Carbondale couple always grateful for the Gift of Life

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Dombroskys share their story of organ donation for PA Donor Day on Aug. 1.

In the fall of 2013, Steve Dombrosky was out of breath seemingly all the time. A previously active 57-year-old, he struggled to get out of bed and go to his job as an electronics technician at the Tobyhanna Army Depot. His symptoms were not much better at work.

“It was a chore just to go to the restroom,” he recalls. “By the time I got back, I was almost gasping for air. I wasn’t walking; I was shuffling my feet.

Dombrosky and his wife, Pam, who’d spent 18 years working as a registered nurse, knew something wasn’t right. An initial doctor’s examination revealed a fatty liver diagnosis. After further testing, he was diagnosed with NASH: Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. NASH is the most severe form of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and is closely related to obesity, pre-diabetes, and diabetes.

Steve and Pam Dombrosky are strong advocates for organ and tissue donations after they experienced the gift of life. In 2018, he received a lifesaving liver transplant due to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis disease. Today, the couple is living life to the fullest, as exhibited in this photo at a recent wedding.

As the disease progressed, he experienced internal bleeding resulting in a dangerously low blood count. “I had many blood and iron transfusions. We were always running somewhere for treatments,” he said. 

He would gain nearly 25 pounds each time his body retained fluids, making everyday tasks almost impossible to complete. During one hospital visit, doctors removed eight two-liter bottles of fluid from his abdomen. In April 2018, he was placed on the liver transplant list during a 15-day stay at Geisinger Health System in Danville.

“I fought it for five years. You have to be really sick to get on a transplant list. You have to be on the edge of saying goodbye before you’re put on a list,” he said. 

Steve was placed on the transplant list and sent home on a Thursday. The next day he received a call with incredible news: They had a liver for him. 

“I was coming home, and he called me, and he was crying,” Pam recalled. “I said, ‘why are you crying?’ and he just kept saying, ‘I got a liver, I got a liver.’ We could not believe how quick it was.”

The donor was a 24-year-old man who had chosen to be an organ donor. That man’s decision saved the lives of many people. It’s something the Dombroskys will never forget.

“We cried and cried for him; we grieved for him every day,” Pam said, overcome with emotion. “People need to become organ donors. There’s not much to it, just checking a box on your driver’s license.”

Steve wasn’t the first person on the list for the transplant. The first patient was too sick for the operation, and the second patient refused it due to the possibility of a hepatitis infection due to the donor’s age. Doctors explained to Steve that the chance of infection was minimal and that they were prepared to treat him for hepatitis if needed.

“People don’t get the chance that I got. I’ve always been sort of a gambler. I knew this was my shot. If I say no, I’m going to be a goner,” he said. “My name is not going to come back around on that list before I’ve passed away. There are days I feel 24 years old again, and I believe that’s from our donor.”

The Dombroskys encourage everyone to become organ donors. 

“My thinking is, when the good Lord comes for you, he doesn’t want your body; he’s only coming for your soul,” said Steve. “So why not give the gift of life? If I could give someone eyesight, a heart, a kidney, or a skin graft, then there’s a part of me still living, and I think that’s just fantastic.”

Steve and Pam are both grateful to the donor and his family, as well as all of the medical professionals and organizations that have helped them on this journey. 

They were among the first recipients of monetary support from The Cody Barrasse Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by the family and friends of Cody Barrasse, a 22-year-old Moosic resident who died after being struck by a car. Barrasse was an organ donor; eight individuals received his life-saving organs. The foundation helps to offset the costs that many organ donor recipients face and supports a scholarship in his name at Scranton Preparatory School.

Steve and Pam Dombrosky are grateful for the gift of life after Steve received a lifesaving liver transplant in 2018 due to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis disease. The couple received support from The Cody Barrasse memorial Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps to offset the costs of organ transplantation.

Steve, now 62, has combined his passion for cars with a part-time job, working for a friend with a small automotive dealership. He takes care of mostly everything around their home, including having dinner ready when Pam comes home from her job in the accounting department at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education in Scranton, where she started working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Everyone has been wonderful – at CMC, in Danville, and here at The Wright Center,” said Pam. “When I read the email (at The Wright Center) about Organ Donor Awareness Month, I wanted to share our story.”

For anyone unsure of becoming an organ donor, Steve has one thing to say: “You can consider yourself a hero; you gave a better life to someone else, and that says a lot about who you are. It’s a never-ending battle for these people waiting on transplant lists, and you can help in so many ways,” he said.

For more information about organ donations and how to become an organ donor, visit the PA Donate Life website or the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT).

The Wright Center to support national health objectives as a newly designated Healthy People 2030 Champion

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The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education have recently been designated by an office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a Healthy People 2030 Champion.

The official recognition was made by the federal Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) and affirms The Wright Center’s commitment to promoting the nation’s efforts to improve the health and well-being of all people.

Laura Spadaro

“We’re delighted to be recognized as champions of the Healthy People 2030 initiative and its framework for achieving a healthier society by 2030,” said Laura Spadaro, vice president of primary care and public health policy at The Wright Center. “Our nonprofit enterprise’s activities are in full alignment with the vision behind the Healthy People campaign, which is for all people to achieve their full potential for health and well-being across the lifespan.”

The initiative, updated each decade, sets data-driven national objectives in a range of categories, including health conditions (such as dementias, diabetes, and respiratory disease), health behaviors, and special populations.

In total, the initiative tracks 358 core objectives. One objective, for example, is to reduce current tobacco use among the adult population from 21.3% to 17.4% or below. Proponents of this goal note that tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States.

A key focus of the latest Healthy People initiative is the social determinants of health category, which are the social conditions impacting people in the places where they live, learn, work, and play that can affect their quality of life and health. Examples of social determinants of health include exposure to polluted air and water, exposure to racism and violence, and an individual’s level of access to things such as nutritious foods, educational attainment, job opportunities, safe housing, and outlets for physical activity.

“ODPHP is thrilled to recognize The Wright Center for its work to support the Healthy People 2030 vision,” said Rear Admiral Paul Reed, M.D., ODPHP director. “Only by collaborating with partners nationwide can we achieve Health People 2030’s overarching goals and objectives.”

The Healthy People initiative began in 1979 when U.S. Surgeon General Julius Richmond issued the landmark report, “Healthy People: The Surgeon General’s Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.”

Healthy People 2030 is the fifth iteration of the initiative. It builds on the knowledge gained and lessons learned to address the latest public health priorities.

Applicants are selected to become Healthy People 2030 Champions if they have a demonstrated interest in and experience with disease prevention, health promotion, health literacy, health equity, or well-being.

Upon acceptance, each champion is able to display a trademarked digital badge on its website and social media channels. Champions also receive information, tools, and resources to help them promote the initiative among their networks. 

HP2030 Champion badge

As a Healthy People 2030 Champion, The Wright Center joins the ranks of a diverse array of public and private organizations that impact health outcomes at the state, tribal, and local levels.

Current champions include the Academy of General Dentistry, the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the Council on Black Health, the Health Care Improvement Foundation, the National Kidney Foundation, the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers, Trust for America’s Health, and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

To learn more about Healthy People 2030, visit health.gov/healthypeople.

Healthy People 2030 Champion is a service mark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Used with permission. 
Participation by The Wright Center for Community Health does not imply endorsement by HHS/ODPHP.

‘Paddy O’Basket’ drive benefits Ryan White HIV Clinic patients

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The Wright Center for Community Health’s Ryan White HIV Clinic has been serving Northeast Pennsylvania for more than 20 years by offering comprehensive services for people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS. Employees recently collected laundry baskets filled with cleaning supplies to distribute to patients. Thanks to the “Paddy O’Basket Spring Cleaning Drive” patients received paper towels, sponges, laundry detergent, hygiene products, and more.

Employees participating in The Wright Center program, seated from left, are Joe Farley, HIV program assistant; Kimberly Simon, licensed social worker; Marah Lettieri, medical case manager; Shauna Havirlak, medical case manager; Daniel Hammer, case manager; Judith Chavez, clinic coordinator; and Sharon Whitebread, PrEP outreach education and care coordinator; standing, Kevin Tonic, Jr., medical case manager; Michael Zrile, administrative assistant; Keisha Holbeck, medical case manager; Karen McKenna, RN, BSN; Sister Ruth Neely, CRNP; Dr. Mary Louise Decker, director, Ryan White HIV Clinic; and Roman Ealo, case manager.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Dr. Pancholy receives Master of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions designation

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The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) has named Dr. Samir B. Pancholy, program director of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship, a Master Interventionalist of SCAI by bestowing the title, “Master of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (MSCAI),” a designation held by fewer than 100 interventional cardiologists worldwide.

The MSCAI designation recognizes physicians who have demonstrated excellence in interventional cardiology and a commitment to the highest levels of clinical care, innovation, publications, and teaching. 

SCAI was founded in 1978 with a mission to lead the global interventional cardiovascular community through education, advocacy, research, and quality of patient care. SCAI has dedicated its work to advancing the profession and is the designated society for guidance, representation, professional recognition, education, and research opportunities for invasive and interventional cardiology professionals. The society has more than 4,500 members, according to SCAI.

Dr. Samir B. Pancholy

Dr. Pancholy has authored more than 150 peer-reviewed manuscripts in reputed international journals, has published several practice-changing randomized controlled trials, and has developed multiple procedural techniques to increase the safety and efficacy of the procedure of cardiac catheterization and catheter-based intervention. His research and educational programs in the area of transradial access (catheterization from the artery in the wrist) have been credited with the widespread adoption of the technique in the U.S. and worldwide. 

He also invented several devices that make cardiovascular procedures safer, more effective, comfortable, and cost-effective. Dr. Pancholy holds more than 70 patents issued by the United States Patent and Trademark office, as well as Europe. 

SCAI will recognize Dr. Pancholy at the SCAI Annual Scientific Sessions in Phoenix, Arizona, in May. 

“Dr. Pancholy richly deserves this prestigious honor from SCAI,” said Dr. Jumee Barooah, the Designated Institutional Official for The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. “He shares his expertise with our fellows who travel from around the world to learn from him. He has improved access and quality of cardiac care for countless people thanks to the 26 fellows who have graduated from our fellowship program since 2009.”

He also serves as the director of the cardiac catheterization laboratory at the Veterans Administration Center, Wilkes-Barre, and as a professor of medicine at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, Scranton.

Dr. Pancholy is board-certified in internal medicine, with additional certifications in cardiovascular diseases, interventional cardiology, advanced heart failure, and transplant cardiology. He earned his medical degree from B.J. Medical College in India, and completed his residency at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Dr. Pancholy completed fellowships in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular diseases at the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital and Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education offers Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Internal Medicine, Regional Family Medicine, National Family Medicine, and Psychiatry residency programs and fellowships in Cardiovascular Disease, Gastroenterology, and Geriatrics.

For this Wright Center doctor, caring extends beyond all borders

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The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education’s Dr. Douglas Klamp has worked around the world to improve access to health care, including in the West African nation of Gambia. In 1993, he served as the group leader for Operation Crossroads Africa with fellow providers from Gambia and the United States.

Dr. Klamp’s overseas aid trips and professional insights make him the right fit for nonprofit’s new talent acquisition role

Douglas Klamp’s plan to become a veterinarian was upended during a college trip in 1982 to southern Africa, where he saw stark injustice and soon discovered his life’s calling.

Klamp, who was then a Penn State University senior, was an eyewitness to how South Africa’s now-abolished system of racial segregation split the population into the haves and have-nots. In neighboring Lesotho, he was especially struck by rural Black residents’ “lack of access to health care.”

“There were not any health facilities for many, many miles,” he says. “And very few people had cars, so it would be a half-day or a day-long hike to get to a provider.”

Even before he flew home that summer, Klamp had decided to change his career path. He would become a physician.

Today, Dr. Douglas Klamp is a valued leader at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, where he remains as committed as he was four decades ago to the cause of expanding access to health care for low-income, rural, and other underserved populations.

Klamp, associate program director for Internal Medicine, treats patients and trains new physicians at The Wright Center’s primary and preventive care clinics. This year, he added the role of physician chair of resident and fellow talent acquisition.

In the newly created post, Klamp will be responsible for recruiting top-quality medical school graduates who are a good fit for The Wright Center’s graduate medical education programs, looking especially for individuals with a heart for helping the underserved. 

The task requires filtering through more than 5,000 applications each year and interviewing hundreds of candidates to fill only 80 available slots. The undertaking requires considerable effort from all program directors and associate program directors. Klamp and other decision-makers evaluate the candidates based on their test scores and medical school performance, as well as more subjective matters.

“I always say, ‘To be a good doctor you need to be a good person – and smart,’” he says. “I’m looking for a quick mind. Someone who can adapt to the unexpected. Someone who has good intuition and good people skills.”

The Wright Center has been training resident physicians locally since it was founded in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program. Its creators foresaw the looming challenge in replacing the region’s retiring primary care doctors. They launched their program with an inaugural class of six internal medicine residents.

Today’s Wright Center trains about 250 residents and fellows each academic year, upholding a proud tradition of producing highly skilled and compassionate doctors, and helping to address workforce shortages in medically underserved areas across the U.S.

The task of filling residency slots is facilitated by the National Resident Matching Program, Klamp explains. The program promotes fairness and accounts for the preferences of both medical students and residency program directors.

Medical school graduates who “match” with The Wright Center will work under contract for a set duration, usually three years, at the organization’s training locations in Northeast Pennsylvania or one of its partner training sites across the nation. While embedded in those communities and serving patients, each doctor is also fulfilling the requirements of an accredited residency or fellowship program in disciplines such as internal medicine, family medicine, psychiatry, and geriatrics.

Klamp seems perfectly suited for the talent acquisition role because he embodies The Wright Center’s mission and ideals. He remains a “a firm supporter,” for example, of an initiative involving resident physicians to launch a street medicine program in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, giving aid to individuals who are experiencing homelessness, according to those involved in the project.

“He truly believes in giving back to the community and humanity as a whole,” says Dr. Jacob Miller, a 2022 alumnus of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Internal Medicine Residency. “Dr. Klamp is the epitome of altruism and integrity. By his example, he inspires the residents and future physicians to continue to go back to the roots of medicine and to strive on that journey toward becoming a better physician as well as a better person.”

Overcoming culture shock

Dr. Douglas Klamp, left, talks to a patient at one of The Wright Center for Community Health’s nine primary care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania. Dr. Klamp, a board-certified internal medicine physician, accepts adult patients ages 18 years of age and older at the Clarks Summit and Scranton practices.

Klamp grew up in Michigan and lived for a while in Indiana, Pennsylvania, hometown of the late actor Jimmy Stewart, best known for his George Bailey role in the Christmas classic “It’s A Wonderful Life.” In many respects, Klamp’s medical career has had a Bailey-esque impact.

He has left an imprint on countless patients in Northeast Pennsylvania and overseas (including some he’s never met), the many physicians he has trained on multiple continents, and even the medical school where he studied.

Klamp attended Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, one of only two students in his class of 110 who had not gone to private school, he says. “It was a bigger culture shock for me to go to Johns Hopkins than it was for me to go to South Africa,” he says.

While earning his white coat there, he co-founded a club called Students for International Health, which invited lecturers to talk with the medical students about overseas public health challenges and opportunities. The subject matter was later incorporated into the school’s curriculum, he says.

Dr. Robert Wright, namesake founder of The Wright Center, convinced Klamp to move to this region in 1997 to serve as associate program director of the Scranton-Temple Residency Program.

For Klamp, part of the allure was that he also would be the founding medical director of the startup Scranton-Temple Health Center, in which the residency program’s trainees then performed all of their outpatient services. “I thought making that clinic successful would be a good challenge,” he says.

He would later leave The Wright Center to pursue other objectives, including serving as medical director of the McGowan Institute for Health Community Initiatives of the Mercy Foundation, where he directed an eating disorder coalition and prison outreach efforts, and coordinated a cardiovascular disease prevention program. He then ran a private practice in Scranton for about 17 years, before rejoining The Wright Center’s nonprofit enterprise as a full-time employee in 2020.

The Waverly Township resident, who is a husband and father of two, never lost his interest in global health and the push for health equity. For him, “cultural competence” is much more than a buzz phrase, but a critical element in delivering appropriate care to diverse patient populations and in reducing disparities.

“I think the best way to gain cultural competence is to live and work in tough situations overseas, where you have to solve problems with the local community,” says Klamp. “It gives you a much more solid understanding.”

Reaching across the globe

Klamp has traveled abroad as part of several volunteer medical and service-related trips, mostly to destinations not on any jet-setter’s list of vacation hotspots. Among them: Bolivia, Gambia, the Republic of Georgia, Guyana, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

He considers a two-month stint in Agra, India, to be his most impactful trip to date in terms of direct patient care. “We’d see 80 to 120 patients a day,” he says, noting that the common maladies included tuberculosis, malaria, hepatitis, and intestinal worms.

“The local doctors didn’t need much help with the common tropical diseases, because they had more experience than I do,” he says. “But when the patient would come in with diabetes, heart failure, stroke, or heart attack, then they relied on me a great deal.”

On trips elsewhere, Klamp primarily taught and lectured to health care professionals who were native to those areas. “You don’t see the immediate benefit,” he says, “but the education of those physicians hopefully lasted after I left.”

All of his overseas experiences – from helping villagers build schoolhouses by hand, to seeing overcrowded hospitals in which the beds were shared by two patients at a time – have influenced Klamp’s ability to relate to some of The Wright Center’s international residents and fellows.

“I have more of an appreciation for their backgrounds,” he says. “I’ve worked in countries that don’t have an MRI machine, where tests are very expensive. You have to make decisions based on your clinical impression and treat things based on your best guess.”

In his talent acquisition role, Klamp talks to prospective residents from the U.S., Canada, and far beyond.

Dr. Douglas Klamp, left, assists doctors during an operation at a charity hospital in Agra, India, in 1991 as part of a program for the U.S. Medical Aid Foundation. Dr. Klamp recently added the additional role of physician chair of resident and fellow talent acquisition to help recruit top-quality medical school graduates for The Wright Center’s eight residency and fellowship programs.

Historically, The Wright Center has succeeded in “matching” with residents who hail from North America as well as India, Pakistan, and Nepal – building one of the most diverse physician workforces in the region.  

Klamp hopes to build on that tradition, saying, “I would actually like more diversity in terms of country of origin.”

He spoke during a recent round of interviews with individuals from Africa, Europe, and Central and South America.

As Klamp sees it, the next generation of physicians can only benefit by working, training, and learning alongside professionals who bring vastly different cultural and life experiences into the health care clinic.

Through their daily interactions and sharing of ideas, the doctors can gain the tools and competencies necessary to knock down language and other cultural barriers to care. In turn, many people who traditionally have suffered outside the health care system can be properly welcomed and helped by it.

“When you get all the different cultures together,” says Klamp, “I like what happens.”

For information about The Wright Center and its graduate medical education programs, visit www.TheWrightCenter.org.

Hazleton grad uses cultural savvy to improve health of community

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chw

As a community health worker, Scarlet Pujols Recio, who speaks both English and Spanish, helps to connect patients with the resources they need (such as housing, food, and transportation) to overcome their current challenges and improve their wellness. ‘People generally feel safe when they talk to me; they know I’m not going to judge them,’ she says.

The Wright Center for Community Health hosts Pujols Recio as she completes a program to become a certified community health worker – an in-demand occupation in U.S.

Dominican-born Scarlet Pujols Recio first showed signs that she was destined to work in health care at about 6 years old, using parts from an ink pen to pretend to give IV fluids to her Barbie doll.

Now 23, Pujols Recio remains driven to heal, but she has advanced from daydreaming about relieving people’s pain to actually working to improve the lives of Northeast Pennsylvania residents, including some of her Luzerne County neighbors.

The Hazleton Area High School graduate today serves with the AmeriCorps-funded National Health Corps (NHC) as a community health worker, or CHW, a role in which she improves access to health care by breaking down cultural and other common barriers.

She is based at The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice, which currently serves as a host site for Pujols Recio and another AmeriCorps NHC member, 23-year-old Jullie Makhoul, as they complete a program that will prepare them to become certified CHWs.

The year-long program is part of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic to boost America’s number of community health workers. It is administered locally through the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center and made possible through the participation of the AmeriCorps NHC and Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Civilian Coronavirus Corps, or CCCC.

Community health workers are a key part of today’s health care teams, because they help to bridge the gap between practitioners – including time-strapped doctors and nurses – and the patients most in need of assistance. CHWs act as patient advocates and are often deeply embedded members of the communities they serve, enabling them to quickly open lines of communication and build trust.

“People generally feel safe when they talk to me; they know I’m not going to judge them,” says Pujols Recio, who is fluent in both English and Spanish. “I’m here to help.”

Pujols Recio assists with language translation in The Wright Center’s primary care practices and aboard its mobile medical clinic improving not only the exchange of important information but also the quality of patient care.

She also aids patients as they navigate the process of signing up for health insurance or food assistance. And, much like a social worker, she devotes parts of each workday to connecting certain patients and their families to community organizations that offer hot meals, housing programs, and other services and resources they need to overcome their current challenges and improve their wellness.

“I didn’t know there were so many resources out there until I began my training at The Wright Center,” says Pujols Recio. She can now rattle off a list of area nonprofits ranging from A (Area Agency on Aging) to Z … or at least U (United Neighborhood Centers).

About once a week, Pujols Recio heads to a Luzerne County destination as part of a traveling Wright Center team that treats patients inside a mobile medical vehicle. The vehicle, known as Driving Better Health, reaches people close to where they live, learn, and work.

In Greater Hazleton, for example, stopovers for the vehicle have included the Dominican House of Hazleton, the Hazleton One Community Center, and public-school buildings. As Pujols Recio explains, it’s part of an effort to make sure people of all ages have access to COVID-19 vaccines and testing, and that school-age and other children are receiving their routine childhood immunizations to prevent polio, measles, and other diseases.

“Our Driving Better Health vehicle,” she says, “is having an impact everywhere we go.”

Jullie Makhoul, right, of Allentown, and Scarlet Pujols Recio, of Hazleton, are serving as AmeriCorps National Health Corps members in a program intended to boost the nation’s number of community health workers. Each received 75 hours of classroom instruction through the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center and is now completing on-site work experience at the same host site, The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice.

Demand soars for CHWs

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased both the visibility and the ranks of the nation’s community health workers. The role is one of the fast-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.

Community health workers typically need at least a high school diploma. The job is often viewed as a springboard to professional careers in medicine such as nursing. However, many people find their niche as CHWs, settling into the role because it suits their personalities and inner callings to serve.

“To do this job, you definitely should be a person who wants to make a positive change in the community and who cares about the suffering of other people,” says Pujols Recio. “You have to be patient. You have to have social skills.

“You also have to know your boundaries,” she adds, echoing the mantra of her supervisor at The Wright Center. “Boundaries are very important because you don’t want to enable your patients. You want to give them the resources so they can help themselves.”

Pujols Recio and her fellow AmeriCorps NHC member, Makhoul, formerly of Allentown, began learning the dos and don’ts of community health workers during the classroom portion of their training.

As participants in the Northeast Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center’s state-accredited program for CHWs, they were instructed on the core competencies of the job. Each woman completed 75 hours of class time, exploring topics such as chronic disease, preventive care, health literacy, and how to build and maintain relationships.

Each is now amassing the required 2,000 hours of on-site work experience required before an individual in Pennsylvania can apply to become a certified CHW.

Makhoul, who speaks Arabic, might stay at The Wright Center after completing her required hours in April, joining the organization for a while as a full-time, paid employee.

The recent college graduate is currently completing an online master of biomedical sciences degree, and she trained to become a community health worker, in part, to enhance her professional background before applying to medical school. The experience, says Makhoul, has allowed her to see “a different side of patients.”

As AmeriCorps members, the students receive a living stipend of $15 an hour while fulfilling the requirements of the CHW program. Participants also receive an educational award of more than $6,000 and, if needed, are eligible for food assistance, child care assistance, and access to medical, dental, and vision coverage.

The women stay in touch with other students from their respective CHW classroom cohorts who are located throughout the region at their assigned host sites. These medically minded students recently formed a book club. Their first selected reading, perhaps not surprisingly, is “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”

For Pujols Recio, serving as a CHW allows her to move in the direction of her ultimate career ambition while gaining some valuable health care experience. A 2022 graduate of Keystone College, she has a dual degree in general biology and pre-medicine/public health. Her long-held goal is to become a physician.

“I came to the U.S.,” she says, “knowing what I wanted to do.”

Her passionate pursuit

Pujols Recio, who is the daughter of Carlos D. Pujols Encarnacion and Maria M. Recio de Pujols, arrived in Northeast Pennsylvania at age 14, speaking almost no English. “When I first got here, I felt like I was thrown to the wolves,” she says. “All but one of my high school classes was taught in English. Even gym. Math class was the worst.”

She excelled in the classroom anyway, relying on the support of understanding teachers and fellow students who translated the lessons. At times in her formative years, she was thrust into the role of caregiver for relatives with health issues. Her family has dealt with financial hardships, she says, in some cases turning to community resources to get through lean times.

Scarlet Pujols Recio, 23, is gaining on-site work experience at The Wright Center for Community Health this year as she pursues certification as a community health worker – one of the most in-demand occupations in health care. The Hazleton Area High School graduate splits her time between The Wright Center’s primary care practices and its mobile medical vehicle, better known as Driving Better Health.

Her desire to enter the medical profession has only become more focused as a result of those experiences. Medicine is, after all, a career in which the goal is to cure and comfort.

In the pandemic’s early days, she says that she worked at a Hazleton nursing home as a certified nursing assistant who helped residents with bathing and other activities of daily living. The job could be both physically and emotionally challenging, she says.

But Pujols Recio sees her stints as a nursing assistant and as a community health worker – both of which provided one-on-one patient experiences – as important steps on her path to one day becoming a skilled, compassionate doctor.

“I’m going to be treating my patients, not a disease,” she says. “I’m going to be looking at the individual.”

Meanwhile, Pujols Recio continues to revel in the everyday successes of community health workers.

She recently received a call from a patient whom she had been assisting for several months, after first encountering him at an area food kitchen. During the call, the formerly homeless man excitedly told Pujols Recio it seemed as if an application for public housing that she helped him to submit was moving forward and he might soon have a consistent place to stay.

To her, it was a spirit-lifting affirmation of what she and her fellow CHWs are able to do. “The support that we’re providing as community health workers to our patients is working,” she says. “It’s working!”

Are you interested in becoming a community health worker? Learn about upcoming training opportunities offered in Northeast Pennsylvania by the Area Health Education Center and apply at www.pachw.org/education-training.