Rural Healthcare

The Northeast Regional Crisis Stabilization Center opened its walk-in crisis intervention service in December. The Honesdale center plans to open a crisis residential service with eight beds early this year.

Geisinger nurses went on strike in Luzerne County. Officials fought to find a new buyer for three local hospitals after a deal fell through more than a year ago. And communities came together to support their most vulnerable — the aging, uninsured and hungry.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, or UPMC, started a rural residency program two years ago. The program trains doctors at its Wellsboro and Cole locations in Northcentral Pennsylvania to bolster the rural doctor workforce.

Temple University’s dental school, in partnership with the Tamaqua Area Community Partnership, located a site on Center Street for a proposed rural dentistry campus, which is set to open for students in time for the Fall 2026 semester.

WVIA will partner with Wyoming County's Opioid Settlement Committee this Sunday for 'Wyoming County Voices: Battling the Opioid Crisis Together.' Admission to the town hall is free, and the event will be hosted at the Dietrich Theater in Tunkhannock.

The White House is touting a $50 billion program for rural healthcare - but how much of that money will Pennsylvania see? And, get some reading recommendations in the latest Bookmarks.

At the Clum Family Farm, bees buzz for peak honey-making season. And learn more about a rural health clinic in Susquehanna County bracing for the impact of Medicaid cuts.

Susquehanna Family Health Clinic provides primary care to thousands of patients, many of them Medicaid recipients. The family-owned clinic faces the possibility of closure as President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill goes into effect.

July 21, 2025 – Temple Dental is coming to Tamaqua with its brand new rural dentistry track. The program is set to start as early as 2026 with the goal of addressing gaps in rural dentistry. Northeast Pennsylvania’s first hip-hop festival returns this summer with more talent. And, book recommendations from Osterhout Free Library’s annual tent sale.

Temple Dental School plans to open a Tamaqua campus as soon as 2026. Administrators hope students will commit to practicing in rural areas after they complete their final two years of dental school in Tamaqua.