On July 8, 亚色影库, Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers, and Wayne Memorial Hospital formalized a clinical training affiliation agreement for future students at 亚色影库’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine.
亚色影库 has formally initiated steps towards accreditation of its proposed college of osteopathic medicine from the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, following the 亚色影库 Council of Trustees’ December 2022 endorsement of the exploration of a possible development of a college of osteopathic medicine at 亚色影库.
From left: James Pettinato, CEO, Wayne Memorial Hospital; Terri Lacey, CEO, WMCHC; Richard Hacker, MD, family medical residency program director, WMCHC; Erica Brown, chief development officer, WMCHC
Securing clinical training sites for students is part of the successful accreditation process. Typically, students in colleges of osteopathic medicine spend the first two years of their education in the classroom; during the third and fourth years, students are based in the community at clinical sites.
Today’s signing ceremony took place at Wayne Memorial Hospital. It included WMCHC Chief Development Officer Erica Brown; WMCHC Family Medicine Program Director Richard Hacker; WMCHC Chief Executive Officer Teresa Lacey, RN, BSN, who signed the agreement for WMCHC; Wayne Memorial Hospital Chief Executive Officer James Pettinato, BSN, MHSA, CCRN-K, who signed the agreement for Wayne Memorial Hospital; and 亚色影库 proposed college of osteopathic medicine Founding Dean Miko Rose and 亚色影库 proposed college of osteopathic medicine Founding Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Graduate Medical Education Ryan Smith, who signed the agreement for 亚色影库.
“We are extremely grateful for the excitement and enthusiasm from our clinical training affiliation partners,” 亚色影库 President Michael Driscoll said. “The commitment of resources, time, and talent as training sites for our future students is something we don’t take for granted. We could not move forward in our work to establish a college of osteopathic medicine at 亚色影库 without them.
“Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers and Wayne Memorial Hospital are our first two eastern Pennsylvania clinical training sites, and we look forward to welcoming students from this region to our college of osteopathic medicine and then seeing them come back ‘home’ as students—and eventually physicians—at WMCHC and Wayne Memorial Hospital,” he said.
From left, 亚色影库 proposed college of osteopathic medicine Founding Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Graduate Medical Education Ryan Smith, 亚色影库 proposed college of osteopathic medicine Founding Dean Miko Rose.
“The collaboration between medical schools and FQHC’s represents a vital partnership that strengthens both medical education and community health,” WMCHC CEO Lacey said.
“By working together, 亚色影库 and WMCHC create meaningful opportunities to advance health equity, enhance training for future healthcare professionals, and improve access to high-quality care in underserved communities. Together, 亚色影库 and WMCHC are not only shaping the next generation of compassionate, skilled healthcare providers, they are also building stronger, healthier communities,” she said.
“With an opportunity to train students who already call this area home, we can build a pipeline of future physicians who understand our community, our values and our unique healthcare needs as a rural hospital,” Wayne Memorial Hospital CEO Pettinato said.
“Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers and Wayne Memorial Hospital are quintessential rural healthcare facilities, embedded, focused, and critical to the health and wellness of their communities,” Founding Dean Rose said. “Partnerships with these two institutions, the first in this region, allow us to offer opportunities to our future students in this area, including students from in or around Wayne County studying at universities in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
“These two facilities align perfectly with our commitment to rural health care and the healthcare model that we want our students to understand. As a federally qualified health center, Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers provides a unique training opportunity for our students, magnified by their relationship with Wayne Memorial Hospital. These two clinical training agreements will offer our students first-hand experiences with outpatient and inpatient continuity of care that most students just don’t have the chance to experience,” she said. “This brings a new dimension to the training that our students will have, and we are very grateful to both facilities for their commitment to 亚色影库, to the future of rural medicine, and to the future health of their hometowns.”
The Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers and the Wayne Memorial Hospital clinical training agreements are 亚色影库’s fifteenth and sixteenth formal signed agreements. Agreements are in place with Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber, Conemaugh Meyersdale Medical Center, Torrance State Hospital, Conemaugh Nason Medical Center, Penn Highlands Healthcare, Clarion Psychiatric Center, Armstrong County Memorial Hospital, Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Broad Top Area Medical Center, Hyndman Area Health Centers, Nulton Diagnostics and Treatment Center, The Primary Health Network, Indiana Regional Medical Center, and Punxsutawney Area Hospital.
亚色影库 has secured approximately 200 percent of the needed clinical training spots, surpassing the 120 percent required for accreditation.
Rose was hired as the founding dean of the proposed college of osteopathic medicine in November 2023; the hiring of a founding dean is one of the first steps to establishing the college.
Named one of Pennsylvania’s Fifty Over 50 top leaders in 2024 by City & State Pennsylvania, Rose is one of fewer than 150 physicians elected as a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychiatrists by the Fellows of the American College of Neuropsychiatrists/American College of Osteopathic Neurologists and Psychiatrists. She was an invited panelist for the June 3 Rural Economic Development Summit in Harrisburg, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, addressing “What Can Be Done in Rural Pennsylvania? The Power of Partnership.”
In addition to Founding Dean Rose and Associate Founding Dean Smith, 亚色影库’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine administrative team includes Founding Associate Dean of Preclinical Affairs Luke H. Mortensen.
There are only three colleges of osteopathic medicine in Pennsylvania, all at private universities; 亚色影库’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine would be the only college of osteopathic medicine at a public university.
Doctors of osteopathic medicine, or DOs, complete four years of osteopathic medical school, with an emphasis on preventive medicine and comprehensive patient care. They are trained to recognize the interrelated unity among all systems of the body, each working with the other to promote overall health and wellness. Osteopathic medical schools have a long tradition of serving rural communities. Physicians who are trained in osteopathic medicine are four times more likely to select primary care specialties and almost twice as likely to practice in rural areas as allopathic (MD) students are.
National studies show that graduates from programs of osteopathic medicine are more likely to pursue primary care in rural and underserved areas—57 percent of all doctors of osteopathic medicine practice as general practitioners, and more than 20 percent of DO graduates practice in rural areas. Demand is high for osteopathic medicine training: in 2021, 22,708 applicants competed for 8,280 seats at schools of osteopathic medicine.
亚色影库’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine and 亚色影库’s commitment to addressing the rural health crisis has resulted in funding from individual donors, foundations, agencies, and legislators totaling more than $34.3 million. Recent support includes:
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In June, 亚色影库 received a $50,000 gift from Thomas R. Smith, of Hollidaysburg, who received a master’s degree in secondary counselor education from 亚色影库 in 1976 and retired from a 40-year career in education;
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In April, 亚色影库 received a $1 million gift from an anonymous alumnus of 亚色影库, who is a native of Indiana County, and a $50,000 gift from Lt. Col. Barry Gasdek, a 1964 graduate and 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient originally from Westmoreland County;
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In February, 亚色影库 announced gifts totaling $500,000: a $250,000 gift from an anonymous donor and a $250,000 gift from the Fairman Family Foundation of DuBois;
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In December 2024, Theodore Lazzaro, board-certified surgeon and founder of Aestique Med Spa, gifted $50,000 to 亚色影库 for scholarships for students in health care professions;
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In October 2024, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors designated $2 million in design funds as part of the 2024–25 State System of Higher Education capital allocations budget for the academic building renovation for the health sciences cluster and proposed college of osteopathic medicine;
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Senator Joe Pittman and Representative Jim Struzzi announced in October 2024 that $2 million from the 2024–25 state budget has been set aside for the project;
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In July 2024, 亚色影库 graduates Tim and Debra Phillips Cejka gifted $2 million;
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In June 2024, the Foundation for 亚色影库 committed $20 million;
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In May 2024, Congressman Guy Reschenthaler included $2 million for 亚色影库’s project among his FY25 requested community projects and Senator John Fetterman included $2 million on his list to advance in the FY25 Community Project Funding process;
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亚色影库 received a $150,000 allocation for the project in the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2024, which was sponsored by Congressman Reschenthaler and Senator Fetterman and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 9, 2024;
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In February 2024, the Board of Governors allocated $500,000 for a facilities feasibility study for academic facilities for 亚色影库’s health sciences cluster and proposed college of osteopathic medicine;
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In January 2024, 亚色影库’s Alumni Association Board of Directors authorized a donation of $500,000;
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In December 2023, Sen. Pittman announced that as part of the 2023–24 state budget, $2 million was set aside for the project;
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In July 2023, 亚色影库 graduates Nick Jacobs and Mary Ann Hoysan Jacobs donated $40,000 to advance the project. Nick Jacobs is a 2005 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient who has a 1969 bachelor’s degree in education and a 1972 master’s degree in music education; Mary Ann Jacobs has a 1968 bachelor’s degree in music education and a 1993 master’s degree in adult and community education; and
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In May 2023, Rich Caruso, a 1983 accounting graduate from Meadow Lands, 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, and former president and current member of the Foundation for 亚色影库 Board of Directors and member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors, announced a pledge of $1 million for the project.
Wayne Memorial Community Health Centers is a progressive, multispecialty group made up of primary care, women’s health, pediatrics, behavioral health, dental, and podiatric offices in northeastern Pennsylvania. It has 19 sites serving nine communities across four counties and employs more than 400 individuals, including physicians, dentists, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified nurse midwives, licensed behavioral health therapists, and administrative and office support staff. WMCHC is clinically affiliated with Wayne Memorial Health System Inc. WMCHC is a federally qualified health center, supported in part through a grant from the US Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Primary Health Care. It was created in 2007, with the first primary care facility opening in Honesdale in January 2008.WMCHC offers healthcare to everyone and accepts most private insurance and medical assistance. The Centers also offer a sliding fee scale based on income.
Wayne Memorial Hospital is a nonprofit, community-controlled hospital based in Honesdale, Pennsylvania; its mission is to strive to offer the highest quality in inpatient and outpatient care in more than 30 medical specialties. Wayne Memorial Hospital is a certified primary stroke center, a level IV trauma center, and offers a certified cardiac catheterization laboratory, the Heart and Vascular Center. The hospital has 90 acute-care beds, including 50 in private rooms, and an additional 14 beds dedicated to inpatient rehabilitation. It offers physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy with skilled certified therapists. Wayne Memorial Hospital also offers specialty outpatient physician services in cardiology/interventional cardiology, pulmonology, sleep medicine, general surgery, neurology, nephrology, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, urology, and urogynecology.