Wright Center employee receives statewide honor as health center ‘community ambassador’

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Kara Seitzinger, executive director of public affairs and advisor liaison to The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education’s president and CEO, was named by the Pennsylvania Association of Community Health Centers as the recipient of a 2023 Award for Primary Care Excellence (APEX) in recognition of her work as a community ambassador.

The association annually bestows its APEX awards in 10 categories to recognize the outstanding efforts of dedicated individuals and teams who work or volunteer for Pennsylvania’s community health centers. An APEX represents the pinnacle of service, quality, innovation, and achievement in primary health care. The association awarded two Community Ambassador Awards this year.

Kara Seitzinger

A Scranton resident, Seitzinger received the award on Oct. 11 at the association’s Annual Conference and Clinical Summit in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

“Kara is truly worthy of this prestigious award. I cannot think of anyone who is a stronger advocate for the patients, families, and communities we serve,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “She embodies the mission of The Wright Center to improve the health and welfare of our communities through inclusive and responsive health services and the sustainable renewal of an inspired, competent workforce that is privileged to serve.

“Thanks to her efforts, our patients and families struggling with food insecurity receive nutritious foods; community members who need warm clothing are given winter garments; and those who need transportation to doctor’s appointments receive travel vouchers. Her monumental public service efforts are honestly hard to quantify, but our communities are healthier and safer because of her reliable and tireless efforts.”

The Community Ambassador Award is “presented to an individual who champions the community health center mission through a steadfast commitment to build relationships, enact change, and promote awareness and bring positive attention to their health center,” according to the association.

Seitzinger works to expand The Wright Center’s visibility and public health impact throughout the region, often identifying and joining forces with mission-aligned community partners to conduct outreach programs that support vulnerable populations and medically underserved communities.

As part of a collaboration with the CDC Foundation, she coordinated with government, business, and nonprofit leaders at the height of the coronavirus pandemic to launch a public health campaign in the Hazleton area to expand access to COVID-19 education, testing, vaccines, and treatment. Later, the campaign also succeeded in delivering CDC-recommended childhood vaccinations to more than 700 school-aged children, enabling their uninterrupted participation in the classroom.

Seitzinger has also played a key role in the planning and execution of fundraising events that allow The Wright Center to provide goods and services to patients and community members in need. For example, the “Road to Recovery” car show in Scranton helps to offset transportation costs for certain individuals who are served by The Wright Center’s Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence and Healthy MOMs program so they can get to and from their medical appointments.

Seitzinger often serves as the health center’s point person for high-profile community impact projects, such as sponsoring the region’s annual PrideFest Parade, most recently held in Wilkes-Barre. The Wright Center’s participation in the event helps to raise awareness of its Ryan White HIV Clinic and to reach community members who might otherwise not have the resources needed to seek care.

The Wright Center currently operates 10 primary and preventive care practices in Northeast Pennsylvania, including a mobile medical vehicle called Driving Better Health. Its practices offer integrated whole-person care, meaning patients typically have the convenience of going to a single location to access medical, dental, and behavioral health care, as well as community-based addiction treatment and recovery services. It accepts most major health insurance plans, including Medical Assistance (Medicaid), Medicare, and CHIP, noting that no patient is turned away due to an inability to pay.

To learn more about The Wright Center’s mission and many services, call 570-230-0019 or visit TheWrightCenter.org.

Wright Center leader selected to sit on Pennsylvania Mental Health Planning Council

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Scott Constantini, associate vice president of primary care and recovery services integration for The Wright Center for Community Health, has been named to a three-year term on the Pennsylvania Mental Health Planning Council’s (MHPC) Adult Advisory Committee.

The Adult Advisory Committee is one of three MHPC committees under the direction of the deputy secretary of the state’s Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS).

Before he was promoted to his current role in 2022, Constantini served for six years as the director of behavioral health at The Wright Center for Community Health. In his current role, he collaborates with hospitals, school districts, public health agencies, government entities, and other community partners to expand access to and improve behavioral services across the region. He also sits on the Lackawanna County Overdose Fatality Review Committee under the direction of county District Attorney Mark Powell.

Scott Constantini

Constantini has a strong track record of developing sustainable projects in the recovery and primary care realms, working with the state Department of Health Services, Department of Health, and Department of Drug and Alcohol programs through The Wright Center for Community Health’s Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence program, the Pennsylvania Coordinated Medication Assisted Treatment Program and a variety of other key programs designed to improve the behavioral health of Pennsylvanians.

He also oversees various federal grants to expand addiction services, such as medications for opiate use disorder, to address the opiate overdose crisis.

“I will represent The Wright Center for Community Health, our patients, and the region with integrity and pride to help guide the state on the future of mental health services across Pennsylvania,” he said. “As we know, there is a lot of work to be done.”

The MHPC consists of three committees: The Children’s Advisory, Adult Advisory, and Older Adult Advisory committees. They aim to advise on a broad behavioral mandate that includes mental health, substance misuse, behavioral health disorders, and cross-system disability.

For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health and The Wright Center for Community Health’s Opioid Use Disorder Center of Excellence, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570-230-0019.

Clarks Summit Practice scheduled to open Oct. 9

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Clarks Summit Practice exterior

The Wright Center for Community Health Clarks Summit Practice, 1145 Northern Blvd., remains closed as crews continue to address water damage from September’s severe flooding in South Abington Township.

Crews have been busy ripping out flooring, repairing water-damaged walls, and drying out the building using industrial fans. With more work to do, however, the timeline needs to be extended to ensure that the work is completed to meet the quality and safety standards we must provide our patients, staff, and learners. As a federally funded Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortium and Essential Community Provider, we aim to resume delivering comprehensive, nondiscriminatory safety-net primary health services at this location for patients and families as soon as possible. 

The clinic’s targeted opening date is Monday, Oct. 9. Until then, patient appointments and staff, along with residents, continue to be redeployed as indicated below: 

● Patients of Drs. William Dempsey and Douglas Klamp have been notified that their scheduled appointments have been moved to The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave., Scranton. Internal Medicine and Family Medicine residents will follow their faculty attendings to Scranton for this period of time. Dr. Klamp has notified the chiefs.

●  Patients of Jennifer Kalinowski, DNP, have been notified that their scheduled appointments have been moved to The Wright Center for Community Health North Scranton Practice, 1721 N. Main Ave., Scranton.

● Patients of Angelo Brutico, PA-C, and Stephanie Hill, LPC, have been notified that their scheduled appointments have been moved to The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Counseling Practice, 329 Cherry St., Scranton.

Regular updates will be available on our website at TheWrightCenter.org/news and on our social media channels.

The Wright Center’s mobile medical clinic to begin offering routine physicals for school students

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TWC Driving Better Health vehicle

To promote the health of school-aged children and teens, The Wright Center for Community Health will begin offering a new service next month aboard its mobile medical and dental unit known as Driving Better Health.

The Driving Better Health clinician team will provide students with routine physicals, piloting this expanded service in the Hazleton Area School District.

The first event will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 17, at the Hazleton Area School District Administration Building, 1515 W. 23rd St., Hazle Township. A second event at the same location, and during the same time span, is scheduled for Oct. 25.

Children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Appointments are required. Please bring student’s identification and insurance cards, if available. The Wright Center will never turn anyone away due to inability to pay. For more information or to make an appointment for a student physical, call 570.230.0019 or visit TheWrightCenter.org.

The Wright Center’s traveling clinicians noticed a need for this service as they conducted an ongoing series of back-to-school vaccination clinics at multiple school districts in Northeast Pennsylvania, said Christine Wysocky, co-director of certified nurse practitioner and physician assistant services for The Wright Center for Community Health.

“In Hazleton, there’s a large pediatric population that has fallen behind in obtaining their vaccines and their yearly physicals,” she said, noting that Pennsylvania requires physicals for every child entering kindergarten, sixth, and 11th grades, as well as any new students enrolling from out of state. “With our mobile unit, we can take these services to them.”

In addition to physicals, participants at the Driving Better Health clinics on Oct. 17 and Oct. 25 will be able to get routine childhood vaccines for which they are eligible, including chicken pox; measles, mumps and rubella (MMR); polio; pertussis; tetanus, diphtheria and tetanus (DTaP); hepatitis B, meningitis; and the flu. COVID-19 vaccines and tests may also be available. 

For vaccine-only visits, appointments are preferred, but walk-ins are accepted. For these appointments, children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and should have identification, vaccination records, and insurance information, if applicable. Uninsured children can be vaccinated under the federally funded Vaccines for Children program. For more information or to schedule a vaccine-only appointment, call 570.230.0019 or visit TheWrightCenter.org.

A medical clinic on wheels, Driving Better Health allows The Wright Center for Community Health to treat patients where they are in Northeast Pennsylvania – from traditionally underserved city neighborhoods to rural areas. The 34-foot vehicle includes two fully equipped exam areas, which can be used either for health care services or dental services. The vehicle also has a wheelchair lift. Since it was put into service in late 2020, Driving Better Health has repeatedly been deployed to area schools, senior living centers, homeless shelters, and other community gathering spots.

The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) provided a grant that enabled The Wright Center to acquire and outfit the custom-built vehicle, which initially served to help populations of special concern during the COVID-19 pandemic by expanding access to coronavirus testing and vaccines.

In-demand career: Community health workers

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National Community Health Worker Awareness Week celebrates specialty field

One of the fastest-growing careers in health care has nothing to do with direct medical care. 

Using their encyclopedic knowledge of local resources, community health workers (CHWs) help people meet various basic needs, including housing, utility bills, nutritious foods, clothing, insurance, transportation to and from medical appointments, and more. 

“Community health workers, they’re pretty much the foundation,” said Amanda Vommaro, CCHW, director of patient-centered services and supervisor of the community health workers at The Wright Center for Community Health. “We make sure the patients are getting their social needs met so that they’re able to address their health.”

For example, a patient with financial difficulties may have to choose between buying food or medication, according to Vommaro. Connecting to a food pantry could help that patient afford the life-saving medication a doctor prescribes. 

“If you don’t have your basic needs met, you’re not really able to do anything else,” she said about patients. “When they’re not buying medication and taking care of their health, that’s where we come in.”

As the health care world celebrates National Community Health Worker Awareness Week from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1, the need for CHWs is greater than ever. Employment of community health workers across the United States is projected to grow 12% between 2021 and 2031 – much faster than the average for other occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the demand for CHWs, according to Chelsea Wolff, a health educator with the Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center (AHEC). Thousands of people lost their jobs and found themselves navigating an often-overwhelming system to apply for unemployment, food stamps, rent and mortgage relief, and other aid from government entities and local social service agencies. President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan called for hiring 100,000 CHWs over 10 years starting in 2021 to support the prevention and control of COVID-19.

But many entities that employ CHWs are having trouble filling the jobs, including The Wright Center for Community Health. It’s partly because people are not familiar with the position.

“People are starting to know about it, but we have a long way to go,” Wolff acknowledged. 

AHEC hopes to help fill the need locally through training courses, some of which are held virtually for community members. The center began offering CHW courses in 2009, Wolff said. Since then, demand has soared for these specialty workers. 

The course covers the basics of what a CHW needs to know, from building an understanding of different cultures and health literacy to learning how to complete documentation and how to avoid job burnout. 

CHWs live in the communities they serve, so they become experts in knowing what resources are available and how best to connect clients to them, Vommaro and Wolff said. The AHEC classes feature many guest speakers, so trainees can begin building a list of local resources that provide help. 

“It’s helping to connect the dots and really building those contacts,” Wolff said. 

Vommaro said clients are often more comfortable talking to CHWs because of their shared community roots. “It’s just a different level of comfort when you’re talking to a community health worker because sometimes we’ve been in the same situation they are in; we’re people who live in their community,” she said. “It’s a little less intimidating than talking to their doctor.” 

For more information about the course, visit the AHEC website.  AHEC also offers monthly informational sessions about CHWs every second Monday of the month. To learn more, click here.  

The Wright Center for Community Health has several job openings for CHWs. To search job listings, visit thewrightcenter.org/careers/. 

The Wright Center to observe National Health Center Week 2023 with special activities in clinics and community

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TWC Mid Valley Practice

The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley Practice, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn, will raise the newly designed Jermyn Borough flag on Friday, Aug. 11 at 9 a.m. in observance of National Health Center Week. The program begins at 8:45 a.m. with light refreshments.

In observance of National Health Center Week, The Wright Center for Community Health will hold a series of special activities across the region including school backpack giveaways, a vaccine clinic, and a special flag-raising ceremony at its primary and preventive health care practice in Jermyn.

The weeklong celebration, from Aug. 6 to 12, helps to draw attention to the critical role that community health centers play in strengthening our nation by delivering high-quality, affordable primary and preventive health care to underserved populations. This year’s theme is “The Roadmap to a Stronger America.”

The Wright Center is one of about 1,400 health centers in the United States, which collectively serve about 30 million people annually. Community health centers represent the largest primary care network in the nation. They deliver care to one in 11 people in the U.S., including one in three people who live in poverty, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers, organizer of National Health Center Week.

During its observance, The Wright Center will celebrate its health care providers, board members, stakeholders, staff and, most importantly, the more than 31,000 patients across Northeast Pennsylvania who turn to it for their care.

The Wright Center operates 10 primary and preventive health care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wayne counties, including a mobile medical and dental unit called Driving Better Health. Together, these clinical locations offer a safety net for the region’s residents, ensuring that everyone in The Wright Center’s five-county service area has access to integrated medical, dental, and behavioral health services, regardless of their insurance status, ZIP code, or ability to pay.

The Wright Center, like other community health centers across the nation, is a nonprofit, patient-governed organization that provides high-quality, comprehensive health care to rural and other medically underserved areas, treating all patients regardless of income or insurance status. More than 61% of The Wright Center’s patients fall at or below 200% of federal poverty guidelines, nearly 32% are insured through Medicaid or CHIP, and just over 18% are insured through Medicare. 

As part of the weeklong celebration, The Wright Center for Community Health Mid Valley Practice, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn, will raise the newly designed Jermyn borough flag at a ceremony beginning at 8:45 a.m. Friday, Aug. 11. The flag, designed in 2019 by borough resident Amy Ryczak, features a green cross that honors Jermyn as the birthplace of first aid. Speakers at the event will include Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, and state Rep. Kyle Mullins, who represents Jermyn as part of the 112th Legislative District. 

Other events planned at The Wright Center’s clinics and in the community for National Health Center Week include:

  • Tuesday, Aug. 8: Backpack giveaway, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., The Wright Center for Community Health Hawley Practice, 103 Spruce St., Hawley. 
  • Wednesday, Aug. 9: Back-to-school vaccine clinic with Driving Better Health mobile medical unit, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Hazleton Area School District, 1515 W. 23rd St., Hazleton. Walk-ups are welcome upon vaccine availability, but appointments are preferred. Call 570.230.0019 to schedule an appointment. 
  • Thursday, Aug. 10: Art and Mindfulness group, 12:30 to 2 p.m., Community Intervention Center, 445 N. 6th Ave., Scranton. 
  • Thursday, Aug. 10: Wellness and Health Fair for Employee Appreciation Day, 2 to 4 p.m., The Wright Center for Community Health Scranton Practice, 501 S. Washington Ave., Suite 1000, Scranton. 
  • Saturday, Aug. 12:  Backpack giveaway and children’s art activity, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., South Side Farmers Market, 526 Cedar Ave., Scranton.