The Wright Center Expanding Access to Whole-Person Primary Health Services

The Wright Center for Community Health will open a new health center in Dickson City on Tuesday, Sept. 3 as part of its efforts to expand access to responsive and inclusive whole-person primary health services across the region.

Drs. Supriana Bhandol and Ajit Pannu will lead the new location at 312 Boulevard Ave., Dickson City. Both are 2023 graduates of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Regional Family Medicine Residency and currently treat patients at The Wright Center’s Teaching Health Center in Scranton.

The Wright Center for Community Health has provided safety-net primary and preventive care services across the region for decades. The Dickson City location will be open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and offer whole-person primary health services for people of all ages, from pediatrics to geriatrics. In addition to primary care services, including checkups, physicals, screenings, and treatment of common illnesses and injuries, the new community health center will offer community-based addiction treatment and recovery services, including medication-assisted treatment. To make an appointment, call 570-489-4567 or visit TheWrightCenter.org.

The location is the former medical offices of Drs. Cynthia M. Oleski and Giovanni Ramos. After deciding to relocate, the doctors contacted The Wright Center about stepping in so patients would not experience care interruptions.

“Opening an office in Dickson City is another example of how we are fulfilling our mission to improve the health and welfare of our communities through inclusive and responsive health services,” said Marianne Linko, deputy chief operating officer at The Wright Center. “It’s also a great opportunity for two of our Regional Family Medicine Residency graduates to take on a larger role as physicians in the community.”

The Dickson City location is one of two new health centers The Wright Center will launch in September. On Monday, Sept. 9, The Wright Center’s first health center in Wyoming County will open at the former Tyler Memorial Hospital, 5950 U.S. Route 6, Suite 401, Tunkhannock. The location will be open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and offer a full slate of primary care services as well as addiction treatment and recovery services, including medication-assisted treatment.

With these new locations, The Wright Center has 12 community health centers, including a mobile medical and dental unit called Driving Better Health, serving patients of all ages, income levels, and insurance statuses in Northeast Pennsylvania. The Wright Center treated more than 35,400 unique patients in fiscal year 2023-24.

The Wright Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike with a growing network of community health centers throughout Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Wyoming counties. More than 31.5 million people across the nation receive affordable, high-quality health care each year at community health centers like The Wright Center, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC).

The community health center initiative, founded by leaders of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, was envisioned as a way to deliver care in underserved areas such as low-income urban neighborhoods and rural settings. Promoters saw it as a means to improve people’s health while also empowering communities and reducing poverty, as health centers offer access to low-cost or no-cost services as well as family-sustaining employment opportunities.

Today, there are more than 1,400 community health centers and look-alike organizations in the U.S., according to NACHC.

For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health’s integrated whole-person primary health services or for the nearest location, visit TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-489-4567.