News from Wheeler

Susan Walkama, LCSW, who transformed Wheeler Clinic into a leading statewide provider of integrated health care services, will retire on November 1, 2019, the Wheeler Board of Trustees announced today.

Wheeler's Health & Wellness Center team will have eight walk-in clinics available to assist with SNAP, SAGA, TANF, HUSKY and Access Healthcare.

Heidi Joseph, DNP, RN, vice president, Health Center Operations, and other community health center providers, recently were featured in a Community Health Center Association of Connecticut (CHCACT) video highlighting the success of the Transforming Clinical Practices Initiative (TCPI).

Late-night stories. Songs by the campfire. Hikes, games, and more. These were among the many memories made by nearly 100 Connecticut foster children, including youth in Wheeler’s care, and their siblings, at the 11th Annual Siblings Connections Camp, August 4-9, at WFSB-TV Channel 3’s Kids Camp in Andover.

Almost one in five Americans lives with chronic pain, often so great that it affects their daily life. At the same time, the ongoing opioid crisis fuels discussions of the role that pain medications play in the epidemic and new examinations of alternative ways to treat pain. Wheeler is at the forefront, with specially trained staff who integrate behavioral health therapies and alternative approaches into plans of care at the Family Health & Wellness Center in Hartford.

Wheeler's Health & Wellness Center team will have eight walk-in clinics available to assist with SNAP, SAGA, TANF, HUSKY and Access Healthcare.

Wheeler staff and the local community commemorated International Overdose Awareness Day, remembering the lives lost to addiction and working toward a better future of recovery.

Heather Clinger, MPH, CPS, program manager, Wheeler’s Connecticut Center for Prevention, Wellness and Recovery, Wheeler, was named president of Southington’s Town-wide Effort to Promote Success (STEPS) Advisory Board for the 2019-2020 fiscal year.

Wheeler has received $122,000 in federal awards for quality care, including special recognition as the only health center in Connecticut ranked in the top two percent of all centers nationally that improved quality of care between 2017 and 2018 in one or more measures that promote behavioral health, diabetes health, and heart health.

Teams from across Wheeler recently participated in two community events in Bristol, providing individuals and families with information about our many programs and services.

Wheeler’s Heidi Levitz, early childhood specialist, was part of Access Health CT’s series on National Health Center Week (August 4-10, 2019) and highlighted how community health centers serve many generations within families.

Saint Mary’s Hospital, a Regional Health Ministry of Trinity Health of New England, has received approval from the State Office of Health Strategy to transition its outpatient behavioral health clinic to Wheeler Clinic, which is establishing a new Family Health & Wellness Center in Waterbury.

Wheeler’s Christiane Pimentel, senior health outreach coordinator, is part of an Access Health CT social media campaign focused on this observance (August 4-10, 2019) and the role that community health centers play in cities and towns across the country.

Wheeler's Health & Wellness Center team will have eight walk-in clinics available to assist with SNAP, SAGA, TANF, HUSKY and Access Healthcare.

For more than five decades, the central Connecticut community has supported Wheeler Clinic in its mission to serve residents in need. Much of that support has come from the region’s manufacturing sector, which includes several notable local wire and spring firms.