The Wright Center: A 117-year-old legacy at risk: Why Regional Hospital’s survival matters to Northeast Pennsylvania Since 1908, Regional Hospital of Scranton, including Moses Taylor, remains a NEPA health care ecosystem legacy pillar, delivering lifesaving services to generations of families to promote our health and well-being. Regional’s sustainability is vital for acute care access when patients are most vulnerable. Its obstetrical center of excellence ensures the safe arrival of the vast majority of babies born in our community. The Wright Center is eager to collaborate with new ownership to ensure seamless, forward momentum of community-responsive, high-quality health services and community-based physician and interprofessional health care workforce development. All stakeholders should meaningfully engage to ensure new ownership seeks and values community input, while maintaining and improving access to health care services, employment, and workforce development opportunities. Recently announced potential plans to preserve Regional brings hopeful but cautious optimism to a broad coalition of community members, legacy partners, advocacy organizations, and the health care union. Our collective commitment to collaboratively ensure preserving access to health care services, protecting family-sustaining jobs, upholding crucial hospital partnerships, and empowering our community’s priorities is unwavering. For nearly 50 years, The Wright Center has been deeply mission-intertwined with Regional to improve the health and welfare of our communities through responsive, whole-person health services for all and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve. Community benefit impact, health outcomes, and economic vitality generated by our enduring partnership are undeniable. Together, we have cared for countless patients and families; trained over 1,000 physicians, possibly including your doctor amongst many serving NEPA today; and educated innumerable health care students from a dozen academic institutions to understand and serve our unique needs. In 2024, almost half of The Wright Center’s total economic impact of $198,978,143, supporting 1,199 local jobs, was generated by The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, a cherished community asset dependent on its foundational Regional partnership for its existence. My personal connection to Regional runs deep. So much of who I am professionally was determined by my recruitment home 25 years ago as a Mercy physician to join Dr. Tucker Clauss, who delivered me in 1968 at the then Mercy Hospital. The valuable mentorship and learning I received serving patients, families, and communities inside Regional’s walls can never be overstated. My deeply personal, hard-won journey culminated in a historic election as the first female and, as fate would have it, final president of Mercy’s medical staff, a landmark achievement quickly and tragically overshadowed by heartbreak when our cherished hospital transitioned to for-profit ownership. Its turbulent, uncertain future continues today. Faithfully, I continue caring for multigenerational families who depend on Regional for life-saving services. Like many of you, losing Regional would feel like losing family. Stabilizing NEPA’s acute hospital services is undeniably urgent, particularly given our aging population and prevalence of chronic disease. Allowing Regional to close would trigger a devastating, modern-day “Tragedy of the Commons,” immediately crippling access to acute hospital services. The devastating human and economic aftershocks on our community would be long-lasting. Future generations would pay the price for decades. Regional delivers 380,000 encounters annually, including 36,000 emergency visits. Closure would instantaneously create a critical shortage of nearly 30,000 acute hospital “bed days” and longer wait times for everyone in our region’s already overflowing and overburdened ERs. Impact on maternal and newborn care would be equally catastrophic. Over 1,700 expectant mothers and 70% of babies born in Lackawanna County rely on Regional’s services annually. Other area hospitals simply lack capacity to accommodate this volume or the ability to replace Lackawanna County’s only Level III neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The next closest NICU is 45 minutes away – an eternity for newborns struggling to breathe. Beyond patient care, Regional’s major employer contributions are vital to our local economy, providing more than 1,000 family-sustaining, union-supported jobs, injecting $148 million in wages and benefits. Failure to secure Regional’s viable future is simply not an option. The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s existence depends on a community solution. All stakeholders, including elected officials, leadership of health systems, educational institutions, labor, and business, and, most importantly, each of us whose lives are on the line, must engage meaningfully to ensure a welcoming transition to new ownership. Together, we need to communicate our expectations to ensure new ownership will truly seek and value meaningful community input to honor our legacies and collective priorities, while steadfastly maintaining and improving access to essential health care services, employment opportunities, and workforce development.
2025 ATHENA Leadership Award Recipient Announced The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that Linda Thomas-Hemak, M.D., FACP, FAAP, the president and chief executive officer of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, is the 2025 ATHENA Leadership Award recipient. The ATHENA Award, sponsored locally by Michael A. Barbetti LLC Certified Public Accountants, honors an exceptional individual who has achieved excellence in their business or profession, has served the community in a meaningful way, and has assisted women in their attainment of professional goals and leadership skills. Dr. Thomas-Hemak embodies these characteristics wholeheartedly. Dr. Thomas-Hemak joined The Wright Center in 2001, became president in 2007, and CEO in 2012. Concurrent with her responsibilities as an executive, Dr. Thomas-Hemak is also quintuple board-certified in internal medicine, pediatrics, addiction medicine, obesity medicine, and nutrition and remains a healer at heart. “It is a true privilege to recognize Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak as the 2025 Athena Award recipient,” said Bob Durkin, president of The Chamber. “Her relentless commitment to her patients, hands-on leadership style, and deep dedication to the community set her apart as an exceptional individual. We are proud to honor Dr. Thomas-Hemak for the profound and lasting impact she has made on both healthcare and our community. Congratulations, Dr. Thomas-Hemak!” In the community, Dr. Thomas-Hemak is actively involved in multiple organizations, countless committees, nonprofit boards and workgroups aimed at benefiting the community, generating efficiencies in healthcare delivery, and promoting primary healthcare workforce development, both regionally and nationally. Additionally, she is a founding board member of the Scranton-based Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. Dr. Thomas-Hemak promotes the advancement of women by leading boldly and strategically, fostering inclusive opportunities and career advancement, and mentoring opportunities for female leaders to pursue meaningful, transformative careers in health care. The ATHENA Award will be presented to Dr. Thomas-Hemak at The Chamber’s International Women’s Day Breakfast, sponsored by The Honesdale National Bank, on Friday, March 7. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ScrantonChamber.com. The ATHENA Award was first presented in 1982 in Lansing, Michigan, and has grown to include presentations to more than 5,000 individuals in hundreds of cities in the United States as well as in Canada, China, Russia, and the United Kingdom. The award takes the form of a hand-cast bronze sculpture, symbolizing the strength, courage, and wisdom of the recipient. The ATHENA Award® Program is nationally underwritten by General Motors and National City Bank.
The Wright Center CEO and President named One State’s most Powerful and Influential Female Leaders Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, was named one of the 100 most powerful and influential female leaders in Pennsylvania by City & State Pennsylvania. The multimedia organization debuted its third annual Power of Diversity: Women 100 list on Dec. 23. The list highlights the achievements of women in diverse fields – including government, nonprofits, education, business, labor, and advocacy – who are shaping Pennsylvania’s future with their visionary leadership and significant contributions. Honorees included Kim Ward, president pro tempore, Senate of Pennsylvania; Joanna McClinton, speaker, Pennsylvania House of Representatives; Cherelle Parker, mayor of Philadelphia; Debra Todd, chief justice, Pennsylvania Supreme Court; and Leslie C. Davis, president and CEO, UPMC. This is the second time this year that City & State Pennsylvania has recognized Dr. Thomas-Hemak for her exceptional leadership and achievements. In July, the organization selected her as a 2024 Trailblazer in Health Care. Concurrent with her executive responsibilities, Dr. Thomas-Hemak is also quintuple board-certified in internal medicine, pediatrics, obesity medicine, addiction medicine, and nutrition. She sees generations of patients at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley in her hometown of Jermyn. “Dr. Thomas-Hemak’s well-deserved recognition as one of Pennsylvania’s 100 most powerful and influential female leaders reaffirms what we at The Wright Center already know: she is a brilliant, visionary, and inspirational leader, as well as a compassionate, dedicated, and exceptionally skilled physician,” said The Wright Center for Community Health Board of Directors Chair Deborah Kolsovsky. “She has an infectious passion for helping others and a remarkable ability to inspire a shared vision. She has devoted her entire career to advancing health equity, especially among our region’s most vulnerable populations, improving access to high-quality, nondiscriminatory, whole-person primary health services, and training and mentoring the next generation of health care professionals.” Dr. Thomas-Hemak graduated from Scranton Preparatory School and the University of Scranton. After graduating as a Michael DeBakey Scholar from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and completing Harvard’s Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency Program in Boston, she returned to Northeast Pennsylvania, joining The Wright Center in 2001, becoming president in 2007, and CEO in 2012. Under her stewardship, The Wright Center has expanded its growing network of community health centers in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Wyoming counties, including a mobile medical and dental unit called Driving Better Health. She also guided The Wright Center to achieve numerous prestigious distinctions, including its designation as a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike in 2019, which unlocked essential federal resources for the region and significantly expanded health care access. The Wright Center has also been recognized as a Top 30 Site for National Primary Care Innovations by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and, in 2024, was inducted into the esteemed American Medical Association’s ChangeMedEd Consortium. Dr. Thomas-Hemak also led The Wright Center for Community Health’s transformation into one of the first state-designated Opioid Use Disorder Centers of Excellence in 2016, improving access to substance use disorder treatment. Amid rising obesity rates, she guided physicians in obtaining board certification in obesity medicine to better address critical health needs. She also transformed The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education into one of the nation’s largest Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums (GME-SNC). Through inclusive, interprofessional workforce development and targeted initiatives, the GME-SNC model seeks to improve public health by addressing the national primary care physician shortage, misdistribution and related health and health care career access disparities. Dr. Thomas-Hemak also serves as the governor for the Eastern Region of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians, the nation’s largest medical-specialty organization. She sits on numerous local, regional, and national health care and medical education nonprofit governing boards, cross-sector committees, and workgroups, including the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration’s Council on Graduate Medical Education, a federal advisory committee that assesses and recommends actions on physician workforce trends, training issues, and financing policies. She is chair of the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center Governing Board and a governing board member of the Keystone Accountable Care Organization, The Institute, and the Center for Health and Human Services Research and Action. She is also a founding member of the consortium that established the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine and a founding board member of the American Association of Teaching Health Centers. Dr. Thomas-Hemak has received several prestigious state and national awards for her leadership, mentorship, and advocacy initiatives, including the 2024 Hometown Scholars Advocacy Award from the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC) and A.T. Still University for her exemplary leadership in mentoring and inspiring others; the 2024 Wilford Payne Health Center Mentor Award from the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers; NACHC’s 2022 Elizabeth K. Cooke Advocacy MVP Award for her efforts in engaging Congress and expanding grassroots advocacy; and the 2020 Ann Preston Women in Medicine Award from the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American College of Physicians for advancing women’s leadership in medicine. She and her husband, Mark, reside in Jermyn and have three children, Mason, Maya, and Antoinette. Dr. Thomas-Hemak is the daughter of the late William Thomas and Johanna Cavalieri Thomas, who lives in Archbald.
The Wright Center President Named Governor-Elect for the Eastern Region of the PA-ACP Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, has been elected governor-elect for the eastern region of the American College of Physicians’ Pennsylvania Chapter (PA-ACP). Beginning in April, she will serve one year as governor-elect concurrently with Dr. Lawrence H. Jones, governor of the eastern region whose term expires in 2023. Her four-year term as governor begins April 2023. Founded in 1915, the American College of Physicians is a national organization of internists, who specialize in the diagnosis, treatment and care of adults. It is the nation’s largest medical-specialty organization, with more than 161,000 members, of which more than 7,800 are members of the PA-ACP chapter. The PA-ACP chapter has three regional governors that represent the eastern, western and southeastern regions of the commonwealth. “I am humbled and proud to represent and advocate on behalf of my physician colleagues we represent, the profession of medicine we embody and the patients, families and communities we serve through the American College of Physicians’ Pennsylvania Chapter,” said Thomas-Hemak, who previously received the prestigious Dr. Ann Preston Women in Medicine and Laureate awards from PA-ACP in 2020 and 2014 respectively. “Our collective mission to improve health care and access has certainly been challenged by the pandemic, but we remain resolute in exceeding the high standards we strive for every day to improve the health and welfare of our local, state and national communities. “I am grateful for and inspired by the incredible honor and leadership opportunity,” she added. Overall, the American College of Physicians works to enhance the quality and effectiveness of health care by fostering excellence and professionalism in the practice of medicine and promotes quality patient care, advocacy, education and career fulfillment in internal medicine and its subspecialties. The 87-member board of governors is an advisory board, featuring representatives from Alabama to Alberta, Bangladesh to Brazil and Ontario to Pennsylvania. Collectively, the elected board members act as an advisory board to the college’s policy-making body, the board of regents. The board of governors implements national projects and initiatives at the chapter level and represents member concerns at the national level. Born and raised in Northeast Pennsylvania, Thomas-Hemak received her undergraduate degree from The University of Scranton. After graduating as a Michael DeBakey Scholar from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and completing Harvard’s Combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency in Boston, Massachusetts, she returned to the region to practice and teach primary care. She joined The Wright Center in 2000 and became president of The Wright Center for Community Health in 2007. In 2012, she was named president and CEO of both The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. Concurrent with her responsibilities as an executive, Thomas-Hemak is also board certified in internal, pediatrics, addiction, and most recently, obesity medicine. Her favorite professional responsibilities are to teach and provide comprehensive primary health services to multigenerational families served by The Wright Center for Community Health’s Mid Valley Practice in Archbald and Jermyn, her hometown community where she was born, raised and currently resides with her husband and three children. For more information about The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-343-2383.
