October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is as good a time as any to stress the importance of women taking a proactive approach to not only their cancer screenings, but their overall health. 

Unfortunately, too many women neglect their own well-being because they’re so focused on the needs of others—their children, their spouse or their aging parents—that they don’t stop to think about themselves. 

While we at the Wright Center for Community Health do not have all the answers for “sandwich generation” moms and other busy women, we do offer an array of services that allow busy women to balance their own wellness with their myriad daily responsibilities. Our local primary care practices offer integrated services that allow patients the convenience of going to a single site to access all their physical, dental and behavioral health care needs. That’s why our patients are encouraged to make us their medical home.

Make an appointment at TheWrightCenter.org, any time day or night, and use the express online scheduling service, or our smart bot, Neo. 

To find which practice location in Lackawanna, Luzerne or Wayne counties is most convenient for you, visit TheWrightCenter.org/locations.

We accept almost all insurances, including Medicaid, Medicare and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), plus private plans. If you’re uninsured, our enrollment assisters can help to educate you about the options and the sign-up process, and our sliding-fee discount program ensures high-quality health care is affordable and accessible for everyone.

Our female patients can access a wide range of health services, from preventive cancer screenings and well-woman visits to bone density testing and birth control. We also offer age-appropriate immunizations, Pap smears, HPV testing, STI testing and treatment and hormonal testing.

Earlier this year, we began offering a special catch-up clinic for women who might have fallen behind on their regularly scheduled health care screenings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative allowed existing patients to receive pelvic exams, breast cancer screenings and cervical cancer screenings during specially reserved visits on Friday afternoons. The rationale behind the program was clear – to ensure that every one of our patients could catch up on these potentially life-saving screenings. 

I should also mention the Wright Center’s Alzheimer’s and dementia care program, which was established in 2020 to help meet the individualized needs of both patient and caregivers. Caregivers, for instance, can learn the best approaches for improving safety in the home, encouraging routine bathing and decreasing patient agitation. Other facets of the program include medication management and a caregiver support group. 

And to spare women, and all patients, from the needless suffering associated with preventable illness and many of today’s leading causes of death (heart attack, stroke and certain cancers among them), the Wright Center is increasingly focused on preventive care through our lifestyle medicine and obesity medicine programs. Our dedicated team of dieticians, counselors and other professionals can help patients adopt a personalized care plan to manage—or outright avoid—chronic diseases.

Dr. Supriana Bhandol is a resident physician in the Wright Center for Graduate Medical Education’s Family Medicine residency.