The Wright Center to Hold COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic The Wright Center for Community Health is holding a Driving Better Health COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at St. Francis Food Pantry, 500 Penn Ave., Scranton, on Friday, Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Driving Better Health is a 34-foot mobile medical unit that brings high-quality health care services directly to the underserved communities of Northeast Pennsylvania. The mobile medical unit has been serving populations of special concern since 2020. It is regularly deployed to senior living centers, regional schools, homeless shelters and other community gathering spots. COVID-19 vaccines and boosters are available for anybody age 5 and up. A guardian must accompany patients who are younger than 17. Walk-up appointments are welcome depending on vaccine availability, but appointments are encouraged for the convenience of patients. Please go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019 to schedule an appointment. The Wright Center for Community Health clinical staff will also offer COVID-19 testing and flu vaccines at the clinic. Patients are asked to observe public safety measures, including masking and social distancing, during the clinic and bring identification and insurance cards.
Wright Center Dentist Appointed to NYU Langone Dental Medicine Faculty Dr. Satya Upadhyayula, a board-certified general practice dentist at The Wright Center for Community Health, recently received a faculty appointment to NYU Langone Dental Medicine, enabling him to share his oral surgery and dental treatment know-how with dental residents who are training locally. The Wright Center became a dental training site and welcomed its first two residents in 2021 through a new affiliation with NYU Langone Dental Medicine. The Brooklyn, N.Y.,-based organization operates the world’s largest postdoctoral dental residency program of its kind, training about 400 residents annually at partner sites including community health centers, hospitals and other affiliates in nearly 30 states. The Wright Center is currently the only partner site in Pennsylvania. The affiliation between the two health care organizations represents another way in which The Wright Center is bringing more health professionals to Northeast Pennsylvania to address the community’s pressing health needs. “I’m glad to have attained this faculty appointment, allowing me to play a more integral role in preparing the next generation of dentists, especially those with a heart for serving in medically underserved and economically disadvantaged areas,” said Upadhyayula. Known to many of his patients and colleagues as “Dr. U,” Upadhyayula is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine. Prior to joining The Wright Center, he completed an oral and maxillofacial surgery internship at the University of Maryland Medical Center. He becomes the second faculty physician based at The Wright Center to support the Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) residency, joining site director Dr. Caitlin McCarthy. Faculty physician Dr. Isaac Navarro, who is based in California, was instrumental in the program’s startup at The Wright Center and remains critical to its success, leading grand rounds virtually each month. The dental residents train at The Wright Center’s Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave., Scranton, and its Mid Valley Practice, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn. Each site has a state-of-the-art dental clinic that offers the public access to oral care services including check-ups and cleanings, fillings, X-rays, extractions, emergency services, oral cancer screenings and denture care. NYU Langone Dental Medicine’s residency program, which is fully accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation, complements The Wright Center’s existing educational activities. For more than 45 years, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education has been a provider of residency training in Greater Scranton, helping to build a pipeline of medical professionals to meet the needs of the region and the nation. Today it offers residencies in internal medicine, family medicine and psychiatry as well as fellowships in cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology and geriatrics. For more information, visit TheWrightCenter.org.
Wright Center’s Dr. Eisenberg Named Senior Advisor at the Center for Healthcare Innovation Dr. David Eisenberg, the deputy chief medical officer for value-based care, health informatics and operational sustainability at The Wright Center for Community Health, has been named a senior advisor by the Center for Healthcare Innovation. The Center for Healthcare Innovation is a nonprofit research and educational institute based in Chicago, Illinois, that brings diverse global leaders together to work on improving health care for everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status, gender, race, ethnicity or other social determinants. Its members include health care providers, executives, caregivers, authors, entrepreneurs, researchers and more who work collaboratively on the common goal of reducing health disparities. At The Wright Center, he leads value-based care contracts across four major payers and three Medicaid managed care organizations for primary and behavioral health service lines; collaborates with executive leadership on business development and sustainability, and engages in cross-functional initiatives that drive integration and alignment to improve operational and financial performance. Eisenberg earned his Bachelor of Science in neuroscience from the University of Pittsburgh and his Doctor of Medicine from Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. He served an internship in The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Psychiatry Residency and is a candidate for his Master of Management in clinical informatics from Duke University. In addition, Eisenberg has clinical and administrative experience in developing and implementing interoperability workflows across multiple disciplines of health care. Overall, the Center for Healthcare Innovation advocates for those who are vulnerable, at-risk and underserved by developing collaborative relationships that make health care more equitable for all patients; increases understanding and metrics of health equity; produces impactful research on trends and challenges to health equity; analyzes and disseminates best practices for reducing disparities, and develops ideas for policymakers that work to eliminate obstacles to care and reducing health disparities. It accomplishes its objectives by hosting educational events for global health care innovators, conducting independent research, and advising leaders and teams on how to solve strategic health care and health equity challenges in the industry. For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health, please go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-343-2383.
Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Scholarly Abstract Accepted for Presentation at HRSA’s National Conference Dr. Karen ArscottDr. Meaghan RuddyDr. Linda Thomas-HemakScott ConstantiniJumee Barooah A scholarly research team at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education has had their scholarly abstract, “An Addiction Medicine Fellowship’s Valuable Engagement in an Essential Community Provider’s ‘Whole Person’ Care and Education Model,” accepted for presentation at a highly competitive national conference. The federal Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) abstract review committee chose the research article for its Bureau of Health Workforce Virtual All Grantee and Stakeholder Meeting in April. The focus of the meeting is for participants to learn from grantees and trainees about programs, ideas and research that can improve the health workforce. Dr. Karen Arscott, a primary care and addiction medicine specialist, will make the public presentation of the abstract for the research team. Drs. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO, and Jumee Barooah, designated institutional officer, also contributed to the research along with Scott Constantini, director of behavioral health, and Meaghan Ruddy, Ph.D., senior vice president of assessment and advancement for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. The abstract, one of 72 accepted for presentation, illustrates how HRSA’s investment in the Geisinger-Wright Center for Community Health addiction fellowship partnership helped improve access to health care services and trained the health workforce to address behavioral and community health needs.
Wright Center’s Chief Fellow Publishes 100th Scholarly Article The chief fellow for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Gastroenterology Fellowship recently published the 100th scholarly article during his fellowship, “Scope of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Gastrointestinal Oncology,” in Cancers, a peer-reviewed journal of oncology that is published semimonthly. Dr. Hemant Goyal, a fellow of the American College of Physicians, was invited to review literature that addressed the most current information available about the role of AI in diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, which cause more than 2.8 million deaths annually worldwide. He and his co-authors labeled the advancements and use of AI in endoscopic procedures as a “significant breakthrough in modern medicine.” The diagnostic accuracy of AI systems has markedly improved in screening, diagnosing and treating various cancers by accurately analyzing diagnostic clinical images, but it needs additional collaboration among physicians. Overall, he has published more than 175 peer-reviewed articles in various national and international scientific journals. Goyal’s research, “Taste Changes (Dysgeusia) in COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Metanalysis,” appeared in the Gastroenterology, the No. 1 scientific journal in the field of gastroenterology. It was the first published meta-analysis that highlighted taste changes as one of COVID-19’s symptoms. Goyal also published, “Hyperlipasemia and Potential Pancreatic Injury Pattern in COVID-19: A Marker of Severity or Innocent Bystander,” in the Gastroenterology. The research highlighted the importance of elevation in lipase levels, which help the human body digest fats, in patients with COVID-19. The International Journal of Colorectal Diseases included his scholarly research article, “Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer: Hospitalization Trends and Gender Disparities in the United State 2010-14.” It showed that white females between 41-50 years of age with colorectal cancer have higher hospitalization rates. The abstract earned first place at the 2019 Pennsylvania Society of Gastroenterology meeting. Goyal, a gastroenterologist-in-training and doctor of internal medicine, accepts adult patients at The Wright Center for Community Health’s Mid Valley Practice, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn, for treatment of Hepatitis C. The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Institutional Review Board-approves research studies, systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Overall, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education has had 75 scholarly abstracts written on a wide array of topics in medicine accepted for presentation at professional conferences since the beginning of the 2021-22 academic year. For more information about The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, go to www.thewrightcenter.org or call 570-343-2383.
The Wright Center to Deploy CDC-Funded ‘Community Vaccine Ambassadors’ The Wright Center for Community Health has been selected as one of 15 health centers across the nation to participate in a grant-funded Community Vaccine Ambassador Project, aimed at increasing COVID-19 immunizations among groups that historically have been marginalized. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will fund the initiative, which involves health centers in 12 states. The project is being conducted in partnership with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council and the National Association of Community Health Centers. The Wright Center will receive $200,000 in grant funding to focus on administering vaccines to individuals with substance use disorders and individuals who experience homelessness. These populations have been identified as being at increased risk for COVID-19 infection because, among other reasons, they “experience barriers to accessing health care and might have low levels of trust in the medical system due to previous experiences of trauma or stigma,” according to the project’s organizers. The Wright Center’s community health workers and certified recovery specialists will serve as project “ambassadors,” providing vaccination education and information over the year-long project to people in the organization’s five-county service area in Northeast Pennsylvania. Since December 2020, when the new COVID-19 vaccines first became available, The Wright Center has administered more than 40,500 vaccine doses. The federal Health Resources and Services Administration earlier this year presented a 2021 Community Health Quality Recognition award to The Wright Center, recognizing the nonprofit organization’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts in response to the public health crisis. The Wright Center, which serves as one of about 50 Pennsylvania-designated Opioid Use Disorder Centers of Excellence, has significant experience in treating and supporting individuals who are coping with substance use disorder. It has assisted individuals living in recovery who have been involved in the criminal justice system, and it co-founded the region’s Healthy Maternal Opiate Medical Support (MOMS) program, which assists pregnant and new mothers who have a substance use disorder. For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health, call 570.343.2383 or go to TheWrightCenter.org.
The Wright Center Appoints Infusion Therapy Nurse The Wright Center for Community Health recently appointed Cyndi Colman, a registered nurse, as an infusion therapy nurse at its Mid Valley Practice in Jermyn to improve the health and welfare of the community. A Clarks Summit resident, Colman’s role will support physicians to carry out a variety of treatments and procedures in nursing care, including COVID-19 positive patients. Colman will assist in assuring effective and efficient coordination of nursing activities within the Scranton Practice by preparing, administering and managing infusion therapy of monoclonal antibody therapy in an outpatient infusion suite. “As an infusion therapy clinician, I always keep in mind that our patients are the reason I do what I do,” said Colman, who has 40 years of experience in the nursing field. “I am grateful to have the qualifications to provide this needed service and have no doubt that our efforts will have a positive impact toward the care of our patients and in our clinics.” The Wright Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike. All patients are provided access to health care regardless of their ability to pay. People who are not insured or lack adequate coverage might be eligible for the sliding fee discount program, which allows The Wright Center to reduce fees for eligible patients, depending on household income and family size. Visit thewrightcenter.org/sliding-fee-scale for more information. A comprehensive medical home to more than 30,000 patients, The Wright Center provides services at eight primary care practices to patients primarily from Lackawanna, Luzerne, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties. To make an appointment, call 570-941-0630 or go to thewrightcenter.org.
The Wright Center for Community Health Announces Open Enrollment Event to Assist with Applying for Health Insurance Coverage Area residents buying health insurance on Pennie, the state’s marketplace exchange, will have more plans to choose from and may pay lower premiums this year thanks to pandemic relief efforts. In order to help community members understand benefits available to them, The Wright Center for Community Health will offer free, in-person assistance on Friday, Dec. 10 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at its Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave. Wright Center certified assisters will provide free advice on health care coverage and help people sign up for a plan that meets their needs through Pennie, the replacement for healthcare.gov as Pennsylvania’s official site for choosing health insurance plans. Enrollment is open through Jan. 15, 2022, though plans must be purchased by Dec. 31 for coverage to begin Jan. 1 of next year. At the Dec. 10 event, Wright Center enrollment assisters will: Explain benefit options;Find the best plan to fit every budget, andCheck eligibility for financial assistance. To schedule an appointment, call Kristen Welch, outreach and enrollment navigator at The Wright Center, at 570.209.3737 or email WelchK@thewrightcenter.org. Please include your full name and phone number. Attendees are asked to enter the event through the patient entrance of the Scranton practice, located on the parking lot side of the building, where an enrollment table will be set up inside the lobby. The Wright Center’s enrollment assisters are trained to help people identify and enroll in trusted affordable health insurance coverage options, providing them with a financial safety net and greater access to care. The confidential face-to-face meeting will help people better understand their options and assist them in the enrollment process. “We know there are many residents in our area who remain uninsured and may not be offered coverage through work. Health insurance coverage is a basic human right and enrollment events like ours provide answers to the community regarding affordable health care options,” said Welch. Anyone who suddenly lost their employer-sponsored coverage or is currently not insured should contact The Wright Center’s Enrollment Department as soon as possible by calling 570.591.5253. These individuals might qualify for a special enrollment period. The Wright Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike. All patients are provided access to health care regardless of their ability to pay. People who are not insured or lack adequate coverage might be eligible for the sliding fee discount program, which allows The Wright Center to reduce fees for eligible patients, depending on household income and family size. Visit thewrightcenter.org/sliding-fee-scale for more information.
The Wright Center for Community Health Receives Federal Funding to Support Telehealth Services The Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau recently awarded a nearly $500,000 grant to The Wright Center for Community Health in collaboration with Endless Mountains Health Systems to support telehealth infrastructure that serves patients in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties. The $491,814 grant was made available through the federal COVID-19 Telehealth Program: Round 2. The Wright Center was also the recipient of $629,051 in grant funding for Round 1 of the program. The new round of grant funding supports the purchase and installation of secure telehealth devices and supporting systems. The new technology will expand and enhance telehealth capacity for both health care systems, including check-ins, triage, care delivery and follow-up appointments with video conferencing and telehealth audio calls at regional community health practices in Northeast Pennsylvania. “We are extremely grateful for this generous federal award to enhance access to and the delivery of essential health services related to COVID-19,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and chief executive officer of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “These crucial resources will have a long-term, positive impact on enhancing access to primary preventive care and chronic disease management services for patients, including those with substance use disorder. “We are equally thrilled to have partnered with Endless Mountains Health Systems on this initiative and to be delivering these critical resources to the rural community they serve.” Endless Mountains Health Systems, a federally designated critical access hospital, is a not-for-profit 25-bed acute care hospital with emergency services and ancillary services. Critical access hospitals, while vital to the health and welfare of the communities they serve, are challenged often in accessing the resources and capacity to set up their own telehealth infrastructure. Including Endless Mountains Health Systems as a strategic partner and pursuing support for their technology needs enhanced The Wright Center’s grant application and vital regional health system connectivity. A successful FCC Round 1 recipient, The Wright Center’s partnership with Endless Mountains Health Systems further extends impactful telehealth reach in rural Pennsylvania during the pandemic. The new funding stream enhances access for patients served by Endless Mountains Health Systems by providing them an opportunity to tele-connect with their health care providers. In addition, the technology will be compliant by federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards for patient-doctor interaction. Telemonitors, kiosks and related mobile devices will serve as the patient-doctor platform for the exchange of electronic health records, telehealth visits and information services, while enhancing the platform between patient portals and digital applications that support scheduling, show rates and follow-up telehealth visits for COVID-19-related services. Overall, telehealth services facilitate public health strategies, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, by increasing social distancing and offering additional flexibility for patients and providers that can save time and resources. E-visits also afford continuity of care, which can prevent negative consequences due to delays in preventive, chronic and routine care.
The Wright Center Names New Associate Vice President of Development and Patient & Community Engagement The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education recently named Laurie LaMaster as associate vice president of development and Patient & Community Engagement. A veteran of the regional media market, LaMaster spent 12 years as vice president of promotion and marketing at WNEP-TV 16. Most recently, she was director of marketing and promotion at KMTV-3 News Now in Omaha, Nebraska, where she oversaw marketing, advertising, promotion, public relations and creative services. “I am excited to work collaboratively with my colleagues and members of the community to ensure everyone has access to health care so they can live their life to the fullest,” said LaMaster. “Our efforts will raise community awareness and also raise the necessary funds to deliver preventive and primary care to the communities that need it most.” At The Wright Center, LaMaster will pilot a proactive model of community fundraising and awareness, and create and implement a fundraising and community engagement strategic plan to increase awareness of the organization and grow revenue. She will identify, create, launch and execute fundraising opportunities and special events with oversight from the Patient & Community Engagement board. Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement board is comprised of resident physicians, physician faculty, administration and staff. Members focus on improving access to health care while addressing the negative social and economic determinants of health, such as food and housing insecurity, poverty and access to education that negatively affect the overall well-being of people. Volunteers provide oversight, direction and support for Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement team members. “We are excited to welcome Ms. LaMaster to our team and community,” said William Waters, co-chair of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement board. “Her familiarity and knowledge of the region will benefit our growing network of community health centers and resident physician learners that are dedicated to providing comprehensive primary and preventive health care to the citizens who need it most in Northeast Pennsylvania.” Overall, LaMaster’s role will support the regional nonprofit’s mission and vision to improve the health and welfare of the community through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce of physicians.
