The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Psychiatry Residency Program: Postgraduate Year 1 (PGY1) cohort recently placed in the top 10 nationally on the American College of Psychiatrists’ Psychiatry Resident in Training Examination.

The two-part exam, administered three to four times during the four-year residency, tests performance in comparison with other resident physicians at a similar level of training in the United States, Canada and elsewhere. It consists of 300 questions and addresses content areas, such as neurosciences, clinical psychiatry, epidemiology, behavioral and social sciences, and more.

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“I am incredibly proud of our resident physicians,” said Dr. Sanjay Chandragiri, director of The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Psychiatry Residency. “They embody the ideals of The Wright Center. They have worked extremely hard under trying circumstances during the pandemic to master the field of psychiatry and provide patient-centered care to the patients who have entrusted their care to us.” 

The cohort of Drs. Salman Alam, Nathan Hoff, Christine Lu, Rosa Peverini and Ashley Zhan scored in the 97^th percentile among the 230 psychiatry residencies in the nation, which places The Wright Center’s test-takers among the top 10 PGY1 cohorts. In addition, Lu’s individual test score placed her in the 98^th percentile for all PGY1 residents in the country and 93^rd for all psychiatry residents in the nation. 

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Psychiatry Residency was approved recently for three more resident physicians. The additional residents will join the residency in July, bringing a total of 25 psychiatry resident physicians to serve Northeast Pennsylvania.

For more information about The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education, go to TheWrightCenter.org or call 570.343.2383.

The Wright Center for Community Health will distribute free at-home COVID-19 test kits to the public on a first-come, first-served basis at its Mid Valley Practice, 5 S. Washington Ave., Jermyn, on Sunday, Jan. 9, beginning at 5 p.m. and continuing until supplies are exhausted. 

To minimize potential exposure to COVID-19 and to expedite the distribution process of the test kits, The Wright Center is asking those who need at-home test kits to pre-register by completing the form available here. Please print and provide the form to volunteers at the distribution event. The pre-registration process does not guarantee the availability of a test kit. 

The Wright Center is also reminding participants to abide by COVID-19 mitigation standards by wearing masks and remaining in their vehicles at all times.

“The Wright Center is honored and grateful to be a steward of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) COVID-19 Testing Supply Program,” said Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education. “We humbly ask for everyone to exhibit patience and understanding as our volunteers perform their duties for this important initiative under very stressful circumstances.” 

The Wright Center for Community Health’s supplies will be replenished periodically as it receives additional shipments of COVID-19 at-home rapid test kits from HRSA. The shipments will be used to stock The Wright Center’s primary care practices, future community distribution events and Driving Better Health, its mobile medical unit that delivers primary health care services to rural communities and underserved populations in the region.

“By working together, we will be able to defeat COVID-19 and protect our family, friends, neighbors and colleagues,” Thomas-Hemak added. “The Wright Center remains committed and true to its mission of improving the health and welfare of our community.”

Future community distribution programs will be scheduled during nonclinical hours in the region as inventory warrants distribution to the public. Separately, due to high demand for primary care services, a limited number of test kits will be distributed during clinical hours only to patients and community partners with appointments at The Wright Center’s eight primary care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wayne counties. 

For complete and up-to-date information about The Wright Center’s community distributions of at-home COVID-19 test kits, please follow the organization’s social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or go to TheWrightCenter.org, where updates will be posted at the top of the homepage.

The Wright Center is respectfully asking the public to refrain from calling and going to clinical locations during normal business hours to ask about at-home test kits. Call volume and clinician capacity are reserved to address primary health services.

Dr. David Eisenberg, the deputy chief medical officer for value-based care, health informatics and operational sustainability at The Wright Center for Community Health, has been named a senior advisor by the Center for Healthcare Innovation.

The Center for Healthcare Innovation is a nonprofit research and educational institute based in Chicago, Illinois, that brings diverse global leaders together to work on improving health care for everyone, regardless of socioeconomic status, gender, race, ethnicity or other social determinants. Its members include health care providers, executives, caregivers, authors, entrepreneurs, researchers and more who work collaboratively on the common goal of reducing health disparities.

It accomplishes its objectives by hosting educational events for global health care innovators, conducting independent research, and advising leaders and teams on how to solve strategic health care and health equity challenges in the industry.

For information about the Center for Healthcare Innovation, please visit www.chisite.org and www.chisite.org/dr-david-eisenberg-md.

The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education recently donated $10,000 to the United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties in support of its annual campaign. 

“The United Way and the people we serve every day are grateful for the ongoing support of The Wright Center,” said Gary W. Drapek, president and CEO of the United Way of Lackawanna and Wayne Counties. “Our missions to lift up underserved communities in the region are more important than ever as the global pandemic continues to affect many facets of our lives. This donation will lessen the impact of COVID-19 on those who can least afford it.”

The Wright Center cares for more than 30,000 patients at its eight primary care practices in Lackawanna, Luzerne and Wayne counties. The Wright Center for Community Health works to improve the health and welfare of Northeast Pennsylvania by improving access to patient-centric health care services, while The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education builds a sustainable and competent workforce of physicians.

A team of cardiovascular disease fellows and internal medicine residents at the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education recently presented their scholarly research, “Comparison of Radial vs. Femoral Arterial Access for Complex Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” at an international conference in Orlando, Florida.

The Cardiovascular Research Foundation’s Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Conference, an annual scientific symposium, is the world’s foremost educational forum that specializes in interventional cardiovascular medicine. It features major medical research breakthroughs and leading researchers and clinicians from around the world presenting and discussing the latest evidence-based research.

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Drs. Muhammad Pir and Najam Saqib, cardiovascular fellows, and Drs. Hamza Hanif and Muhammad Affan, internal medicine residents, co-authored the research presentation. It involved the review of 14 studies and 12,272 patients to assess existing literature on radial versus femoral arterial access for complex percutaneous coronary intervention. Radial access was associated with a significantly lower rate of major bleeding, but the work discovered that overall procedural success was superior when utilizing the femoral artery.

The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education features three fellowships: Cardiovascular disease, gastroenterology and geriatrics. Over three years, the cardiovascular disease fellowship trains fellows in community-based settings with globally and nationally recognized, board-certified cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons. Fellows also hone the knowledge and skills needed to provide state-of-the-art cardiac care, while advancing the specialty field through their own scholarly research and practice.

Overall, The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education has had 75 scholarly abstracts, written on a wide array of topics in medicine, accepted for presentation at professional conferences since the beginning of the 2021-22 academic year.

For more information about The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, go to thewrightcenter.org or call 570.343.2383.

Funding builds upon program in Hazleton, targets other underserved areas in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne, Wyoming counties

The Wright Center for Community Health recently was awarded $75,000 in state funding to encourage hesitant residents in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Susquehanna, Wayne and Wyoming counties to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The new grant funding is part of the state’s $2.5 million COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach Program that supports grassroots efforts to reduce vaccine hesitancy across the commonwealth. The program, administered by the state Department of Community and Economic Development, builds upon the ongoing statewide public health awareness campaign, PA United Against COVID-19.

“The Department of Health remains committed to eliminating obstacles and challenges that prevent Pennsylvanians from getting vaccinated,” Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson said in a press release announcing the 65 grant recipients. “I am impressed by the tens of thousands of Pennsylvanians who are stepping up every day to get their first, second or third dose of vaccine to protect themselves, their loved ones and their neighbors against COVID-19.

With the grant funding, The Wright Center for Community Health will build upon its existing Driving Better Health program in the Hazleton area that delivers COVID-19 vaccines to members of the Hispanic community with the 34-foot mobile medical unit. The collaborative program involves the Hazleton Integration Project, Hazleton Area School District and community leaders reaching vulnerable, underserved populations in southern Luzerne County.

The Wright Center also will build vaccine confidence through outreach and community engagement that overcomes structural, behavioral and informational barriers, including education, rural residency that limits access to health care, people who speak limited English, individuals with low incomes and other under-resourced communities. The mobile medical unit enables clinical staff to establish community clinics and see patients where they live and work thanks to community collaborations that include schools, rural partners, community organizations and ethnic groups.

The grant will enable The Wright Center for Community Health’s Driving Better Health to conduct up to 36 outreach events in the coverage area over 12 months.

For more information about The Wright Center for Community Health, call 570.343.2383 or go to TheWrightCenter.org.