Laura Spadaro, vice president of primary care and public health policy for The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, has been named as one of Pennsylvania’s Trailblazers in Healthcare by City & State Pennsylvania, a multimedia news organization dedicated to covering the state’s politics and policy.

The list recognizes public officials, hospital and healthcare executives, nonprofit leaders, union leaders, academics, and others making a difference by framing, influencing, and changing the healthcare industry.

Previously, Spadaro served as executive advisor to the Pennsylvania secretary of health, focusing on strategic initiatives and cross-agency priorities.

“Laura’s deep understanding of health policy combined with her ability to build meaningful relationships with policymakers and partners makes her an invaluable advocate for our patients, clinicians, and communities,” said Jennifer Walsh, Esq., senior vice president of enterprise integrity, chief legal and governance officer at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “She brings a thoughtful, informed, and persistent voice to some of the most important healthcare policy discussions facing our nation, always keeping in focus the real-world impact on access to care and the people we are privileged to serve. This recognition is a well-deserved acknowledgment of Laura’s leadership and the difference she continues to make.” 

The Wright Center presented the inaugural Nursing Excellence Award to Taylor Spencer, a licensed professional nurse at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley, during a ceremony. Participating in the presentation of the award, from left, are Kelsey Lemoncelli, deputy chief nursing officer; Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO; Spencer, and David Hall, vice president and enterprise chief operating officer.

A licensed professional nurse at The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley received the inaugural Nursing Excellence Award for her exceptional dedication, unwavering commitment, and continuous demonstration of what it means to be an outstanding nurse.

Taylor Spencer accepted the award from David Hall, vice president and enterprise chief operating officer at The Wright Center, at a ceremony at The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton on Wednesday, Sept. 30. 

“The idea for this award came from recognizing the important role nursing leadership plays in the success of our enterprise,” Hall said. “Nurses are often at the center of patient care, team development, and day-to-day operations, and strong nursing leadership has an impact that extends far beyond one department or one shift.”

The Wright Center will present the Nursing Excellence Award quarterly to celebrate nurses who set the standard for exceptional leadership. Kari Machelli, chief nursing and community engagement officer at The Wright Center; Marianne Linko, deputy chief operating officer at The Wright Center; and Tiffany Richmond, nurse manager at The Wright Center, nominated Spencer. Their nominations cited her meticulous attention to detail, including her chronic care management duties, and the support she provides to new nurses during their training.

Spencer, who began working at The Wright Center in November 2024, said she was grateful for the recognition.

“I feel honored to be the first person to receive the Nursing Excellence award,” she said. “All of the nurses at The Wright Center go above and beyond for our patients and our clinical care teams every day, and this award recognizes that hard work.”

Gastroenterologist Dr. Stephen Eskin, center, and his band perform at The Theatre at North in Scranton in March for the one-of-a-kind community concert, ‘Louder Than Cancer!’ The event raised awareness of the importance of colon cancer screenings and won a SCOPY award from the American College of Gastroenterology.

The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education-sponsored concert at The Theatre at North in Scranton, aimed at spreading the word about the importance of colon cancer screenings, won an award from the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG).

The one-of-a-kind community concert, “Louder Than Cancer!,” was organized by Dr. Vikas Khurana, program director of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s (TWCGME) Gastroenterology Fellowship Program, and TWCGME Gastroenterology fellows Drs. Peter Iskander and Udit Asija, who are also graduates of TWCGME’s Internal Medicine Residency Program. About 200 people attended the concert, which featured an hour-long performance by Rocdoc and the Healers, led by gastroenterologist Dr. Stephen Eskin. All songs, including cover songs with rewritten lyrics and original songs, included information about the importance of colon cancer screening and gastroenterological health.

Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, according to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. In many cases, routine screening can prevent it or catch it early. The Wright Center was the event’s platinum sponsor, reinforcing its commitment to prevention, education, and community well-being.

Wonderful Women Breast Cancer Support Group Committee members, from left, are Helayna Szescila, deputy chief governance officer; John Vito Powell, board and Title IX coordinator; Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO; Mary Marrara, chair of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement Board and secretary of The Wright Center for Community Health Board; and Holly Przasnyski, director of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement and coordinator of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Patient & Community Engagement Boards of Directors.

The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement will host the Wonderful Women Breast Cancer Support Group program on Friday, Oct. 16, from 6:30-8 p.m. in the auditorium at The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton, 501 S. Washington Ave.

Dr. Lisa Thomas, an oncologist with Hematology & Oncology Associates of Northeastern Pennsylvania, will deliver this year’s keynote address. Several local breast cancer survivors will also share their stories.

Focused on education, advocacy, and addressing barriers to care, The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement assists the region’s most vulnerable populations, including those experiencing poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, limited educational and employment opportunities, lack of transportation, social isolation, and other hardships. Guided by a board of patients and local professionals, it leads community initiatives such as health fairs, food and blood drives, and school supply giveaways. Its signature fundraising event, the annual Dr. William Waters Golf Tournament, provides vital resources to sustain its programs.

Several pieces of art representing The Wright Center’s community spirit and dedication to healthcare are included in the National Association of Community Health Centers’ (NACHC) traveling art gallery, “Health for All: Community Health Centers Providing Primary Care Where It Matters Most.”

NACHC’s gallery features an array of paintings, photographs, digital illustrations, and mixed-media pieces submitted by community health centers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.

The Pennsylvania Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial, commonly known as America250PA, is working to place at least one fiberglass bell in each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties.

Additionally, two art pieces completed by staff, resident and fellow physicians, and board members at The Wright Center, with the help of community partner Heart 2 Art, were selected to be displayed in NACHC’s traveling art gallery. One of the murals highlights The Wright Center’s commitment to fostering a trauma-informed culture. The other celebrates the enterprise’s longstanding commitment to training and retaining family medicine physicians in underserved communities.

Murals completed by staff, resident and fellow physicians, and board members at The Wright Center, with the help of community partner Heart 2 Art.

“Every community has a story to tell, and these works of art help us share ours,” said Brian Ebersole, senior vice president of strategic enterprise and ecosystem development at The Wright Center. “The Liberty Bells celebrate the history and character of the communities we are privileged to serve, while our murals tell stories about healing, resilience, education, and our shared commitment to making a difference. Seeing this artwork recognized alongside work from community health centers across the country is a meaningful reminder that healthcare is about much more than what happens inside an exam room. It is about people, communities, and the connections that help us all thrive.”

The gallery debuted at NACHC’s Community Health Conference in Las Vegas on Aug. 16-18. NACHC’s gallery will also be on display at its 2027 Policies & Issues Forum in Washington, D.C., in February and at upcoming HLTH Inc. events, including HLTH USA 2026 scheduled for November in Las Vegas.

Established in 1971, NACHC serves as the leading national advocacy organization for community-based health centers. NACHC works to expand access to affordable, high-quality, and culturally competent primary care for underserved populations across the United States.

Partnership with TechA11y brings continuous accessibility infrastructure to The Wright Center’s digital properties, supports broader access to information

The initiative also extends to The Wright Center’s PDF documents and digital media, providing a more comprehensive approach to making online information and resources accessible to people of all abilities.

For The Wright Center, the initiative reflects both a desire to address accessibility requirements and a broader commitment to ensuring that patients, families, learners, and community members can access important information and digital resources without unnecessary barriers.

“Access has always been central to the work of The Wright Center, and today that has to include digital access,” said Paul Krzywicki, executive director of marketing and communications at The Wright Center. “Our websites and digital resources are important ways that patients, families, learners, and members of our communities connect with our enterprise. We want those experiences to be welcoming and accessible to everyone. Our partnership with TechA11y gives us a continuous approach to improving accessibility as our digital content evolves.”

Rather than treating accessibility as a one-time project, the partnership establishes an ongoing accessibility program across The Wright Center’s digital presence.

TechA11y’s continuous compliance infrastructure monitors covered websites for accessibility issues, generates and deploys remediation, responds to changing and dynamic web content, and documents remediation activity over time. The engagement also includes accessibility remediation services for PDF documents and digital media.

The partnership includes accessibility services for:

• TheWrightCenter.org, The Wright Center’s primary digital presence;
• HealthyMOMS.org, supporting information and resources connected with the Healthy Maternal Opiate Medical Support (MOMS) program;
• TheWrightGraduation.org, supporting The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s graduation community;
• PDFs and other digital documents;
• digital media requiring accessibility remediation; and
• other digital assets.

For TechA11y, the collaboration represents an important expansion into the healthcare sector and an opportunity to work with an enterprise whose mission strongly aligns with the principles of digital inclusion.

“The Wright Center is an exceptional organization for TechA11y to partner with as we expand our work in healthcare,” said Kirk Uhler, CEO of TechA11y. “Digital accessibility is ultimately about people. When someone is looking for health information, trying to understand available services, learning about a community program or simply trying to navigate an organization’s website, disability should not be the reason they encounter a barrier.

“The Wright Center understands that accessibility is more than a compliance exercise,” Uhler continued. “It is part of making sure people can participate fully. That shared commitment makes this partnership especially meaningful to us.”

For individuals with disabilities, accessible digital resources can affect the ability to locate health information, learn about available programs and services, understand educational opportunities, access documents and media, and interact effectively with an organization online.

By integrating accessibility into the ongoing operation of its digital properties, The Wright Center is extending its commitment to access into the digital experience.