The Wright Center earns three American Heart Association achievement awards For the second year in a row, The Wright Center for Community Health has earned three American Heart Association (AHA) achievement awards recognizing its commitment to helping patients manage high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes, key risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Nearly half of U.S. adults have some form of cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, stroke, or heart failure. High blood pressure, cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes can increase the risk of serious complications, but early diagnosis, evidence-based treatment, and patient education can help people manage these conditions and improve their long-term health. “We are honored to receive recognition from the American Heart Association for our commitment to the management and care of patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Erin McFadden, chief medical officer at The Wright Center for Community Health. “With early diagnosis and evidence-based treatment, these serious conditions can be effectively managed, helping patients improve their health, reduce the risk of complications, and enjoy longer, healthier lives.” This year, The Wright Center again earned: Target: BP Gold+ – The highest level of recognition in the Target: BP program, honoring organizations that follow evidence-based practices for blood pressure measurement and treatment and achieve blood pressure control in at least 70% of their adult patients with hypertension. Check. Change. Control. Cholesterol Gold Achievement Award – Recognizes healthcare organizations that implement evidence-based practices to help patients understand, monitor, and manage their cholesterol levels. Target: Type 2 Diabetes Gold Achievement Award – Recognizes healthcare organizations that meet established thresholds for selected clinical measures related to diabetes management and cardiovascular disease risk factors, including hypertension and high cholesterol. “Heart disease and stroke remain the leading causes of death for Americans, and addressing Type 2 diabetes, cholesterol, and blood pressure management is key for better cardiovascular health,” said Dr. Kevin Hwang, volunteer chair of the AHA’s Outpatient Quality Improvement Advisory Group. “The American Heart Association is pleased to recognize The Wright Center for its commitment to managing patient risk factors related to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes.” The Wright Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026. Founded in 1976, The Wright Centers for Community Health, Graduate Medical Education, and Patient & Community Engagement are a physician-led, community-owned nonprofit and a cornerstone of healthcare in the region. The enterprise employs nearly 680 professionals – including nearly 200 resident and fellow physicians – and trains more than 200 interprofessional healthcare learners each year. In fiscal year 2025-26, The Wright Center served more than 39,000 unique patients across all care settings in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Wyoming counties. As a nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center and safety-net provider, The Wright Center serves all patients, from pediatrics to geriatrics. Learn more at TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
Wright Center vice president of primary care and public health policy recognized as healthcare trailblazer in City & State PA list Laura Spadaro, vice president of primary care and public health policy for The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, has been named as one of Pennsylvania’s Trailblazers in Healthcare by City & State Pennsylvania, a multimedia news organization dedicated to covering the state’s politics and policy. The list recognizes public officials, hospital and healthcare executives, nonprofit leaders, union leaders, academics and others making a difference by framing, influencing and changing the healthcare industry. At The Wright Center, Spadaro leads federal and state regulatory strategy, health policy and government relations initiatives that expand access to high-quality primary and preventive health services and strengthen the healthcare safety net. Since 2021, she has directed more than 110 responses to proposed regulations and requests for information, helping shape Medicare, Medicaid and public health policy while amplifying the voices of patients and frontline clinicians. Through collaboration with national partners and policymakers, she contributed to advocacy efforts supporting multi-year reauthorization and increased federal investment in the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program, growing annual funding from approximately $175 million to $225 million. Previously, Spadaro served as executive advisor to the Pennsylvania secretary of health, focusing on strategic initiatives and cross-agency priorities. “Laura’s deep understanding of health policy combined with her ability to build meaningful relationships with policymakers and partners makes her an invaluable advocate for our patients, clinicians, and communities,” said Jennifer Walsh, Esq., senior vice president of enterprise integrity, chief legal and governance officer at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “She brings a thoughtful, informed and persistent voice to some of the most important healthcare policy discussions facing our nation, always keeping in focus the real-world impact on access to care and the people we are privileged to serve. This recognition is a well-deserved acknowledgment of Laura’s leadership and the difference she continues to make.” The Wright Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026. Founded in 1976, The Wright Centers for Community Health, Graduate Medical Education and Patient & Community Engagement are a physician-led, community-owned nonprofit and a cornerstone of healthcare in the region. The enterprise employs nearly 680 professionals, including nearly 200 resident and fellow physicians, and trains more than 200 interprofessional healthcare learners each year. In fiscal year 2025-26, The Wright Center served more than 39,000 unique patients across all care settings in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne and Wyoming counties. As a nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center and safety-net provider, The Wright Center serves all patients, from pediatrics to geriatrics. Learn more at TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
The Wright Center for Community Health’s art showcased in national traveling gallery Several pieces of art representing The Wright Center’s community spirit and dedication to healthcare are included in the National Association of Community Health Centers’ (NACHC) traveling art gallery, “Health for All: Community Health Centers Providing Primary Care Where It Matters Most.” NACHC’s gallery features an array of paintings, photographs, digital illustrations and mixed-media pieces submitted by community health centers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories. The Wright Center’s five fiberglass America250PA Liberty Bells – placed in Carbondale, Honesdale, Jermyn, Tunkhannock, and Wilkes-Barre after being hand-painted by Allison LaRussa, associate vice president of health and wellness at The Wright Center, to reflect each community’s unique history – were selected for the traveling art gallery. The Pennsylvania Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial, commonly known as America250PA, is working to place at least one fiberglass bell in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties. Additionally, two art pieces completed by staff, resident and fellow physicians and board members at The Wright Center, with the help of community partner Heart 2 Art, were selected to be displayed in NACHC’s traveling art gallery. One of the murals highlights The Wright Center’s commitment to fostering a trauma-informed culture. The other celebrates the enterprise’s longstanding commitment to training and retaining family medicine physicians in underserved communities. “Every community has a story to tell, and these works of art help us share ours,” said Brian Ebersole, senior vice president of strategic enterprise and ecosystem development at The Wright Center. “The Liberty Bells celebrate the history and character of the communities we are privileged to serve, while our murals tell stories about healing, resilience, education and our shared commitment to making a difference. Seeing this artwork recognized alongside work from community health centers across the country is a meaningful reminder that healthcare is about much more than what happens inside an exam room. It is about people, communities and the connections that help us all thrive.” The gallery debuted at NACHC’s Community Health Conference in Las Vegas on Aug. 16-18. NACHC’s gallery will also be on display at its 2027 Policies & Issues Forum in Washington, D.C., in February and at upcoming HLTH Inc. events, including HLTH USA 2026 scheduled for November in Las Vegas. Established in 1971, NACHC serves as the leading national advocacy organization for community-based health centers. NACHC works to expand access to affordable, high-quality and culturally competent primary care for underserved populations across the United States. The Wright Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2026. Founded in 1976, The Wright Centers for Community Health, Graduate Medical Education and Patient & Community Engagement are a physician-led, community-owned nonprofit enterprise and a cornerstone of healthcare in the region. The enterprise employs nearly 680 professionals – including nearly 200 resident and fellow physicians – and trains more than 200 interprofessional healthcare learners each year. In fiscal year 2025-26, The Wright Center served more than 39,000 unique patients across all care settings in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne and Wyoming counties. As a nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center and safety-net provider, The Wright Center serves all patients, from pediatrics to geriatrics. Learn more at TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
The Wright Center expands commitment to accessibility across websites, documents and digital media The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education is strengthening its commitment to digital accessibility through a partnership with TechA11y, a Pennsylvania-based provider of AI-powered technology designed to help organizations continuously monitor and improve digital accessibility and compliance. Through the partnership, TechA11y has deployed its accessibility technology and services across The Wright Center’s primary website and affiliated digital properties, including TheWrightCenter.org, HealthyMOMS.org, TheWrightGraduation.org and other digital assets. The initiative also extends to The Wright Center’s PDF documents and digital media, providing a more comprehensive approach to making online information and resources accessible to people of all abilities. For The Wright Center, the initiative reflects both a desire to address accessibility requirements and a broader commitment to ensuring that patients, families, learners and community members can access important information and digital resources without unnecessary barriers. “Access has always been central to the work of The Wright Center, and today that has to include digital access,” said Paul Krzywicki, executive director of marketing and communications at The Wright Center. “Our websites and digital resources are important ways that patients, families, learners and members of our communities connect with our enterprise. We want those experiences to be welcoming and accessible to everyone. Our partnership with TechA11y gives us a continuous approach to improving accessibility as our digital content evolves.” Rather than treating accessibility as a one-time project, the partnership establishes an ongoing accessibility program across The Wright Center’s digital presence. TechA11y’s continuous compliance infrastructure monitors covered websites for accessibility issues, generates and deploys remediation, responds to changing and dynamic web content and documents remediation activity over time. The engagement also includes accessibility remediation services for PDF documents and digital media. The partnership includes accessibility services for: TheWrightCenter.org, The Wright Center’s primary digital presence; HealthyMOMS.org, supporting information and resources connected with the Healthy Maternal Opiate Medical Support (MOMS) program; TheWrightGraduation.org, supporting The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s graduation community; PDFs and other digital documents; digital media requiring accessibility remediation; and other digital assets. Digital accessibility presents an ongoing challenge for organizations because websites and other digital resources are constantly changing. New pages are published, documents are uploaded, media is added, third-party components change and users encounter content in different contexts. TechA11y was designed to address that environment as continuous compliance infrastructure rather than as a one-time accessibility audit or user-facing widget. The initiative reflects a shared view between The Wright Center and TechA11y that digital accessibility should be considered part of an organization’s broader commitment to serving its community. For individuals with disabilities, accessible digital resources can affect the ability to locate health information, learn about available programs and services, understand educational opportunities, access documents and media and interact effectively with an organization online. By integrating accessibility into the ongoing operation of its digital properties, The Wright Center is extending its commitment to access into the digital experience.
The Wright Center: Dr. Hassan Joins As Teaching Hospitalist A teaching hospitalist and physician has joined The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. Dr. Faiza Hassan will serve as a teaching hospitalist for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency Program, supervising resident physicians in clinical learning environments across Northeast Pennsylvania, including Wilkes-Barre General Hospital and Geisinger Community Health Center. In this role, Dr. Hassan will support program leadership in developing, implementing, and evaluating curriculum for the internal medicine residency program, as well as mentoring resident learners and assessing their progress. Additionally, Dr. Hassan will provide responsive and inclusive whole-person primary health services for individuals 18 and older, including checkups, physicals, screenings, and treatment of common illnesses and injuries at The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton, 501 S. Washington Ave. The community health center is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. To schedule an appointment, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019. Dr. Hassan earned her medical degree from Fatima Jinnah Medical University in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. She moved to the United States in 2014 and completed her internal medicine residency at Central Michigan University Health in Saginaw, Michigan, in July 2025. The program focuses on training resident physicians for careers as hospitalists and primary care physicians.
The Wright Center for Community Health Earns National Recognition The Wright Center for Community Health has been recognized by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American Medical Association (AMA) for its commitment to improving patients’ blood pressure control rates, earning Gold Plus-level recognition as part of Target: BP. Target: BP is a national initiative created by the AHA and AMA in response to the high prevalence of uncontrolled blood pressure. The highest award, Gold Plus, recognizes health care enterprises that have demonstrated evidence-based practices for blood pressure measurement and treatment, and in which high blood pressure is controlled in 70% or more of the affected adult patients. The Wright Center also received two other Gold Awards from the AHA: one for improving the quality of care for patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors through the Target: Type 2 Diabetes program; and the other for improving the quality of care through awareness, detection, and management of high cholesterol with evidence-based strategies and tools through the program, Check. Change. Control. Cholesterol. Target: Type 2 Diabetes addresses heart disease and stroke risk factors in patients with Type 2 diabetes and puts the unparalleled expertise of the AHA to work for health care organizations nationwide, helping ensure the care provided to patients is aligned with the latest evidence- and research-based guidelines. Check. Change. Control. Cholesterol supports physicians and care teams by offering access to the latest research, tools, and resources to reach and sustain cholesterol control rates among the adult patient population they serve. “Receiving these three Gold Awards from the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association underscores our commitment to advancing the health and well-being of patients living with these chronic conditions,” said Dr. Erin McFadden, chief medical officer at The Wright Center for Community Health. “Through timely diagnosis and evidence-based treatment, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes can be effectively managed, empowering patients to achieve healthier, longer lives.” Nearly half of all adults in the U.S. – about 122.4 million – are living with high blood pressure, also known as hypertension, according to the AHA. About 29.3 million U.S. adults have been diagnosed with diabetes, and another estimated 9.7 million are living with undiagnosed diabetes, the AHA said. Approximately 104 million adults in the United States (about 40%) have high cholesterol, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. All three chronic illnesses increase a person’s risk for serious health complications, including cardiovascular disease and stroke, which are the No. 1 and No. 5 causes of death in the U.S., respectively. Stroke is a leading cause of disability, according to a 2025 report from the AHA. “Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for people living with Type 2 diabetes,” said Dr. Howard Haft, a member of the American Heart Association’s National Quality Oversight Committee. “Organizations that participate in programs like this help raise awareness of the link between diabetes and cardiovascular disease and can improve patient outcomes. We are pleased to recognize The Wright Center for its commitment to quality care.” In fiscal year 2024-25, The Wright Center served about 38,300 unique patients at its growing network of community health centers in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Wyoming counties. As a nonprofit Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike and safety-net provider, it serves vulnerable and medically underserved populations, regardless of age, ethnic background, ZIP code, insurance status, or ability to pay. It accepts all insurance plans and offers a sliding-fee discount program based on federal poverty guidelines that considers family size and income. No patient is ever turned away due to an inability to pay. For more information, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-209-0019.
The Wright Center Welcomes New Workers The Wright Center for Community Health and residents of Northeast Pennsylvania are offering two new community health workers (CHWs) with specialized services to patients, thanks to a unique program through the National Health Corps (NHC). Harry Yanoshak of Plains Township to work with The Wright Center’s geriatric care teams and Kristin Zaorski of Covington Township will collaborate with The Wright Center’s behavioral health teams. Both CHWs are funded through the NHC’s Community Health Fellowship, a grassroots community health service program that trains local community residents as CHWs. The new employees are committed to addressing the unmet needs of underserved populations and honing their skills as community health leaders. The Wright Center employs CHWs to help connect patients and community members to various resources. In addition to connecting them to food pantries and helping them find safe, affordable housing, CHWs can also help patients address utility bills, transportation to and from doctor’s appointments, health insurance applications, and a variety of other needs. “They bridge the gap,” said Kathleen Doyle, director of patient-centered services at The Wright Center. “They help address basic needs so patients can focus on their health and medical needs. This ties in directly to The Wright Center’s mission to improve the health and welfare of our communities through inclusive and responsive health services.” The NHC program funds CHWs to work in specialized areas to facilitate integration with The Wright Center for Community Health’s whole-person primary health services. “This is one more step in offering whole-person, integrated care,” said Lou Strazzeri, community and agency referrals coordinator for The Wright Center. “We can now offer a CHW who can focus specifically on what a patient being seen by our geriatric care team might need or what one of our behavioral health patients may need.” Nicole Lipinski, director of The Wright Center’s Geriatric Service Line, looks forward to the unique resources and support Yanoshak will be able to offer to patients and their families. “We are able to help this vulnerable population navigate through the care continuum as they age in place or require additional assistance with care in facilities,” she said. “Having a CHW will only enhance what we can offer.” CHWs are one of the fastest-growing occupations in today’s health care field, with a projected 12% increase in jobs between 2021 and 2031, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Participants in the AmeriCorps-funded NHC program must complete 1,700 hours of service within a term spanning 42-46 weeks. They also must complete a CHW training course offered by the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center. They receive a living stipend and are eligible for food and child care assistance, tuition reimbursement, and access to health insurance, including medical, vision, and dental. The Wright Center, headquartered in Scranton, operates 10 primary and preventive care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania, including a mobile medical and dental vehicle called Driving Better Health. Its locations offer integrated whole-person primary health services, 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. For more information, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.
