The Wright Center to Observe National Health Center Week

Members News

August 5, 2024

The Wright Center for Community Health will host a week of activities aimed at improving the health and well-being of communities in Northeast Pennsylvania as part of National Health Center Week from Aug. 4-10. 

The Wright Center, one of nearly 1,400 community health centers in the country, served more than 35,400 unique patients in fiscal year 2023-24. Community health centers represent the largest primary care network in the nation, delivering care to more than 30 million people annually, or one in 11 people nationwide. Of those served, one in three people live in poverty and one in five are uninsured, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers, which organizes National Health Center Week.

This year’s National Health Center Week theme is “Powering our communities Through Caring Connections,” an important reminder of the critical role that community health centers play in strengthening the delivery of responsive and inclusive whole-person primary health services to underserved populations across the nation.

The Wright Center will kick off National Health Center Week a day early by offering vaccinations, dental screenings, free backpacks and school supplies for children, Narcan kits, and more at the second annual NEPA’s Latino Fiesta on Saturday, Aug. 3, from noon to 6 p.m. at Nay Aug Park, 500 Arthur Ave., Scranton.

Other National Health Center events organized by The Wright Center include:

  • Monday, Aug. 5: Distributing care packages for people experiencing homelessness from 5-7 p.m., at Keystone Mission, 90 E. Union St., Wilkes-Barre.
  • Monday, Aug. 5: Distributing coloring books, crayons, vaccine information, and more from noon to 3 p.m. at the Co-op Farmers Market, 900 Barring Ave., Scranton.
  • Tuesday, Aug. 6: Distributing backpacks and school supplies for children, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., at The Wright Center’s Teaching Health Center in Hawley, 103 Spruce St.
  • Wednesday, Aug. 7: Serving lunch and distributing backpacks and school supplies for children, noon to 2 p.m., at The Wright Center’s Teaching Health Center in Wilkes-Barre, 169 N. Pennsylvania Ave.
  • Thursday, Aug. 8: Distributing backpacks and school supplies for children, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., at The Wright Center’s Teaching Health Center in South Abington Township, 1145 Northern Blvd.
  • Friday, Aug. 9: Distributing backpacks and school supplies for children, 3-4:30 p.m., at the Carbondale Public Library, 5 N. Main St.
  • Saturday, Aug. 10: Distributing backpacks, school supplies, and dental kits for children, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., at The Wright Center’s Teaching Health Center in Jermyn, 5 S. Washington Ave.

The Wright Center, headquartered in Scranton, has a growing network of 10 Teaching Health Centers in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wayne counties, including a mobile medical and dental unit called Driving Better Health. Its locations offer affordable, high-quality, nondiscriminatory, whole-person primary health services to people of all ages regardless of their insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay. Patients typically have the convenience of going to a single location to access integrated medical, dental, and behavioral health care, as well as community-based addiction treatment and recovery services. For more information, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.