Actualités
The Wright Center joins effort to identify, prioritize health needs in rural communities
The Wright Center for Community Health will join an effort to identify and prioritize service needs for families living in rural communities.
Leading this effort is the Children’s Service Center of Wyoming Valley Inc. (CSC), which received a grant of $36,000 to facilitate a community health needs assessment in Wyoming County. AllOne Charities and Moses Taylor Foundation are funding the project through the AllOne Charities Collaborative Philanthropy Fund. In addition to The Wright Center and CSC, the project includes Wyoming County Health Center Inc. and The Guthrie Clinic/Guthrie Tunkhannock. Plans call to engage other interested providers as planning and resource development efforts unfold.
The participants have partnered with The Institute, the Northeast Pennsylvania research partnership among regional colleges and universities and the business community, to complete the assessment in spring and summer 2026 in preparation for potential funding available through the Rural Health Transformation Program in Pennsylvania and other sources.
According to CSC President and CEO Christopher Boyle, these Tunkhannock-based providers entered discussions earlier this year to explore partnerships that will further address geographic, financial, and other barriers to care for patients in Wyoming County.
“Our discussion verified multiple areas of concern – limited availability and growing demand for outpatient services, medical specialty care, and the travel required to receive care for medical emergencies in Towanda, Wilkes-Barre or Scranton,” Boyle said.
Lindsay Shalata, executive director of Wyoming County Healthcare Center Inc., agreed.
“The consensus among the group was that more information would be necessary to effectively document community health needs, not only from readily available health data, but also from the actual experiences of patients and providers in Wyoming County’s rural communities. We are committed to finding more effective solutions that draw on the strengths of multiple providers for greater community benefit,” she said.
Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Center, said this collaborative community health needs assessment for Wyoming County represents a critical and deeply meaningful opportunity to more fully understand and respond to the interconnected medical, behavioral, dental, and health-related social needs that shape health and well-being across rural communities.
“This collective effort reflects the growing recognition that no single organization alone can fully address the increasingly complex realities influencing health in rural communities,” Dr. Thomas-Hemak said. “By listening carefully to patients, families, employers, educators, clinicians, health services team members, and community stakeholders, we can better align action strategies to expand whole-person health services, strengthen care coordination, enrich outreach and prevention efforts, and support more responsive workforce and care delivery planning. Most importantly, this work creates opportunities for unprecedented collaboration, while collectively striving to advance the health, well-being, and future vitality of Wyoming County.”
Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak
The Guthrie Clinic’s commitment to improving rural health is grounded in ensuring patient safety and leveraging technology to improve access to its hospital-based and ambulatory services in Pennsylvania and upstate New York, according to Paul VerValin, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
“Every community has unique needs and we want to learn more. This needs assessment will complement our goals in Wyoming County, where we are serving a growing number of people and want to better engage patients and care partners to improve health and well-being in rural communities,” VerValin said.
The project collaborators are eager to deliver actionable solutions at a critical time for Northeastern Pennsylvania to develop and initiate a plan for improving healthcare issues affecting Wyoming County. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has secured $193 million in annual federal funding through the Rural Health Transformation Program – part of a $50 billion national initiative to modernize rural care, address hospital closures, and strengthen the health care workforce over five fiscal years.
Boyle added, “As providers in Wyoming County, we need to be ready with a clearer picture on community needs and priorities that will align with this potential funding – which focuses on technology, EMS, maternal and behavioral health, and regional care collaboration. We want to strengthen the healthcare landscape by developing better strategies to improve communication and facilitating shared objectives to advance rural healthcare delivery.”
