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Hazleton Area’s Dante Biasi will have Tommy John surgery

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Lottery Numbers for Thursday, May 12

<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The foundation and charity created by the former Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania have awarded their inaugural series of grants totaling more than $1.5 million to 28 regional nonprofits in an effort to improve the health and welfare of the region&#8217;s residents.</p><p>Among the recipients of the largest grants from AllOne Foundation are The Commonwealth Medical College, which received $640,000 toward the development of a psychiatric residency program, and Volunteers in Medicine, which received $250,000 to establish a new program at its Wilkes-Barre clinic that will focus on delivering free behavioral health services and wellness programs.</p><p>John W. Cosgrove, executive director of AllOne Foundation &amp; Charities, announced the recipients to an audience of representatives of several of the grant recipients and members of the media at the organizations&#8217; offices at 100 N. Pennsylvania Ave. on Thursday.</p><p>John P. Moses, chairman of AllOne Foundation &amp; Charities, noted that one of the promises he made to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department during November 2014 hearings on the proposed merger of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania and Highmark Inc. was that Blue Cross &#8220;wanted to have a real impact on healthcare in Northeastern Pennsylvania&#8221; and would work after the merger to &#8220;identify major areas that needed attention&#8221; and &#8220;look for collaborative areas so we would have a great impact on the health care delivery system.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Our board has identified that major health care issue for this year as behavioral and mental health,&#8221; Moses said. &#8220;And in conjunction with eight entities collaborating, we were able to put together an effort focused on delivering a true impact on mental health and behavioral health in Northeast and North Central Pennsylvania.&#8221;</p><p>Moses said AllOne Foundation was dispersing $1,118,000 among those eight entities, while AllOne Charities was distributing $395,700 among 20 nonprofits in the 13-county area served by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield.</p><p>Cosgrove noted that the $640,000 going to TCMC was for the first year of a five-year grant totaling $3.2 million to develop the psychiatric residency program in collaboration with The Wright Center for Graduate Medical education that includes training primary care proviers to recognize mental health issues in patients and, if necessary, refer them to a specialist.</p><p>In addition to the $250,000 for the VIM comprehensive care program, the agency also will receive a $30,000 grant to establish a Social Care Coordination program to help residents with socio-economic challenges that affect the behavioral and medical health of the low-income population of Greater Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>Dr. Susan F. Sordoni, founder of the Volunteers in Medicine clinic in Wilkes-Barre, said the grant &#8220;give us the opportunity to expand beyond our wildest dreams.&#8221;</p><p>Some of the other local organizations receiving grants include: The Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Luzerne County &#8212; $45,000; The Autism Center at Misericordia (University) &#8212; $50,000; St. Gabriel&#8217;s House - Hazleton &#8212; $50,000; and Candy&#8217;s Place &#8212; $15,000.</p><p>&#8220;Now there are some that would not want us to continue these charitable efforts,&#8221; Moses said. &#8220;But I assure each and every one of you that we are doing everything we can in order to maintain the mission and vision of both the charity and the foundation.&#8221;</p><p>AllOne was formed upon the June 2015 merger of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania and Highmark Inc., creating Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield.</p><p>And BCNEPA&#8217;s pre-merger transfer of $90 million to AllOne is facing scrutiny in Luzerne County Court.</p><p>Plains Township, in a class-action suit filed in August, alleges that BCNEPA violated state law when it transferred the funds to AllOne Charities and AllOne Foundation. The two-count suit claims the money should have been used to benefit policyholders, in keeping with the organization&#8217;s nonprofit status.</p><p>The township and its local lawyer hope that they will be able to convince a judge to redirect that money back into subscriber benefits.</p><p>Moses also noted Thursday that he had promised at the 2015 hearings that with a year, AllOne would create 20 full-time high-paying jobs in Northeastern Pennsylvania. &#8220;I&#8217;m happy to tell you today that we kept that promise because in less than a year, in this facility, we have created 27 new, full-time employees at high-level positions.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Dr. Susan F. Sardoni, of The Commonwealth Medical College (TCMC), speaks during a press conference held by AllOne Health Resources, in which the foundation is granting 28 organizations over $1.5 million. 5/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leaderm </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051316AllOneGrants1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dr. Susan F. Sardoni, of The Commonwealth Medical College (TCMC), speaks during a press conference held by AllOne Health Resources, in which the foundation is granting 28 organizations over $1.5 million. 5/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leaderm </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051316AllOneGrants2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">John W. Cosgrove, AllOne Foundation and Charities exective director, speaks during a press conference in Wilkes-Barre, in which the foundation has awarded 28 charities in the region grant money in excess of $1.5 million. 5/12/16 Send an McKeag | Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051316AllOneGrants2.jpg</photo1><caption1>John W. Cosgrove, AllOne Foundation and Charities exective director, speaks during a press conference in Wilkes-Barre, in which the foundation has awarded 28 charities in the region grant money in excess of $1.5 million. 5/12/16 Send an McKeag | Times Leader </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051316AllOneGrants3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">John P. Moses, chairman of AllOne Foundation and Charities. 5/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_TTL051316AllOneGrants3.jpg</photo2><caption2>John P. Moses, chairman of AllOne Foundation and Charities. 5/12/16. Sean McKeag | Times Leader </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Steve Mocarsky</p><p>smocarsky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

AllOne Foundation & Charities directs $1.5M in grants focusing on area mental health initiatives