The Wright Center for Community Health, in partnership with Penn State Extension, will begin offering free classes aimed at helping families and individuals who receive food assistance eat healthier while stretching their food budgets.
The series – which will be taught in English and Spanish – begins at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, at The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Auditorium, 501 S. Washington Ave. Classes will continue at the same time and location every Tuesday through June 24.
Melissa Germano
Classes are open to parents or caregivers of children who qualify for free or reduced lunches or WIC, as well as individuals who qualify for SNAP, commonly known as food stamps; food from food pantries; or Pennsylvania farmers market vouchers. For more information or to sign up for classes, contact Melissa Germano, The Wright Center’s director of lifestyle modification and preventive medicine at 570-892-8598 or [email protected].
Instructors from Penn State Extension’s Nutrition Links Program will lead the classes. Topics include healthy recipes, shopping tips, meal planning and preparation, food safety, and nutrition. Everyone completing the course will receive a certification and a set of kitchen tools.
“Food costs are on the rise, which is putting a strain on many families throughout the area,” said Melissa Germano, a registered dietitian and director of lifestyle modification and preventive medicine at The Wright Center. “Partnering with Penn State Extension’s Nutrition Links Program is a perfect opportunity to give families the tools they need to eat healthy and keep their food costs under control.”
Materials used in the classes are funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), through the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, which is supported by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Headquartered in Scranton, The Wright Center’s growing network of community health centers in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wayne, and Wyoming counties, including a mobile medical and dental unit called Driving Better Health, provides affordable, high-quality, whole-person primary health services to everyone, regardless of their insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay. Patients typically have the convenience of going to a single location to access integrated medical, dental, and behavioral health care, as well as community-based addiction treatment and recovery services.
For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-209-0019. To learn more about Penn State Extension’s Nutrition Links Program, visit extension.psu.edu/nutrition-links.
A $25,000 grant from AllOne Charities will help The Wright Center for Community Health provide dental services and oral health education to children enrolled in Head Start locations in Lackawanna, Monroe, Susquehanna, Wayne, and Wyoming counties.
The Head Start Program is primarily federally funded and provides education, health, and social services to families with children ages 3 through 5. Children who attend develop academic and social skills that prepare them for school and life.
In 2023, The Wright Center began offering dental care to some children at local Head Start locations. As a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike, The Wright Center recognizes the importance of providing oral hygiene screening exams and cleanings and educating children about the benefits of good dental hygiene.
“Studies show that good oral hygiene is especially important for children in this age group, as it helps establish healthy habits that last a lifetime and prevent future oral health issues,” said Dr. Caitlin McCarthy, a dentist at The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton who has led the Healthy Smiles Program at local Head Start locations. “This project reaches a vulnerable, underserved, and diverse population.”
The grant will allow The Wright Center’s dental staff to make dozens of trips to Head Start locations across the five counties and provide dental care for hundreds of children. Care will be provided aboard Driving Better Health, the 34-foot medical and dental unit that delivers care where patients live, work, study, and play.
Grant funds will partially cover a dental hygienist’s salary and travel expenses, along with operational expenses for Driving Better Health and dental supplies. Additionally, funds will support the distribution of oral hygiene kits for children, which include toothbrushes, floss, and toothpaste.
AllOne Foundation & Charities, based in Wilkes-Barre, works independently or collectively to enhance the health care delivery system of Northeastern and North Central Pennsylvania and is innovative, creative, and collaborative in crafting new ways of improving the health and welfare of people in the region.
An AllOne Charities grant will help The Wright Center for Community Health deliver dental services and oral health education aboard Driving Better Health to children enrolled in Head Start. Participating in the ceremonial check presentation, from left, are Christine Wysocky, a nurse practitioner at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre; Nora Kern, program officer at AllOne Charities; Mary Carroll Donahoe, chief program officer at AllOne Charities; John W. Cosgrove, chief executive officer at AllOne Charities; Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO at The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education; Kimeth Robinson, manager at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre; Maria Oberto-Jacoby, director of operations at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre; and Anthony Beltran, certified medical assistant at The Wright Center for Community Health.
The Wright Center for Community Health has expanded its psychiatry services with the addition of an experienced psychiatrist, who is now offering office-based remote appointments for adults.
Dr. Jean Gauvin, who earned his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, will provide a full range of services to patients via office-based remote appointments five days a week. Additionally, he will work with colleagues across The Wright Center to continue integrating behavioral health and primary health services.
Dr. Jean Gauvin
“When behavioral health care providers work hand in hand with primary care providers, patients’ health outcomes improve,” said Dr. Jignesh Sheth, senior vice president and chief medical and information officer at The Wright Center. “We know there’s a deep need for behavioral health services in Northeast Pennsylvania, so we’re excited to welcome Dr. Gauvin to The Wright Center as we continue our focus on increasing access to care.”
The United States is experiencing a mental health crisis with increased levels of unmet behavioral health needs among people of all ages, according to a November 2024 brief issued by the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration’s (HRSA) Bureau of Health Workforce.
In 2023, approximately 59 million U.S. adults, 23% of all U.S. adults, had a mental illness, and nearly half of them did not receive treatment. Behavioral health services can be difficult to access due to behavioral health provider shortages, high out-of-pocket costs, coverage gaps, and other factors. The national average wait time for behavioral health services is 48 days, according to HRSA.
Dr. Gauvin and The Wright Center provide office-based remote visits to improve accessibility for individuals in underserved and under-resourced areas, reducing barriers to behavioral health care.
Dr. Gauvin completed his residency training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He has worked as a psychiatrist in several hospitals across Connecticut and at the Connecticut Department of Corrections.
A second dentist who completed the postdoctoral residency training program at The Wright Center for Community Health has joined the nonprofit and is now accepting new patients at The Wright Center for Community Health Wilkes-Barre.
Dr. McKenzie Taylor
Dr. McKenzie Taylor provides comprehensive oral care services for all ages, including preventive, endodontic, periodontal, restorative, prosthetic, and follow-up care, at The Wright Center’s largest dental clinic at 169 N. Pennsylvania Ave.
Dr. Taylor holds a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry and completed her postdoctoral Advanced Education in General Dentistry (AEGD) residency at The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton through an affiliation with NYU Langone Dental Medicine Postdoctoral Residency Program.
She will join Dr. Michael Regan at the dental clinic in Wilkes-Barre. He began seeing patients there in August after completing his AEGD residency at The Wright Center’s community health center in Scranton. More than 2,000 unique patients have been treated at the dental clinic in Wilkes-Barre since it opened on Aug. 6.
The Wright Center, the NYU Langone Health AEGD Program’s sole Pennsylvania affiliate, has hosted two dental residents each academic year since becoming a program partner in 2021. The Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) recently approved The Wright Center’s expansion of the dental residency program to three AEGD residents, starting in July. Both Dr. Regan and Dr. Taylor will supervise and mentor AEGD residents as part of their duties.
To ensure high-quality oral care is available to everyone, The Wright Center accepts all dental insurance plans and offers a sliding-fee discount program to individuals who qualify based on Federal Poverty Guidelines. No patient is turned away due to an inability to pay.
The dental clinic in Wilkes-Barre is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. To make an appointment, call 570-491-0126.
The Wright Center for Community Health is expanding access to behavioral health care by hiring a psychiatrist who will provide office-based remote psychiatry appointments for patients of all ages, helping to address the region’s shortage of mental health specialists.
Dr. Evan Silvi
Dr. Evan Silvi, a graduate of Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, Nebraska, has joined The Wright Center to provide comprehensive psychiatric care. In addition to offering a full range of behavioral health services, he will collaborate with colleagues across the organization to further integrate mental health into whole-person primary health services, enhancing patient-centered treatment.
“When behavioral health care providers work hand in hand with primary care providers, patients’ health outcomes improve,” said Dr. Jignesh Sheth, senior vice president and chief medical and information officer at The Wright Center. “We know there’s a deep need for behavioral health services in Northeast Pennsylvania, so we’re excited to welcome Dr. Silvi to The Wright Center as we continue our focus on increasing access to care.”
After completing his psychiatry residency training and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, Dr. Silvi worked for a decade as a staff psychiatrist at SwedishAmerican Health System in Rockford, Illinois. More recently, the Beloit, Wisconsin, resident has served as a psychiatrist at several locations throughout the United States, including in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Additionally, Dr. Silvi has served as a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Illinois College of Medicine and a clinical preceptor at Albany Medical College. He’s given scholarly presentations on a variety of psychiatry topics, including childhood bullying, repetitive self-injury, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and more.
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education staff celebrated National Match Day on March 21, when they learned that 47 new resident physicians will join their residency programs. Held annually on the third Friday in March, medical students around the globe simultaneously learn where they will train for the next three to seven years. Participating in the celebration, first row, from left, are Michelle Grochowski, graduate medical education coordinator; Eileen Howells, designated institutional administrator; and Lisa Mann, graduate medical educational coordinator; and second row, Russell Day, graduate medical education workforce operations, training, and development specialist; Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO; Meagan Coleman-Derenick, director of GME assessment and evaluations; Dr. Jumee Barooah, senior vice president of education and designated institutional official; Brian Ebersole, vice president of academic affairs and associate designated institutional official; Najla Figueroa, graduate medical education administrative assistant, and Xiomara Smith, clerkships coordinator.
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education welcomed 47 new resident physicians into residency programs on National Match Day for aspiring doctors on March 21.
The National Resident Matching Program’s Match Day is held annually on the third Friday of March. Medical students nation- and worldwide simultaneously learn at which U.S. residency program they will train for the next three to seven years. It is one of the most important and competitive processes in the medical school experience.
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education looks forward to Match Day each year as it learns which medical school graduates will continue their training in its Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)-accredited residency programs. The Wright Center is one of the largest U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Consortiums in the country, with more than 190 physicians in training.
The Wright Center matched residents in the following regional programs: Internal Medicine Residency (32) and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Residency (9). Two resident physicians were also welcomed into the new Internal Medicine-Geriatrics Integrated Residency and Fellowship Pathway, commonly known as the Combined Med-Geri Pathway, and four residents will join the new Family Medicine – HealthSource of Ohio Residency Program, a collaboration between The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education and HealthSource of Ohio in Hillsboro.
The Wright Center is one of 14 training sites across the country approved by ACGME to offer the unique Med-Geri Pathway Program, which provides an alternative route for training geriatricians by integrating the clinical experiences and competencies required of a geriatrics fellowship across the internal medicine residency.
The innovative Family Medicine – HealthSource of Ohio Residency Program focuses on training family medicine physicians in rural settings with an emphasis on caring for underserved populations. Residents will gain hands-on experience in patient care at Ohio’s largest Federally Qualified Health Center, which serves more than 85,000 patients annually. Through this immersive training, the program aims to strengthen the rural health care workforce and improve access to high-quality whole-person primary health services.
The Wright Center will also retain three physicians in training who will complete the Geriatrics Fellowship Program in June. They will join the Internal Medicine Residency Program.
The new resident physicians will begin their program on July 1. All together, incoming residents hail from 12 countries: 15 from the United States, 15 from Pakistan, four from Egypt, four from India, two from Canada, and one each from Georgia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
The Wright Center received 5,835 applications and interviewed 433 candidates, or about 7.42% of the applicants. The National Resident Matching Program makes residency matches, using a mathematical algorithm to pair graduating medical students with open training positions at teaching health centers, educational consortia, hospitals, and other institutions across the U.S. The model considers the top choices of both students and residency programs.
“Match Day is one of the most exciting days of the academic year and a celebration to welcome our new residents,” said Jumee Barooah, M.D., senior vice president and designated institutional official at The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education. “For the residents, the day represents the culmination of years of hard work and perseverance that began at an early age.
“For The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, it marks another milestone in meeting our mission to improve the health and welfare of our communities through responsive, whole-person health services for all and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve.”
The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education was established in 1976 as the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, a community-based internal medicine residency. Today, The Wright Center is one of the nation’s largest HRSA-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortiums. Together with consortium stakeholders, The Wright Center trains residents and fellows in a community-based, community-needs-responsive workforce development model to advance their shared mission to provide whole-person primary health services to everyone, regardless of their insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay. To date, The Wright Center has trained 1,056 graduates.
The Wright Center offers ACGME-accredited residencies in four disciplines – internal medicine, family medicine, physical medicine & rehabilitation, and the combined med-geri pathway – as well as fellowships in cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology, and geriatrics.
