Scranton is an interesting place. It has for years been considered the quintessential has-been: once an industrial giant, the capital of the anthracite coal industry, then a significant center of clothing manufacturing and on to a place that had no particular industrial strength. It became a ârust beltâ shrinking city in a shrinking part of the country. But the image doesnât really hold up. The cityâs several academic institutions were joined 10 years ago by the Commonwealth Medical College, now morphed into the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. At the time Bill Scranton, a former governor and the areaâs most prominent citizen, said that the opening of the medical school was the most important thing that had happened here in his life. The med school could only happen because a diligent, impassioned strategizing small group of doctors and others met on a weekly basis. They were concerned about the need for better medical care in the region. The passion and determination that they exhibited, the time and energy that they put into the effort, is an example of what people in this region are capable of doing to improve the quality of life here.