HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nationally recognized corrections thought leader John E. Wetzel will speak on improving community health by rethinking jails in particular as healthcare delivery hubs on Wednesday, November 16 at 9:30 a.m. at the HLTH 2022 conference in Las Vegas. He is the founder and CEO of Phronema Justice Strategies LLC, a Harrisburg-based national management consulting firm. The session will be moderated by Phoebe Coles, CEO of Community Marketing Concepts, a thought partner based in Philadelphia that provides engagement marketing and communications services with a focus on improving health in underserved communities.
Wetzel, the longest serving Pennsylvania secretary of corrections and the only one to work under both Democratic and Republican governors, will focus his presentation on the opportunity to improve the health of communities by creating healthier environments and delivering improved healthcare to people living and working in prisons and jails and their families. In recasting correctional healthcare as community healthcare, a vital nexus between two significantly underserved communities, Wetzel will present the case that by meeting people where they are, not only will health outcomes improve for the incarcerated, but they will also be better for the entire surrounding community.
“From my position as Pennsylvania Secretary of Corrections, the pandemic was a pressure test for our entire healthcare system,” Wetzel said. “We learned where our weak spots were, and it was clear that disadvantaged communities, especially our jails, were among the least healthy and resilient of our populations, and that was directly reflected in and caused a ripple effect on the surrounding communities. Jails are a vital intersection of communities, not a wall between them.”
He continued, “In addition to improving the health of prisoners and those around them, including the corrections staff and the communities surrounding our jails and prisons, delivering better healthcare to incarcerated people reduces the number of touchpoints they have with the system after incarceration, thereby increasing their chances of successful reentry.”
Produced by HLTH, a platform dedicated to engaging the health community, the annual HLTH conference attracts more than 8,500 attendees from around the world and focuses on health innovation and transformation.
Founded by John E. Wetzel, the longest serving Pennsylvania Secretary of Corrections and nationally recognized corrections expert and innovator, Phronema Justice Strategies, L.L.C. is a national management consulting firm focusing on bringing disruptive innovation to public safety, especially as it relates to mitigating correctional staffing issues.
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