Wright Center names Dr. Gill as associate program director and physician faculty for the Regional Family Medicine Residency 

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A board-certified family medicine physician, with a deep interest in the integration of oral health into primary care, has joined The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education where she will train and educate the next generation of physicians and collaboratively provide primary care for adults and children of all ages as a preceptor alongside a high-quality empaneled care team of resident physicians.

Dr. Stephanie A. Gill

Dr. Stephanie A. Gill received her Doctor of Medicine from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and completed her residency in family medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s St. Margaret Hospital in Aspinwall, Pennsylvania. Gill completed a fellowship in faculty development at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where she also earned a multidisciplinary Master of Public Health degree.

As the associate program director and a member of the physician faculty for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Regional Family Medicine Residency, Gill will provide administrative and clinical oversight of the educational program, provide patient care, precept family medicine residents, and teach and supervise resident physicians and medical students at clinical sites. She is accepting patients at the Kingston Practice, 2 Sharpe St.

Overall, more than 250 resident physicians are enrolled in The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s five residency and three fellowship programs.

For the past 10 years, Gill has served as a physician faculty member and as an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine (PSCOM).

She continues to serve as an adjunct faculty member at PSCOM. She was also a physician at the Penn State Medical Group Camp Hill where she provided a full spectrum of family medicine care and was an attending physician at Penn State Health Hershey Medical Center where she provided inpatient services for family and community medicine.

Gill is a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of Family Physicians, American Association of Family Physicians, The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine, Family Medicine Education Consortium, American Academy of Family Physicians Oral Health Member Interest Group and North American Primary Care Research Group. 

Her scholarly research interests include the integration of oral health and pediatric caries prevention into primary care. Gill is the chairperson of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine Oral Health Collaborative, an advisory board member of Harvard University’s One Hundred Million Mouths Project and a steering committee member of Smiles for Life: A National Oral Health Curriculum.

Patients can schedule appointments at the most convenient location by using the express online scheduling service at TheWrightCenter.org. To learn more about The Wright Center’s mission and integrated health care services, call 570-230-0019 or visit TheWrightCenter.org.

The Wright Center accepting appointments for teenagers and elementary school-age children to receive updated COVID-19 boosters

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Children as young as 5 years old can receive the updated coronavirus booster vaccines at several of The Wright Center for Community Health’s primary care practices, helping to defend themselves, their families and the broader population from sickness.

The updated boosters, also called bivalent vaccines, offer protection against the now-prevalent omicron variant that accounts for most new COVID-19 infections in this region and across the United States.

Federal health officials had previously authorized the use of the new shots in adults and teens, and on Oct. 12 expanded those eligible to also include elementary-age kids. Age restrictions vary by product.

The Pfizer-made pediatric booster has been approved for children 5 to 11 years old, while the Moderna pediatric booster is available for individuals ages 6 to 17. Both companies’ pediatric boosters are approved for use at least two months after a child has completed the initial two-shot series.

Updated boosters – the first redesigned coronavirus vaccines to be released in the U.S. since the initial rollout in late 2020 – are intended to help contain a possible surge of new cases this fall and winter. Vaccines have proven to be the most powerful tool against the highly contagious virus, with demonstrated effectiveness during the pandemic in reducing severe illness, hospitalization and death.

Dr. Jignesh Sheth

Dr. Jignesh Sheth

“These bivalent boosters pack a one-two punch against COVID-19, protecting against the initial virus as well as the variants responsible for the most suffering today,” said Dr. Jignesh Sheth, chief medical officer of The Wright Center for Community Health. “As the holiday season approaches, and more activities are conducted indoors, we hope to see more families taking the opportunity to safeguard their health, especially now that adults and most children are eligible to get the most up-to-date boosters.”

People can schedule appointments by visiting The Wright Center’s website at TheWrightCenter.org and using the express online scheduling service. Locations currently offering the updated pediatric boosters include the Kingston Practice, the Mid Valley Practice in Jermyn and the Scranton Practice. A patient may choose to receive the booster shot with or without a vital sign assessment and/or primary care office visit, for which out-of-pocket expenses might be billed by the patient’s health insurance provider.

The Wright Center for Community Health, headquartered in Scranton, is a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike that operates eight primary care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wayne counties.

The Wright Center provides comprehensive primary and preventive health services – including medical, dental, behavioral health, addiction and recovery, and infectious disease services – that cover the lifespan from pediatrics to geriatrics. The Wright Center’s sliding-fee discount program ensures health care is affordable for everyone in need, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. No patient is turned away due to an inability to pay.

Wright Center names Dr. Shah as medical director of behavioral health, associate program director, physician faculty of the Psychiatry Residency

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A board-certified psychiatrist with more than 35 years of experience at clinical sites in Northeast Pennsylvania has joined The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education where she will train and educate the next generation of psychiatrists and provide behavioral health services to adult patients.

Dr. Jyoti R Shah

Dr. Jyoti R. Shah

A graduate of M.P. Shah Government Medical College in India, Dr. Jyoti R. Shah is an American Psychiatric Association Distinguished Life Fellow. She completed a psychiatry residency, including a rotation in neurology, at St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center in New York. She will provide patient care, and education and administrative leadership as the medical director of The Wright Center for Community Health Behavioral Health Service Line. She will begin seeing patients ages 18 and above at the Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave., Scranton, on Nov. 1.

In addition, she will serve the nonprofit enterprise as a psychiatric physician faculty member and as the associate program director of the Psychiatry Residency. Shah will provide administrative and clinical oversight of the educational program, ensuring high-quality patient care, teaching and supervision of resident physicians. Overall, more than 250 resident physicians are enrolled in The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s five residency and three fellowship programs.

For the past two years, Shah has served as the medical director of Behavioral Health Services at Commonwealth Health First Hospital in Kingston after being the assistant medical director for nine years. She began her professional career in the local health care system at the VA Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre as a staff psychiatrist, before assuming the roles of acting chief and chief of the psychiatric service line for 20 years.

Shah is also active in her profession and community. She is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, and served as vice chairperson and chairperson of the National Alliance for Mentally Ill Keystone Pennsylvania chapter and president of the Pennsylvania Psychiatry Society. At King’s College in Wilkes-Barre and Penn State School of Health and Sciences in Williamsport, she held academic appointments in clinical medicine.

Patients can schedule appointments for behavioral health services by directly calling the primary care practice. To find a convenient location, go to The Wright Center’s website at TheWrightCenter.org. To learn more about The Wright Center’s mission and integrated health care services, call 570-230-0019.

The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement schedules winter coat and clothing giveaways in November

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As winter approaches, The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement aims to help underserved individuals and families in the community prepare for colder temperatures by offering free coats, warm clothes and personal care items.

Two distributions are scheduled for November in Lackawanna County. During these Community Closet events, patients and community members are invited to select items for children and adults from among an assortment of new and gently used coats, hats, boots, gloves and other outerwear.

Community Closet events are planned at these practice locations on the listed dates:

  • The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley Practice
    5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn
    Thursday, Nov. 3, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
  • The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice
    501 S. Washington Ave., Scranton
    Monday, Nov. 14, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Each attendee will be awarded 10 “points” to exchange for clothing and 5 “points” to exchange for hygiene items that will be marked with points, rather than prices. Quantities will be limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Organized by The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement, this year’s clothing distributions are made possible by generous donations from The Wright Center’s employees, board members and valued supporters such as Operation Warm.

The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement focuses on improving access to health care while addressing the negative social and economic determinants of health that can affect underserved patients, including food insecurity, limited educational opportunities, homelessness and poverty.

For more information about the Community Closet events, call Gerri McAndrew, director of community outreach and engagement, at 570-591-5273.

Community Closet decorative graphic

The Wright Center to serve as host site for aspiring physician assistants through new collaborative program with national partners

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The Wright Center for Community Health welcomed the first class of master’s degree-level physician assistant students from the Central Coast Physician Assistant program to its network of primary care practices. A.T. Still University of Health Sciences’ new initiative, in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers, enables students to gain knowledge and experience in the field. Members of the inaugural class, first row from left, are Kari Nhi Pham, Lisa Lac, Adjoa Ghansah and Rachel Aroneo; and standing, Bryan Boyle, MPAS, PA-C, The Wright Center; Gregory Castle, Stefan Howard, Diana Omozee, Tomislav Lojpur and Angelo Brutico, MPAS, PA-C, The Wright Center.

The Wright Center for Community Health welcomed the first class of master’s degree-level physician assistant students from the Central Coast Physician Assistant program to its network of primary care practices. A.T. Still University of Health Sciences’ new initiative, in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers, enables students to gain knowledge and experience in the field. Members of the inaugural class, first row from left, are Kari Nhi Pham, Lisa Lac, Adjoa Ghansah and Rachel Aroneo; and standing, Bryan Boyle, MPAS, PA-C, The Wright Center; Gregory Castle, Stefan Howard, Diana Omozee, Tomislav Lojpur and Angelo Brutico, MPAS, PA-C, The Wright Center.

The Wright Center for Community Health recently welcomed eight master’s degree-level students who will be gaining knowledge and experience in its primary care practices as they complete a program to become physician assistants.

The students are part of the first class to enroll in the Central Coast Physician Assistant program, a new initiative of A.T. Still University of Health Sciences (ATSU) in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers and select health centers across the country.

Participants in the 24-month program attend ATSU’s Santa Maria campus in California for one year during their pre-clinical phase. Then they enter a clinical phase, which includes 35 weeks of supervised clinical practice experiences at The Wright Center or other partnered community health center.

“The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education are deeply immersed in and passionately committed to developing and inspiring our current and future interprofessional health care workforce,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “We are excited to embrace an expanded role in preparing physician assistants to work in community-based teaching health center settings, where they will serve and care for historically underserved populations.

“Our partnership with ATSU’s College for Healthy Communities will force-multiply the delivery of our shared mission to improve the health and welfare of America,” she added. “Future graduates of the program will be essential for the continued workforce renewal of safety-net community providers such as The Wright Center for Community Health, which depend on dedicated teams of caring, patient- and community-centered healers.” 

Physician assistants Bryan Boyle and Angelo Brutico, each of whom is a Marywood University alumnus and Wright Center employee, will provide on-site program supervision and leadership as ATSU’s regional directors of physician assistant education.

The Central Coast Physician Assistant program prepares its graduates to be “highly competent professionals in the science of medicine” who are “steeped in the osteopathic tradition of body, mind, and spirit care for the whole person.”

The Wright Center and ATSU have a long track record of successfully collaborating to conceptualize and launch programs that develop compassionate, skilled physicians and other health care professionals to help address workforce shortages in the nation’s rural and other underserved communities.

Representatives from the A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA), based in Mesa, were involved in the planning stages of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s National Family Medicine Residency – a first-of-its-kind program that places resident physicians in one of four partner training sites in the U.S.

In 2020, as part of a separate program, The Wright Center for Community Health became a rotational host site for aspiring doctors enrolled at ATSU-SOMA – which prides itself on being “the medical school of the future.” The school’s unique medical education model allows students to spend their first year on campus in Mesa, Arizona, followed by three years at a community health center, where an emphasis is placed on fostering community-minded physicians who will be advocates for equitable health care access. About 30 ATSU-SOMA medical school students are currently based at The Wright Center’s primary care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania.

These programs, in combination with The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s existing residency and fellowship programs, have positioned The Wright Center nonprofit enterprise to be a true regional provider of interprofessional health care education.

The inaugural cohort of physician assistant students is scheduled to complete its clinical rotation at The Wright Center in June 2023.

To learn more about opportunities in the Central Coast Physician Assistant program, visit ATSU’s website at atsu.edu. Or contact Carla Blakeslee, The Wright Center’s coordinator of clerkships, by calling 570-591-5116 or sending an email to blakesleec@thewrightcenter.org.

‘The Good of the Hive’ artist master class, lecture and mural unveiling dates set

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As members of Scranton Tomorrow’s Mural Arts Committee and their partners prepare to unveil the latest in a series of public art works in downtown Scranton, two upcoming events will showcase the message behind Matthew Willey’s “The Good of the Hive” mural: A master class and lecture with the artist on Oct. 14 and a mural dedication at First Friday on Nov. 4.

Willey is installing “The Good of the Hive” mural on the Scranton City Ballet Company building, Rear 234 Mifflin Ave., Scranton. A project of Scranton Tomorrow, presented by The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement, “The Good of the Hive” is made possible with support from community sponsors, including the Lackawanna County Commissioners, Lackawanna Heritage Valley, The University of Scranton, Space Time Mead and Cider Works, Terrana Law Firm, and Lackawanna College.

image of matt willey infront of his artwork

‘The Good of the Hive’ artist Matt Willey will deliver a master class and lecture at Lackawanna College, in collaboration with The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement, on Friday, Oct. 14 at 6 p.m. He will also unveil his trademark bee-themed mural on the Scranton Civic Ballet Company building, 234 Mifflin Ave., in downtown Scranton on Friday, Nov. 4 at 5:30 p.m

Willey is a world-renowned muralist who is raising awareness about the importance of pollinators through his art. He’s been painting the bee-themed mural in Scranton since late August, and the piece will be complete at the end of October. The project brings him closer to achieving his personal commitment to hand-paint 50,000 honeybees — the number of bees in a healthy, thriving hive — in murals around the world.

“Matthew’s work is much more than an inspiring mural,” said Rose Randazzo, chairperson of Scranton Tomorrow’s Mural Arts program. “It’s a movement. Scranton is now connected to a global initiative to save the bees through public mural art.”

As a gift to the community, Willey will present a master class and lecture, “The Good of the Hive” on Friday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m., at Lackawanna College, 501 Vine Street, Scranton. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served. Lackawanna College is the academic sponsor of this event.

“We are honored to be the premier sponsor of this unique mural project that will be on display in our city for years to come,” said Kara Seitzinger, director of public affairs and advisor liaison to the president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “Matt’s work is inspiring communities around the world to think collectively, in the same way that honeybees do. The health of a honeybee hive is the perfect metaphor for the health of a community.

“We encourage the community to attend his lecture to hear his fascinating story and insights,” she added. 

The completed mural will be unveiled at a dedication ceremony at the Scranton Civic Ballet Company building, Rear 234 Mifflin Ave., on Friday, Nov. 4, at 5:00 p.m. Everyone in the community is invited to the celebration.

Willey has shared the stories of “The Good of the Hive” through speaking engagements around the world, at the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the German and French Embassies in Washington, D.C., Smithsonian’s National Zoo, Duke University, Georgetown University, the Planetary Health Alliance 2018 annual meeting in Scotland, many podcasts, including the National Education Association, and educational institutions throughout the U.S.

His work has been featured in The New York Times, Reuters London, The Today Show, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and countless other publications and media channels.

Willey’s mission is to ignite radical curiosity and active engagement around planetary health issues through art, bees and storytelling. His vision is a world filled with people that see and experience the beauty and connectedness of all things.

“The hive I’m creating is a metaphor for us all: no matter your color, nationality, religion, gender, age or economic status. This piece of art is an idealized picture of health to focus on as we work toward solutions,” Willey said.

The worldwide mural project demonstrates perseverance in the face of adversity. Six years into an estimated 20-year project, Willey has created 35 murals and installations with over 8,600 hand-painted bees. He has reached hundreds of thousands of people and created large-scale works at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington D.C., Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York City and Burt’s Bees Global Headquarters in Durham, North Carolina.

In 2021, Scranton Tomorrow launched its Mural Arts Program. Designed to transform the downtown landscape, and connect communities, murals reflect the city’s history and qualities that make Scranton unique. Featuring QR codes at each site, visitors are encouraged to use their smartphones to embark on brief, self-guided video tours to learn more about the history and theme of each piece. Through partnerships with professional artists specializing in mural art and conservation, a set of guidelines for public art projects has been developed as part of the program. To learn more, visit https://www.scrantontomorrow.org/muralart.

For more information about The Wright Center, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.