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The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement to host third annual charity golf tournament to raise money for patient-support programs
The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement (TWCPCE) will hold its third annual charity golf tournament on Monday, May 19, at the Glenmaura National Golf Club in Moosic to support underserved and under-resourced individuals throughout Northeast Pennsylvania.
The captain-and-crew Dr. William Waters Golf Tournament will feature a shotgun start at 10 a.m., following registration from 8:30-9:45 a.m. The driving range opens at 8:30 a.m.
Dr. Robert E. Wright
The tournament will honor The Wright Center’s namesake founder, Dr. Robert E. Wright, who will serve as this year’s honorary chair. Recognizing the growing physician shortage in Northeast Pennsylvania and beyond, he established the Scranton-Temple Residency Program in 1976 with community support and a Primary Care Workforce Development Grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Bureau of Health Manpower.
The program, designed to attract medical school graduates to the region for internal medicine residencies, welcomed its first six resident physicians in 1977. Over nearly five decades, The Wright Center has expanded its accredited programs to include residencies in Family Medicine and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation and fellowships in Cardiovascular Disease, Gastroenterology, and Geriatrics.
Today, The Wright Center is one of the largest HRSA-funded Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education Safety- et Consortiums in the nation. In recognition of Dr. Wright’s contributions to the community, the Scranton-Temple Residency Program’s Board of Directors voted in 2010 to rename the organization in his honor.
Dr. Wright also helped start the region’s first medical school, now known as Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, where he served as interim president and dean. The medical school – the first to open in Pennsylvania in more than 40 years and the first to be located in Northeast Pennsylvania – developed out of a forward-thinking conversation among Dr. Wright and several members of the residency program’s board of directors.
“Dr. Robert Wright is truly a visionary leader who has had a profound impact on graduate medical education and the delivery of affordable, high-quality whole-person primary health services in the communities we serve,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “We are honored to deliver our mighty mission every day in his name, and we are thrilled that our charity golf tournament will afford him the recognition he so richly deserves by highlighting and celebrating his countless contributions to the health and welfare of our region.”
Dr. Thomas-Hemak and Mary Marrara, co-chair of TWCPCE and secretary of The Wright Center for Community Health Boards of Directors, serve as co-chairs.
TWCPCE aims to improve the health of our communities through education, advocacy, and patient-centered services that help individuals overcome food insecurity, homelessness, limited access to educational opportunities, a lack of financial resources, and other factors that can affect an individual’s health and well-being. TWCPCE’s team and volunteers hold community outreach activities, including nutritious food distributions of nonperishable items and fresh produce, coat and winterwear giveaways, back-to-school distributions of backpacks and classroom supplies, health fairs, blood drives, and other special mission-driven projects.
Last year’s charity golf tournament raised nearly $41,000. The tournament is named after the late William M. Waters, Ph.D., the vice chair of The Wright Center for Community Health’s Board of Directors and co-chair of TWCPCE. He passed away on July 21, 2022.
The entry fee for golfers is $275 or $1,100 for a foursome, which includes a golf cart, green fee, lunch, and beverage service on the course, followed by a 3 p.m. cocktail hour and 4 p.m. dinner. Tickets for the dinner only are $100.
Prizes will be awarded for closest to the pin, longest drive, and a special prize for a hole-in-one: a 2025 Honda CR-V, courtesy of Matt Burne Honda, an event sponsor. The Prescription Center is the tournament’s presenting sponsor; other sponsors include PNC Bank, Pennsylvania Paper & Supply, Hospice of Sacred Heart, Christ the King Parish, and The Kearney Family Fund.
Various sponsorship levels, starting at just $300, are still available for the tournament. For sponsorship details and inquiries, go to TheWrightCenter.org/golf-2025 or contact Holly Przasnyski, TWCPCE director and board coordinator for TWCPCE and The Wright Center for Community Health, at przasnyskih@TheWrightCenter.org or 570-209-3275.
The third annual Dr. William Waters Golf Tournament, in support of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement (TWCPCE), is Monday, May 19, at Glenmaura National Golf Club. This year’s tournament will honor The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education’s namesake founder, Dr. Robert E. Wright. The tournament committee includes, front row from left, Dr. Erin McFadden, deputy chief medical officer of The Wright Center and medical director of The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton and Scranton Counseling Center; Gail Cicerini, board member, TWCPCE; Mary Marrara, co-chair, TWCPCE Board, and secretary, The Wright Center for Community Health Board; Dr. William Dempsey, chief population health value-based care officer of The Wright Center and medical director of The Wright Center for Community Health Clarks Summit; Michael Ruane, and Deborah Kolsovsky chair, The Wright Center for Community Health Board; second row, Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO, The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education and co-chair, TWCPCE; Gerard P. Joyce; former state Senator Bob Mellow; Natalie Gelb; Pete Danchak; Ken Okrepkie, treasurer, The Wright Center for Community Health Board; and the Honorable Chris Doherty, former Scranton mayor. For more information about this year’s tournament, visit TheWrightCenter.org/golf-2025.
