-Gerard J. Geoffroy
As a longtime patient and board member of The Wright Center for Community Health, I know firsthand the exceptional care our organization provides to the community at large.
That’s why it is so important to celebrate National Health Center Week, the annual observance designed to highlight the commitment of our staff, board members, and supporters who make it possible to provide affordable, high-quality, nondiscriminatory whole-person primary health services to patients of all ages, income levels, and insurance statuses.
There are about 1,400 community health centers (CHCs) across the country, serving more than 31.5 million patients across 15,000 communities, according to the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC).
This year’s National Health Center Week, which takes place Aug. 4-10, has the theme “Powering Communities Through Caring Connections.” The theme focuses on “empowering communities by connecting them with health centers and elected officials from all levels of government.”
As always, each day of the week is focused on a particular area of focus: Sunday is Public Health in Housing Day; Monday is Healthcare for People Experiencing Homelessness Day; Tuesday is Agricultural Worker Health Day; Wednesday is Patient Appreciation Day; Thursday is Stakeholder Appreciation Day; Friday is Health Center Staff Appreciation Day; and Saturday is Children’s Health Day.
Locally, we need to prioritize all these facets of health care better, and The Wright Center will continue to be right there at the forefront. In 1976, we formed the Scranton-Temple Residency Program, which had just six internal medicine residents. Today, we have more than 665 employees, including 209 resident and fellow physicians, serving our mission 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.
It is hard to believe, but it’s been five years since we achieved perhaps our biggest milestone to date when the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) designated The Wright Center a Federally Qualified Health Center Look-Alike, or FQLA. Because of this stature, we’ve been able to expand our local footprint to nine locations in Lackawanna, Luzerne, and Wayne counties, as well as our Driving Better Health mobile medical and dental unit, which all serve tens of thousands of patients annually regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. In September, we’ll open two more locations in Dickson City and Tunkhannock.
Given their location in regions with high poverty rates and/or a lack of private or nonprofit health systems and hospitals, community health centers like ours serve a critical function in terms of providing exemplary health care at a lower cost for the patient. The Wright Center follows a patient-centric model, with an emphasis on overcoming geographic, cultural, linguistic, and other barriers to care by delivering coordinated and comprehensive services. 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.
Through that full spectrum of care, we strive to reduce health disparities by emphasizing care management of patients with numerous medical needs, as well as through the use of key quality improvement practices.
The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement, a subsidiary of The Wright Center for Community Health, was created with the intent of expanding access to care and addressing the social determinants of health – including food insecurity, homelessness, poverty, and transportation – that can adversely affect underserved patients.
There’s no question that we’re among the premier community health centers in the country. Carrying out our mission is an honor and a privilege.
Gerard J. Geoffroy, a resident of Jermyn, serves as the immediate past chair of The Wright Center for Community Health Board of Directors and immediate past chair of The Wright Center for Patient & Community Engagement Board of Directors. He has been a patient of The Wright Center for more than 20 years and is a fervent advocate of having patient representatives at the governance table.