Keystone Mission Christmas Meal Operation – Volunteers and Donations Needed Keystone Mission’s Scranton and Wilkes-Barre Innovation Centers for Homelessness & Poverty are gearing up for the Christmas season. Following the success of serving over 280 meals during Thanksgiving, the team is preparing for an even greater impact this December. On Monday, December 23rd, Keystone Mission will host a special Christmas Meal for individuals experiencing homelessness. The Scranton Innovation Center will begin serving at 12 PM, followed by the Wilkes-Barre Innovation Center at 4 PM. “As the colder weather drives more people indoors, we’re distributing additional winter supplies and serving more meals,” says Jillian Mirro, Communications & Marketing Manager. “We encourage the community to get involved—not just during Christmas, but throughout the season—by donating essential items or volunteering.” Keystone Mission is currently seeking volunteers to assist with the Christmas Meal, whether by serving food or contributing needed items. For more information on volunteering or bringing a dish to share, please visit www.KeystoneMission.org/volunteer. For more information on most needed items, please visit www.KeystoneMission.org/donate-goods.
Keystone Mission: Giving Thanks Despite the Circumstances Before being served a Thanksgiving Meal, guests at Keystone Mission’s Scranton Innovation Center location stood in front of their peers to give thanks. To encourage an atmosphere of gratefulness, staff asked if anyone wanted to share what they were thankful for. Several individuals who were waiting for a meal rose their hand to talk about what God has been doing in their life despite their current circumstance. One guest gave glory to God about finally being cancer free. Another encouraged those around her that real community is found “the walls of Keystone Mission.” “Though we may think without a home or stable job, there wouldn’t be much to be thankful for. Their testimonies were eye opening, and I believe it gave everyone in that room – volunteers, staff, other guests – a new perspective on their own situation,” says Jillian Mirro, Communications & Marketing Manager. In total Keystone Mission served over 280 meals across their locations in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre for Thanksgiving. “We are grateful to each volunteer who assisted in serving and prepping a dish for our guests. This means so much to our guests. It’s amazing how a simple act of kindness can go a long way during the holiday season,” says Danielle O. Keith-Alexandre, CEO & Executive Director.
Mohegan’s Jingle at The Hive Returns with Holiday Fun Jingle at The Hive Taphouse Returns to Mohegan Pennsylvania with SantaCon, Brunch with Santa & more!Now through January 1st, The Hive Taphouse ramps up Holiday Entertainment, Events and Festive F&B specials Mohegan Pennsylvania is thrilled to announce the return of the ultimate holiday experience in NEPA, Jingle at The Hive Taphouse. Now through Wednesday, January 1st, guests can head over to The Hive Taphouse to experience a decked out holiday pop-up takeover that promises to bring the festive spirit to Northeast Pennsylvania. The holiday celebration kicks off with the much-awaited return of Shorty Long & The Jersey Horns on Thanksgiving Eve! From festive food & drink specials to holiday inspired special events, Jingle at The Hive Taphouse has something for everyone. Jingle at the Hive Taphouse is open from 9:00am – 10:00pm on Sundays, Noon – 10:00pm on Mondays – Thursdays, and Noon – 1:00am on Fridays & Saturdays. Special Events Experience special holiday events throughout the month of December! On Saturday, December 21st, guests will have another opportunity to compete against one another during Jingle at The Hive Taphouse’s Holiday Beard and Mustache Contest! From 8:00pm – 10:00pm, guests are invited to show up with their best holiday beard or mustache and compete for bragging rights and special prizes! The first, second and third place winners in each category will receive a $75 Mohegan Pennsylvania Gift Card, Champagne Brunch at The Hive Taphouse for two, and Top Golf for two, respectively. Winners will be announced at 10:30pm. Additionally, trivia and karaoke continue on Fridays with special holiday themes! On Fridays, the 20th, beginning at 7:30pm at Jingle at the Hive Taphouse, guests can take part in Holiday Trivia Nights with DJ Tommy, where the top three teams will win a Mohegan Pennsylvania gift card! Following trivia, guests are invited to stay for Christmas karaoke where they can sing along to their favorite Christmas songs and other holiday season favorites all night long. Entertainment Jingle at The Hive Taphouse is also home to a live music stage which will feature popular local bands performing holiday classics along with their own crowd pleasers. The lineup of top-notch holiday entertainment includes: Saturday, December 21st | Until Sunrise Friday, December 27th | Bad Liars Saturday, December 28th | Chasing Ashlee Signature Cocktails featured during Jingle at The Hive Taphouse Guests can enjoy signature holiday cocktails during the whole month of December! Jingle All The Way | Bulliet bourbon, orange liqueur, sour mix, topped with merlot The Grinch | Captain Morgan, orange liqueur, Kool-Aid, sprite Christmas Vacation | Vanilla vodka, peach schnapps, pineapple juice, sour mix Dining Specials Jingle at the Hive Taphouse is offering multiple holiday dining specials in addition to a full dining menu, featuring a wide variety of dishes like appetizers, flatbreads, salads, wings, burgers, sandwiches, tacos and entrees. Santa’s Helper | Open face roasted turkey sandwich with a smoked bacon and fresh apple cider gravy Sleigh Bells Ringing | Maple chicken and carved ham Monte Cristo with Swiss cheese and cranberry mayo Comin Down the Chimney (OL’ Smokey Burger) | ½ pound burger with smoked Gouda cheese, candied bacon and smoked paprika aioli
Maternal and Family Health Services Elects Board Officers Maternal and Family Health Services (MFHS), a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of families, recently elected a new slate of board officers. These individuals bring a diverse and dynamic range of expertise, which will help further the organization’s mission to provide essential health services, education, and advocacy for women, children, and families in the communities we serve. The newly appointed board officers include: Chair: Christine Jensen, Site Administrator, Pennsylvania Career Link Vice Chair: Lake Ryan Gemzik, Chief Operating Officer/SVP of Finance and HR, Building Blocks Learning Center Treasurer: Suzanne Fletcher, CPA, CGMA, Retired Secretary: Jesse Simon, IT Tech Support, Luzerne County Head Start, Inc. These distinguished leaders collectively possess vast experience that will help guide MFHS as it continues to address the ever-evolving needs of families. “We are thrilled to welcome this new slate of board officers who bring an impressive breadth of knowledge and a shared commitment to our mission,” said Maria Montoro Edwards, President and CEO of MFHS. “Each of these individuals brings a unique perspective that will help ensure that MFHS remains a vital resource for the families we serve.” MFHS expresses its deep gratitude for the time, dedication, and leadership these new board officers bring. Their ongoing commitment to MFHS’s mission will play a key role in helping the organization create lasting, positive change for families in need.
Geisinger Performs First Ever Lifetime Guaranteed Shoulder Replacement Geisinger, Medacta announce first shoulder replacement with lifetime guarantee. Program builds on the success of the health system’s ProvenCare® surgeries on hips, knees and spines Geisinger and the Medacta Group SA, a Swiss company specializing in innovative and sustainable solutions for joint replacement, sports medicine and spine surgeries, announced the first lifetime guarantee for a recent reverse shoulder replacement surgery. Geisinger and Medacta will stand behind the full cost of care throughout the patient’s lifetime. Mark Pallis, D.O., Geisinger regional director of orthopaedic surgery, performed the first guaranteed reverse shoulder surgery at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre. “This is the first reverse shoulder arthroplasty with a lifetime guarantee in the world,” Dr. Pallis said. “We used state-of-the art intra-operative navigation to more accurately place the implants, using sensors to guide pin placement, reaming depth and screw length and position. The postoperative results were nearly identical to the preoperative plan based on 3D modeling from a CT scan of the shoulder.” A reverse shoulder replacement is a specific type of total shoulder replacement commonly performed in patients who have arthritis as well as a torn or non-functioning rotator cuff. It is called a “reverse” because the ball portion of the shoulder is placed where the socket was, and the socket implant is placed where the head of the humerus was. Medacta and Geisinger previously partnered on groundbreaking guarantees for qualified patients for hip and knee replacement surgeries and spinal fusion surgery as part of Geisinger’s ProvenCare® program, which covers inpatient and follow-up care for patients, including visits due to complications up to 90 days after the procedure. “This new guarantee allows us to expand our ProvenCare® commitment to include patients who qualify for total shoulder replacement, offering those patients a sense of security when making the decision to have the procedure,” said Michael Suk, M.D., J.D., chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. “Standing behind our world-class joint replacement and spinal surgeries demonstrates Geisinger’s commitment to making better health easier for our patients and communities.” A global leader in orthopaedic medical devices, Medacta provides unique resources to train surgeons — including those at Geisinger — in surgical techniques and the use of their specially designed hip, knee, shoulder and spinal implants for minimally invasive surgeries. Medacta’s innovative technologies are designed to enable a healthy and active lifestyle for every patient, reducing postoperative pain and shortening rehabilitation time. “The addition of the world’s first guarantee for reverse shoulder arthroplasty completes our robust offering of patient-focused guarantees for those undergoing hip, knee or spine procedures at Geisinger,” said Francesco Siccardi, CEO of Medacta International. “Through this initiative, we remain dedicated to improving outcomes for patients throughout their lifetimes.”
NEPA Philharmonic Appoints New Executive Director The Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic has announced that Chason Goldschmitz has joined the organization and will formally assume the role of Executive Director on January 1, 2025, when Nancy Sanderson steps down from the position. Carol Nelson Dembert, President of the Philharmonic Society, governing board of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic, introduced Mr. Goldschmitz at the first concert of the Thalenfeld Family Masterworks series, “Bizet, Lalo, and Sibelius” on Sunday, November 3, 2024, at 3 PM at the Scranton Cultural Center. The Philharmonic Board of Trustees has unanimously endorsed Chason Goldschmitz‘s appointment for his new role as Executive Director. We are confident that Chason and Music Director Mélisse Brunet are a dynamic duo who will continue to move the orchestra forward, building on a half century of excellence and expanding the Philharmonic’s missions of world class concerts, excellent educational programs, and community outreach. Chason Goldschmitz is an artistic administrator, producer, composer, and arranger, and he is honored to join the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic as its new Executive Director during the 2024-25 season. Goldschmitz joins the NEPA Philharmonic from the office of world-renowned soprano Renée Fleming, where he served as Director of Production, Music, and Arts & Health. In this role, he produced and supervised logistics for concerts, large-scale summits, and other public events, and served as producer and production engineer for Ms. Fleming’s multimedia events, including “Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene” performances in collaboration with National Geographic. Goldschmitz also coordinated arts and health research, policy, and funding initiatives on behalf of the Renée Fleming Foundation, in partnership with a diverse array of governmental partners and performing arts, healthcare, education, and community organizations — including the Kennedy Center, LA Opera, Johns Hopkins University, the Aspen Institute, Los Angeles County, the National Institutes of Health, and the World Health Organization. Performers of arrangements and orchestrations by Goldschmitz include soprano Renée Fleming; pianist Inon Barnatan; conductors Marin Alsop and JoAnn Falletta; the Baltimore, Houston, North Carolina, and Palm Beach Symphonies; the Buffalo Philharmonic; the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Ottawa); L’Orchestre des Nations (Geneva); and the Kennedy Center Honors. His original compositions have been commissioned by venues such as 92NY and been performed by ensembles including the Juilliard Orchestra and the Daedalus String Quartet. Goldschmitz participated in the League of American Orchestra’s 2024 Essentials of Orchestra Management program, and he will complete a Master’s in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Arizona State University in December 2024. He previously received a Master’s of Music in Music Composition from The Juilliard School, where he co-founded the school’s first contemporary opera program. Goldschmitz also received a Bachelor’s in Environmental Science at Columbia University under the Columbia-Juilliard Exchange program and a 3-year accelerated graduation track, and conducted science research in neuroscience and geochemistry at the Columbia University Medical Center and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. The Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic is a fully professional symphony orchestra performing classics, pops, holiday, chamber, and July 3-4 concerts. The Philharmonic’s educational programs include a juried mentoring program for talented high school students, “Meet the Maestra”, “Music in our Schools”, Young Peoples’ Concerts, “Once Upon an Orchestra” in regional libraries, and interactive performances in senior centers. For tickets and additional information, please call 570.270.4444 or www.NEPAphil.org.
Maternal and Family Health Services Awarded Coalition Grant Maternal and Family Health Services (MFHS) has received $900,000 in funding to develop a Regional Maternal Health Coalition (RMHC) in a 14-county service area within its existing footprint. Utilizing the CDC’s State Strategies for Preventing Pregnancy- Related Deaths and principles of community engagement, MFHS will work to select, implement, and evaluate the PA Maternal Mortality Review Committee’s (2024) recommendations for improving maternal health outcomes, promoting maternal health equity, and reducing health disparities. The goal of the project is to help improve care for pregnant women and babies by addressing maternal health issues at the local level through the creation and enhancement of regional coalitions. “There is an increasing need for access to health care and support services for women, especially during pregnancy and during the postpartum period. We’ve seen the need for these kind of services for years, and it continues to grow,” said Maria Montoro Edwards, PhD, MFHS President and CEO. “This funding will have a tremendous impact on women and families in need. MFHS is focused on improving the health outcomes related to pregnant and postpartum mothers. To lead coalition activities, MFHS hired Project Coordinator London McPhatter, MPH, who will ensure the formation of activities to find and implement real solutions to high maternal morbidity rates especially among vulnerable communities. MFHS is uniquely positioned to deliver this program given the organization’s long-standing commitment to serving women, children, and families with programs that are proven to have a positive impact on maternal and child health outcomes. The coalition will serve the 14 PA counties of Bradford, Carbon, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Luzerne, Northampton, Monroe, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Schuylkill, Tioga, Wayne, and Wyoming.
Maternal and Family Health Services Hires Director of Behavioral Health Services Yurii Lynn Harden, LCSW is returning to Maternal and Family Health Services (MFHS) as the new Director of Behavioral Health Services. In this role, Yurii will be focused on expanding behavioral health services to include teletherapy, outreach through the Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), and the introduction of therapy support groups, staff trainings, and comprehensive support for both clients and staff. Yurii originally joined MFHS as part of the foundational team that launched the Healthy Moms Program. With over 30 years of experience in the social services field, she has held a variety of leadership positions, including Director of Social Services at First Hospital, Assistant Clinical Director at Embark Behavioral Health, and most recently, Director of Social Services at Wyoming Valley Behavioral Hospital. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Yurii brings a variety of expertise, including certifications as an ASAM Trauma-Informed Trainer and Adolescent Trauma Therapist. “I firmly believe that the best behavioral health services are delivered in an individual’s natural surroundings (aka home, school, with their family) and need to include more than just the identified client,” Yurii said. “We cannot truly understand one another unless we are literally as close as possible to what they are facing on a day-to-day basis.” In addition to her professional accomplishments, Yurii is a mother to three adult children and an animal lover with a unique family of pets that includes four dogs, a cat, and a beloved pig named Elvis. She enjoys Sci-Fi and Thriller movies, and loves coffee, wine, and thunderstorms. Yurii’s commitment to enhancing behavioral health services and her belief in community-based care will be invaluable as she leads the continued development of the behavioral health program at MFHS. Please join us in welcoming Yurii as the Director of Behavioral Health Services!
Geisinger Pharmacy Opens New Infusion Suite To meet an increased demand for home infusion services, Geisinger Pharmacy has opened a new infusion suite at 620 Baltimore Drive, Suite 100, Wilkes-Barre, and offers patients a personalized approach to their specialized pharmacy and medication needs. Infusion therapy allows patients to receive their medications through their bloodstream (intravenous or IV), under their skin (subcutaneous or intramuscular) or into the membranes surrounding the spinal cord (epidural). The infusion suite is an ideal option for patients who: Prefer a clinical setting to home but need to be site-of-care compliant to meet their insurance requirements Have a home environment is not appropriate for at-home infusion Prefer to not be infused at home Need urgent infusions or those who may not want to wait for a home visit The infusion suite is open Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Patients can call 800-245-8767, option 3. To learn more about Geisinger Home Infusion Services visit geisinger.org/pharmacy.
Tomorrow’s Events at Mohegan Pennsylvania! Latitudes tequila bar • Celebrating the Day of the Dead. Ultimate tequila bar with featured, hand-crafted margaritas. 5:00pm – midnight. Bean & Vine • Quiet bar to relax or have a nightcap. 5:00pm – 1:00am Breakers • Leighann & Company performing at 8:30pm – 12:30am. The Hive Taphouse • Trivia at 7:30pm with Karaoke to follow. Celebrating the Day of the Dead with drink features. Open until 1:00am.
