorite charitable causes: the tuition-free NativityMiguel School of Scranton. Event sponsorships and reserved dinner seats are currently available for the school’s 2022 Tribute Dinner fundraiser, which is set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27, at the University of Scranton’s DeNaples Center. Donations honoring the Wrights by those who are unable to attend the dinner are also being accepted. Proceeds from the campaign will support the school’s mission of “breaking the cycle of poverty, one student at a time.” The Wrights left an enduring legacy on Northeast Pennsylvania’s educational landscape by, in part, helping to establish the NativityMiguel School of Scranton, an independent Catholic co-educational middle school for students of greater economic need in the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre areas. The school began instructing its first class of fifth-graders in 2015. Today, the small but impactful institution educates more than 60 students in grades five through eight. Dr. Wright, a Lackawanna County native, also founded and led the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, forerunner of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, and was instrumental in the startup and ultimate success of The Commonwealth Medical College, now known as the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. Carole Wright supported those monumental projects, which collectively serve the region as a physician workforce pipeline to help meet the ongoing need for primary care doctors and other health care practitioners. A practice manager, Carole Wright also was vital to the establishment and growth of her husband’s hematology/oncology practice – the first of its kind in the region. And she was a consistent servant-leader, aiding many area nonprofits as a volunteer, a board member and a benefactor.
The Wright Center ‘The Good of the Hive’ Artist Lecture Travelers on the 200 block of Mifflin Avenue in Scranton have noticed a buzz of activity over the past several weeks, as muralist Matt Willey creates his unique work of honeybee art for his initiative, “The Good of the Hive,” on the side of the Civic Ballet Theater building. A world-renowned mural artist who is raising awareness about the importance of pollinators through his art, Willey has been painting the bee mural since late August. His newest painting brings Willey closer to his personal commitment of hand-painting 50,000 honeybees — the number of bees in a healthy, thriving hive — in murals around the world. Lackawanna College, the academic sponsor of the mural project, will host a lecture by Willey on Friday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. at the school’s theater, 501 Vine St., Scranton. Seating for the free event, which is open to the public, is on a first-come, first-served basis. Willey is an artist, an activist and environmentalist. His work aims to spread knowledge about the pollination process, the importance of honeybees in the world, and spark deeper conversation using bees as a metaphor for the health of human communities. The completed mural at the Civic Ballet Theater, 234 Mifflin Ave., Scranton, will be unveiled during a special reception on Friday, Nov. 4 at 5:30 p.m. Light fare will be served during the event. “We are honored to be the premier sponsor of this unique mural project that will be on display in our city for years to come,” said Kara Seitzinger, director of public affairs and advisor liaison to the president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “Matt’s work is inspiring communities around the world to think collectively, in the same way that honeybees do. The health of a honeybee hive is the perfect metaphor for the health of a community. “We encourage the community to attend his lecture to hear his fascinating story and insights,” she added. Willey has shared the stories of “The Good of the Hive” through speaking engagements around the world, at the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the German and French Embassies in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Duke University, Georgetown University, the Planetary Health Alliance 2018 annual meeting in Scotland, many podcasts, including the National Education Association, and educational institutions throughout the U.S. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Reuters London, The Today Show, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and countless other publications and media channels. Willey’s mission is to ignite radical curiosity and active engagement around planetary health issues through art, bees and storytelling. His vision is a world filled with people that see and experience the beauty and connectedness of all things. “The hive I’m creating is a metaphor for us all: no matter your color, nationality, religion, gender, age or economic status. This piece of art is an idealized picture of health to focus on as we work toward solutions,” Willey said. The worldwide mural project demonstrates perseverance in the face of adversity. Six years into an estimated 20-year project, Willey has created 35 murals and installations with over 8,600 hand-painted bees. He has reached hundreds of thousands of people and created large-scale works at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C., Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York City and Burt’s Bees Global Headquarters in Durham, North Carolina.
The Wright Center Addresses Workplace Wellness Meaghan Ruddy, Ph.D., senior vice president of Academic Affairs, Enterprise Assessment and Advancement, and chief research and development officer, recently participated in the panel discussion, “Fostering Workplace Wellness through the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond,” for members of the health care community. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) webinar featured a panel discussion with health center staff from throughout the country describing specific strategies they use to foster workplace wellness. Topics addressed by panelists during the 90-minutes of presentations included burnout, compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress and moral injury. Employees in a 2018 Gallup poll identified five organizational factors of burnout: unfair treatment at work, unmanageable workload, lack of role clarity, lack of communication and support from their manager, and unreasonable time pressure. Ruddy participated in the panel discussion, “Fostering Workplace Wellness – Strategies and Recommendations from Health Center Management,” by panelists from San Diego, California; and College Station, Texas. Each panelist addressed a question posed to them by the panel facilitator. Ruddy was asked to discuss how two newly created positions within The Wright Center enterprise have helped to address employee wellness and burnout. Those new positions are a wellness and resilience specialist and a director of health humanities. “Resilience can be a challenging topic when we’re talking about burnout because numbness and exhaustion basically are signs of chronic neurological overwhelm. A lot of ideas that are very well-intended can bounce off and seem kind of challenging or unintentionally even weaponized as we look at people who seem to have a failure of resilience as having some sort of character flaw,” Ruddy said. “Staff help is vital to operational excellence, but these expectations have to be metered by the reality of what it means to be a human in these environments. Our wellness and resiliency specialist, as well as our director of health humanities, work together to create and implement reflection and programming to address clinical learning environment challenges.” The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education are working towards becoming certified as a Sanctuary Model organization, an evidence-supported template for promoting safety and recovery from chronic stress and adversity by teaching trauma-informed approaches to organizational development. The Sanctuary Model recognizes that just as people are susceptible to adversity, organizations themselves are equally as vulnerable. At its core, the Sanctuary Model is based on an understanding of trauma and how it affects individuals as well as whole organizations and systems. According to Ruddy, the pandemic has exacerbated trauma in the health care workforce. The ripples of this trauma continue to impact the ability of “amazing and compassionate” individuals to show up as their best selves. The Wright Center is investing in the model for the betterment of the workforce and the people and communities the enterprise serves.
The Wright Center for Community Health and Luzerne County Community College Collaborate on Program for Certified Recovery Specialists Seventeen students enrolled in the collaborative certified recovery specialist (CRS) credential program at Luzerne County Community College recently completed the educational component to become professionals in the recovery field. The students now are eligible to take the Pennsylvania Certification Board examination to become a state-certified CRS. The Wright Center for Community Health and Luzerne County Community College worked in partnership on the program to train about 40 CRSs in the regional program with the assistance of grant funding from the Appalachian Regional Commissioner under its own INSPIRE initiative. The initiative is a regional partnership that provides recovery opportunities for growth, education and sustainable success. Through the grant initiative, the new CRSs will obtain new employment or enhance their current positions and about 50 businesses will be improved through employee education and/or hiring of a CRS. A CRS credential qualifies peers who are living in recovery with drug and alcohol substance use disorders to help others in their journey through the recovery process. Recovery specialists are able to share similar life experiences by offering insight into their own recovery process. These professionals acknowledge their lived experience as a person in recovery with colleagues, patients and others. Through certification and their unique experiences, CRSs are able to serve as role models, advocates and motivators for others to live a successful life in recovery. Certified recovery specialists also advocate to reduce stigma, eliminate barriers, increase support systems and build community. Overall, the services aim to substantially improve an individual’s ability to sustain recovery and wellness.
The Wright Center Offers Access to Oral COVID-19 Medications In the ongoing effort to reduce COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths across the region, The Wright Center for Community Health is following federal and state “test-to-treat” guidelines by providing certain patients with therapeutic treatments for COVID-19 such as Pfizer’s Paxlovid. Paxlovid – which is available only by prescription – has been found to substantially decrease the chances of severe symptoms in high-risk patients such as older adults if it is started early in the course of infection, typically within five days of symptoms appearing. Individuals 12 and older who test positive for coronavirus are eligible for the treatment if they meet certain criteria, such as having an underlying medical condition that puts them at increased risk for complications. Individuals who are prescribed the treatment during a visit at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley Practice in Jermyn can obtain the medication on site. At The Wright Center’s other clinics in Northeast Pennsylvania, a patient in need can have the prescription immediately sent a pharmacy supplier of Paxlovid. “Early treatment can make the difference between a relatively quick recovery and a much more difficult, potentially life-threatening, situation,” said Dr. Jignesh Sheth, chief medical officer of The Wright Center for Community Health. He noted that the health center has supplies of both Paxlovid and another antiviral medication, molnupiravir, allowing for a rapid and seamless response between a patient’s positive test result and the start of treatment. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized Paxlovid’s use in December 2021, but distribution efforts were initially spotty. Since then, Pfizer ramped up production, and the White House last month announced plans to expand access to the treatment. Paxlovid is now widely available in community pharmacies. Possible side effects of the oral antiviral include an impaired sense of taste, high blood pressure, diarrhea and muscle aches. If you are taking other medications, talk with a health care provider about potentially significant drug interactions. Paxlovid is not recommended in patients with severe kidney or liver impairment. For eligible patients, The Wright Center also continues to offer monoclonal antibody infusions – an FDA-authorized therapy that has been shown to lessen the severity of COVID-19 symptoms for certain individuals deemed at increased risk of hospitalization. Although several monoclonal antibody medicines have received the FDA’s authorization during the pandemic, only one, bebtelovimab, is currently continuing to be used because of its proven effectiveness against the omicron variant. Delivered via an intravenous “push,” the medication is administered to the patient in about two to six minutes, followed by one hour of observation in the clinic. The therapy is a one-time treatment. In total, The Wright Center has administered more than 1,400 COVID-19 monoclontal treatments in the past 18 months, helping to lower the burden on the region’s hospitals by limiting severe illness and saving lives. For more information about The Wright Center’s health services, including its COVID-19 testing and treatment options, call 570-230-0019 or visit www.thewrightcenter.org.
The Wright Center Graduation Ceremony The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education celebrated the accomplishments of 69 residents and fellows who completed their specialized education and training during the 44th annual graduation ceremony on Saturday, June 25, at the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple. The Class of 2022, known for its resiliency and dedication in the face of a worldwide pandemic, features graduates from Internal Medicine (28), Regional Family Medicine (11), National Family Medicine (16) and Psychiatry (4) residents, and Cardiovascular Disease (3), Gastroenterology (2) and Geriatrics (3) fellowships, many of whom will continue their education or practice of medicine in Northeast Pennsylvania. The graduating class also includes the first two dental graduates who are members of The Wright Center’s affiliation with the New York University Langone Dental Medicine Postdoctoral Residency Program. The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s cohort of highly skilled and compassionate caregivers will help to address the nation’s physician workforce shortage and improve access to care after working in The Wright Center for Community Health’s network of primary care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wayne counties and regional hospitals and other health care facilities. “Through it all, though, The Wright Center has remained true by following our guiding mission and core values, which remain our bedrock,” said Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., president and CEO, in her welcoming remarks. “We have addressed the far-ranging effects of world events on the people we aim to lift up and provide opportunity to every single day. “There is no doubt that COVID-19 has reshaped health care and how we train and educate our residents and fellows, who offer hope for the future of our national health care delivery and educational systems,” she said. “I know the experience has been challenging – fraught with uncertainty, anxiety and unconscionable loss. The Wright Center is extremely proud of the innovation, teamwork and togetherness exhibited by each of you.” Graduates of this year’s class who plan to stay in the region to practice medicine or continue their studies include Dr. Gurminder Singh, who will begin an internal medicine residency at The Wright Center; Dr. Roger Elliott, who will join Adfinitas Health, Scranton, as a hospitalist; Dr. Pranav Karambelkar and Dr. Purveshkumar Patel who will remain with The Wright Center for a Cardiovascular Disease fellowship; Dr. Jacob Miller, who will join the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre as a teaching hospitalist, and Dr. Saba Safdar who will join the recently opened Lehigh Valley Hospital in Dickson City as a hospitalist. Other members of the graduating class will continue their education or begin practicing medicine across the United States in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, D.C. Following the welcome address, Pranav Karambelkar, M.D., an internal medicine chief resident and president of house staff council, congratulated his fellow graduates on their successful completion of their residencies and fellowships. “The onset of the pandemic threw a mixed bag of emotions at us, including a sense of fear, uncertainty, fatigue, isolation, anger and grief. It tested our knowledge, our patience and our confidence,” he said during his graduate remarks. “We call them ‘challenges,’ but at times that felt like a major understatement. We knew little about how to tackle this virus and how to comfort our patients, friends, families and ourselves. But we as residents never backed down. We wore those fearless faces under our masks everyday with pride as we cared for our patients. “We looked to each other for emotional support and a sense of normalcy in a life that was otherwise stressful,” added Karambelkar. “The sense of camaraderie was like no other and it’s a feeling I’ll never forget.” Jumee Barooah, M.D., The Wright Center’s designated institutional official, acknowledged the graduates’ “dedication and determination and patient and community service” that played an oversized role in their success. “As practicing physicians, you are also lifelong learners and you are not finished growing as individuals and clinicians,” she said. “You will continue to be problem-solvers as you adapt, study and research symptoms and issues in order to shape and improve your chose profession.” Keynote speaker Harold Baillie, Ph.D., chairperson of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Board of Directors, provided sage advice to each member of the class as they embark on a lifelong career of care and service to their patients. “That magic, the world of science and skill and experience that you bring to the patient, and the world of needs, and fears, and hope, and most of all trust that the patient brings to you, are the source of what I consider to be the two greatest and most challenging virtues you will need: humility and responsibility,” he said. “You don’t know everything, you can’t control nature, and at best you are a learning partner with your patient, as your patient, not you, suffers their biology. That humility leads directly to your responsibility: They have come to you in trust, for whatever help and hope you can give them. By welcoming them, you take on the utmost responsibility to see them through their journey. The dignity and resources of that human being now in your charge demands of you no less.” In his closing remarks, Lawrence LeBeau, D.O., program director of the National Family Medicine Residency, reminded graduates that their experiences during their time with The Wright Center do not define their futures as medical professionals. “You have all shown remarkable resilience and a resolve to learn your craft while providing compassionate, high-quality, community-oriented care despite all the additional challenges thrown at you by the pandemic,” said LeBeau. “Hopefully, the experience and some of the lessons learned from it will help to guide your career by motivating you to be strong advocates for your patients, strong advocates and supporters of a more just and equitable health care system and, more broadly, as leaders in your communities to support the changes needed to build a more just and equitable society as a whole.” Established in 1976, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education is the nation’s largest Health Resources and Services Administration-funded Teaching Health Center for Graduate Medical Education program, a critical component of the country’s physician workforce pipeline that fills an urgent need for primary care physicians. For more information about The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
