The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education are participating in a yearlong program alongside 25 other health care organizations to implement and measure professional well-being efforts.

The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) Action Collaborative on Clinician Well-Being and Resilience recently announced the selection of 26 organizations for the second cohort of the Change Maker Accelerators. The new cohort, launching this month, expands participation to include more community-based organizations and care delivery sites across all geographic regions that are committed to addressing health workforce burnout.

Health workforce well-being is essential to ensuring that health professionals can provide high-quality, personalized, and respectful patient care. Health workers have been increasingly strained by their work environments, and as the pressures put on health workers increase, anxiety, depression, burnout, and overall dissatisfaction have skyrocketed. Health worker well-being is one of the greatest threats to the nation’s health care system: NAM estimated that burnout costs the U.S. health care system at least $4.6 billion annually, and over 60% of health care providers experience burnout.

Health care organizations are making measurable progress in reducing burnout and supporting clinician well-being, with recent polls showing improvements in self-reported well-being. The organizations selected to be Change Maker Accelerators are committed to building on these strides and using evidence-based strategies to address systemic challenges to well-being. The program provides participants with dedicated coaching, implementation support, and tools to continually improve their well-being operations.

Health workforce well-being is essential to ensuring that health professionals can provide high-quality, personalized, and respectful patient care. Health workers have been increasingly strained by their work environments, and as the pressures put on health workers increase, anxiety, depression, burnout, and overall dissatisfaction have skyrocketed. Health worker well-being is one of the greatest threats to the nation’s health care system: NAM estimated that burnout costs the U.S. health care system at least $4.6 billion annually, and over 60% of health care providers experience burnout.

Health care organizations are making measurable progress in reducing burnout and supporting clinician well-being, with recent polls showing improvements in self-reported well-being. The organizations selected to be Change Maker Accelerators are committed to building on these strides and using evidence-based strategies to address systemic challenges to well-being. The program provides participants with dedicated coaching, implementation support, and tools to continually improve their well-being operations.

“The Change Maker Accelerators model offers something truly unique in the health care well-being space: dedicated, personalized coaching that helps organizations turn commitment into action,” said NAM President Victor J. Dzau. “I’m thrilled to welcome this group of participants who are ready to do the hard work of driving meaningful change. With each cohort, we are building a growing body of evidence that will create a roadmap for sustainable well-being strategies across the entire health care sector.”

The Change Maker Accelerators Program is distinguished by its coaching and peer-to-peer community model. Participants engage in monthly small-group discussions and full-cohort learning sessions where they share successes, challenges, and best practices – among the cohort group and with the full Change Maker community through webinars, resource guides, poster sessions, and forthcoming publications. This year’s cohort will benefit from the experience of pilot cohort members, several of whom will serve as coaches to the new participants. Together, they will form a community of practice focused on the shared goal of creating and measuring the progress of sustainable, evidence-based well-being interventions.

NAM, an independent, evidence-based advisor in biomedical science, health, medicine, and related policy, launched the Clinician Well-Being Collaborative in 2017 to reverse trends in health worker burnout. In October 2022, it released the National Plan for Health Workforce Well-Being to drive collective action to strengthen health workforce well-being and restore the nation’s health, as more nurses, physicians, and public health employees than ever are poised to leave their professions.

It operates alongside a newly opened 1,400-square-foot laboratory run by HNL Lab Medicine that provides routine testing, further enhancing the services available at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre.

The new laboratory in Wilkes-Barre marks the third HNL Lab medicine patient service center located within a community health center, joining sites at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn, and The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton, 501 S. Washington Ave.

“This pharmacy closes a critical gap by bringing medication access directly into our integrated care delivery environments, where primary care and specialty-enriched services, mental and behavioral health, dental care, laboratory testing provided by HNL Lab Medicine, and now pharmacy can all operate together under one roof,” Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, said at March 13’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Importantly, this Wilkes-Barre pharmacy is designed to serve as a regional hub. Plans call for it to deliver prescriptions to our Community Health Centers in Lackawanna, Wayne, and Wyoming counties, ensuring that patients across our service area can access medications more conveniently, more affordably, and closer to home.”

“The Wright Center has become the cornerstone for providing health care to everyone in the community,” he said, adding that as long as he serves as the city’s mayor, The Wright Center will have his continued support. 

The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre recently received a Pride of Place Award from the Wyoming Valley Chamber of Commerce. The community health center offers affordable, high-quality, whole-person primary care, behavioral health, dental, pharmacy, and laboratory services conveniently located in the heart of downtown Wilkes-Barre. The location is accessible to patients who rely on public transportation and is within walking distance of many of the city’s high-rise apartments. The renovation was made possible by $4 million in state grants awarded through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program and $8.5 million of New Market Tax Credit financing provided through The Reinvestment Fund.

The Wright Center for Community Health accepts all insurance plans and offers a sliding-fee discount program to help ensure whole-person primary and preventive health services are affordable for everyone. For more information, visit TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-491-0126.

The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement is collaborating with the American College of Physicians’ Pennsylvania Eastern Chapter and community partners to address food insecurity in the region by holding the third annual ‘Spring into a Day of Giving Pop-Up Food Pantry’ on Friday, March 20, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Weston Field in Scranton.

The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement is teaming up with the American College of Physicians’ Pennsylvania (PA-ACP) Eastern Chapter and the City of Scranton to address food insecurity in the region during the third-annual “Spring into a Day of Giving Pop-Up Food Pantry.” The event will be held on Friday, March 20, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Weston Field in Scranton.

The free program at 982 Providence Road in Scranton is open to the public. Prepackaged bags of nonperishable food from the Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The event will also feature a clothing closet, including a limited number of children’s coats, as well as information about the whole-person primary and preventive health services available at The Wright Center for Community Health. Attendees can also pick up doses of Naloxone, a life-saving medication that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose. Employees from Scranton City government and other community partners from around the region will provide information about available resources.

The American College of Physicians is the largest medical specialty organization in the world, with 162,000 members in more than 172 countries. Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, the president and CEO of The Wright Center, serves as governor of the PA-ACP’s Eastern Chapter.

The Wright Center for Community Health is hosting a lifestyle modification program starting this spring to help people prevent or delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes.

The Wright Center is offering the National Diabetes Prevention Program at its community health centers in Jermyn and Scranton. The 26-session, evidence-based program helps individuals with prediabetes lower their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Participants can attend classes in person or virtually. 

“Type 2 diabetes is a serious, chronic condition that can increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, blindness, and kidney failure,” said Melissa Germano, a registered dietitian and director of lifestyle modification and preventive medicine at The Wright Center. “The Diabetes Prevention Program empowers people with practical, everyday tools – like healthy eating, physical activity, and stress management – to take control of their health and prevent Type 2 diabetes before it starts.”

To qualify for the program, participants must be 18 or older; have a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher (23 or higher for Asian-American patients); have no prior diagnosis of Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes; and not be pregnant. 

Participants must also meet at least one of the following criteria: 

• Had a blood test result in the prediabetes range within the past year (includes any of these tests and results):
  • Hemoglobin A1C: 5.7%–6.4%
  • Fasting plasma glucose: 100–125 mg/dL
  • Two-hour plasma glucose (after a 75g glucose load): 140–199 mg/dL
• Be previously diagnosed with gestational diabetes (diabetes during pregnancy)
• Received a high-risk result (score of 5 or higher) on a prediabetes risk test at www.cdc.gov/prediabetes/risktest/index.html 

The 1,400-square-foot pharmacy, which will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, will be open to patients of The Wright Center as well as members of the surrounding communities.

Three experienced pharmacists with local ties will staff The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre’s new pharmacy, which opens on March 16.

Sarah Mucciolo will serve as the pharmacist-in-charge and pharmacy manager for The Wright Center Pharmacy Wilkes-Barre, located inside its community health center at 169 N. Pennsylvania Ave. She has more than 35 years of experience in retail pharmacy, most recently at CVS pharmacies throughout the area. Mucciolo will lead the development, implementation, and sustainability of pharmacy services at The Wright Center’s health centers and will oversee, direct, and supervise all pharmacy activities.

Joining her are pharmacists Michael Mucciolo, who also has more than 35 years of experience in retail pharmacies, most recently at Rite Aid in Old Forge; and Brianna Galvin-Bayo, who has five years of experience in retail pharmacy, most recently at Albert’s Pharmacy in Pittston.

The 1,400-square-foot pharmacy, which will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, will serve patients of The Wright Center as well as members of the surrounding communities. Most common prescriptions can be filled as customers wait, while some specialty medications may require 24 hours’ notice. To contact The Wright Center Pharmacy Wilkes-Barre, call 570-866-3115.

The pharmacy provides convenient access to prescription medications and pharmacist support as part of The Wright Center’s integrated, whole-person primary and preventive health services delivery model. The pharmacy operates alongside a newly opened 1,400-square-foot laboratory for routine testing operated by HNL Lab Medicine, further enhancing the services available at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre.

The Wright Center for Community Health accepts all insurance plans and offers a sliding-fee discount program to help ensure whole-person primary and preventive health services are affordable for everyone. For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre, visit TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-491-0126.

The Wright Center’s Dr. William Waters Golf Tournament is May 1

The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement will bring together community leaders, supporters, and partners for its fourth annual Dr. William Waters Golf Tournament on Friday, May 1, at Glen Oak Country Club, raising critical resources to support underserved and under-resourced individuals across Northeast Pennsylvania.

The captain-and-crew tournament will honor John P. Kearney – a longtime philanthropist, businessman, and community advocate whose decades of leadership and generosity have advanced health care access, education, and community well-being throughout the region.

Registration will be held from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m., followed by a 10 a.m. shotgun start. The driving range opens at 8:30 a.m. To register for tickets, visit TheWrightCenter.org/golf-2026.

His many honors — including recognition from the American Red Cross, the U.S. Department of the Navy, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America — reflect a lifetime commitment to service. He also volunteers as a grief coach, supporting parents who have lost a child.

“John Kearney embodies the spirit of compassion, civic responsibility, and forward-thinking leadership that defines our mission,” said Brian Ebersole, senior vice president of strategic enterprise and ecosystem development at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “We are proud to honor his extraordinary contributions and the lasting difference he has made in countless lives.”

Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, and Mary Marrara, secretary of The Wright Center for Community Health Board of Directors, serve as co-chairs of the event through their roles as co-chairs of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement. Drew Kearney, the honoree’s son, is serving as honorary chair.

Tournament proceeds support The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement programs that address social drivers of health – including food insecurity, housing instability, transportation insecurity, limited access to education, and financial hardship – through initiatives such as food distributions, seasonal clothing drives, school supply giveaways, health fairs, blood drives, and other outreach efforts.

The event is named in memory of William M. Waters, Ph.D., longtime vice chair of the Board of Directors at The Wright Center for Community Health and co-chair of the Board of Directors at The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement.