U.S. Representative Rob Bresnahan, Jr. (PA-08) announced that The Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education will receive two federal grants totaling $1,250,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funding aims to support medical residency programs in rural areas and enhance care for underserved populations in Pennsylvania.
According to Rep. Bresnahan, “The health of our region depends on having enough qualified physicians and health professionals where they are most needed, from our rural areas to our underserved neighborhoods. That is why these investments are so critical. By supporting The Wright Center’s rural residency planning efforts and their innovative Continuum of Care initiative, we are addressing two urgent challenges at once: the shortage of primary care doctors in rural Pennsylvania and the need to provide compassionate, whole-person care to our most vulnerable neighbors.”
He added, “These grants will help train the next generation of family physicians in the very communities they will serve, ensuring people can access quality care close to home. They will also empower physicians-in-training to meet people where they are and deliver not just medical treatment, but behavioral health support, substance use disorder services, and the kind of continuity of care that can change lives.”
The first grant provides $750,000 through the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Rural Residency Planning and Development Program. This funding is intended for developing new rural medical residency programs in underserved communities across Pennsylvania.
Dr. Linda Thomas-Hemak, president and CEO of The Wright Centers for Community Health and Graduate Medical Education, said, “We are inspired by and profoundly grateful for Congressman Rob Bresnahan’s steadfast commitment to addressing the health services and physician workforce development needs of underserved and rural communities. With only 2% of residency training occurring in rural areas, initiatives like the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Residency Planning and Development Program are solution-oriented and absolutely vital.”
She continued, “By pursuing the development and launch of an ACGME-accredited Rural Family Medicine Residency program in partnership with Primary Health Network, we can improve access to comprehensive primary health services, while cultivating the next generation of family physicians who are far more likely to stay and serve in the rural communities where they train. Rural counties in Pennsylvania face significant public health challenges related to the underserved population’s chronic medical conditions and behavioral health needs, exacerbated by high poverty rates and physician shortages.”
“This HRSA Rural Residency Planning and Development Program grant empowers us to leverage the proven legacies of Primary Health Network as a Federally Qualified Health Center and The Wright Center’s community-driven, Graduate Medical Education Safety-Net Consortium model to collaboratively create community victories that expand access to whole-person primary and preventive health services,” Dr. Thomas-Hemak stated.
“Our continuous learning and collaborative success will energize and improve the quality of health services and physician and interprofessional workforce development in underserved and rural communities.”
The second grant allocates $500,000 under the Primary Care Training and Enhancement – Resident Training in Street Medicine Program. This supports The Wright Center’s Continuum of Care initiative focused on preparing future physicians for work with diverse populations.
Dr. Thomas-Hemak commented further: “We are equally thankful to Congressman Robert Bresnahan for his support of innovative, community-driven solutions like our collaborative Northeast Pennsylvania Community Continuum of Care initiative. This federally awarded grant aims to strengthen our community’s collective capacity to improve population health outcomes and to inspire and prepare the next generation of competent primary care physicians to provide whole-person, interprofessional services for vulnerable populations across rural and urban communities.”
“By training our physicians in Street Medicine and embedding them alongside our community partners in the very settings where people experiencing homelessness live and seek refuge, we will work together to provide essential health and social services, including compassionate, high-quality, whole-person primary and preventive health services… Through this collective effort, we can extend dignity and longitudinal continuity of care for our high-risk homeless population…”
“This work reflects our mission-driven journey to improve the health and welfare of our communities through responsive, whole-person health services for all,” she concluded.
