News from Wheeler

Behavioral health is a historic core service in Wheeler’s continuum of care, and we asked Vice President of Family Health & Wellness Center Outpatient Services Teodoro Anderson Diaz, LCSW, LADC, how behavioral health is integrated in Wheeler’s community health centers.

Now, more than ever, loving foster homes are needed for hundreds of children and youth in Connecticut. In a short video, Wheeler's Allison Casinghino, foster care specialist, and Sharon Pendleton-Ponzani, LCSW, director, Community-based Family Services, highlight the pressing need for foster families amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Each year, more than 28 million individuals receive care in community health centers like Wheeler...one in 12 Americans! The complete, whole-person care delivered by health centers improves health outcomes and addresses some of the most pressing issues in health care today like: access to affordable care; treatment for substance use disorders and chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure; equity and injustice; and much more.

Find breastfeeding/chestfeeding resources available in Connecticut.

August is National Breastfeeding Month, a time to consider the positive impact of breastfeeding and ensure that families who choose this practice have the support they need to reach their goals. You can play a role by helping breastfeeding parents within your family, at the workplace, in public locations, and health care settings.

Pediatrician Barbara “Basia” Szajda, MD, IBCLC, (she/her pronouns) has joined Wheeler’s Family Health & Wellness Center at 43–49 Woodland Street, Hartford. In this role, Dr. Szajda provides pediatric medical care to infants, children, and teenagers for families in Hartford and the surrounding communities.

Wheeler’s health care personnel and patients at our four community health centers are delivering care in a safe environment amid COVID-19, thanks to a $50,000 grant from Direct Relief, in partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers.

For young professionals, the COVID-19 crisis is taking its toll in areas ranging from working remotely, to limited travel and social engagement, to worries about the safety of parents and other loved ones, and more. There are things that young professionals can do to manage these dynamic and challenging circumstances, which still may linger even as the state and country reopen.

With more employees returning to their workplaces after months of working at home, Dan Fallon, LPC, CEAP, program manager of Wheeler's Employee Assistance Program, offers tips to reduce anxiety for both employees and employers.

Community leaders, donors, friends, and staff gathered online for a virtual building dedication on June 25 in honor of former Wheeler President and Chief Executive Officer, Susan Walkama, LCSW. The primary five-story building at Wheeler’s flagship community health center at 43 Woodland Street in Hartford was renamed the “Susan Walkama Family Health & Wellness Center.”

Teodoro Anderson Diaz, LCSW, LADC, vice president of Health and Wellness Center Outpatient Services, Wheeler, recently talked with Access Health CT about the importance of prevention in maintaining men’s health.

Wheeler and the Jordan Porco Foundation recently were featured in a CT News Junkie story on what families can do about mental health during the COVID-19 crisis.

"This is an individual, organizational, community, national, and international issue, and it starts with a mirror." Letters to Wheeler's staff on June 1 and June 6 by Sabrina Trocchi, PhD, MPA, President and CEO.

If you or a loved one are in emotional crisis, here are some short-term strategies.

Home schooling—or a modified version of it—may be with us for a while longer because of the COVID-19 crisis. Here are some tips to help parents and caregivers to continue to navigate the at-home learning process.