News from Wheeler

Wearing a blue surgical mask, Sabrina Trocchi stood outside the Susan Walkama Health and Wellness Center at the Wheeler Clinic’s expansive Hartford campus, not far from the center’s COVID-19 testing site. Trocchi, a former chief of staff with the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services a.nd previously Wheeler’s chief operating officer, was promoted to president and CEO in November 2019. Four months later, the coronavirus pandemic tested virtually everything she knew about leadership.

Wheeler is a 2020 Top Workplaces award winner from The Hartford Courant for the seventh time. In addition, Wheeler President and CEO Sabrina Trocchi, PhD, MPA, received “Top Leader” in the Large Employer category of the same survey.

Wheeler, a leading statewide provider of integrated primary care and behavioral health services, is transforming the services at its original behavioral health clinic location at 91 Northwest Drive, Plainville, to offer fully integrated primary and behavioral health care in one location.

Wheeler has received $108,000 in federal awards for quality care, including special recognition as one of only two community health centers in Connecticut that met or exceeded goals for reducing health disparities across different racial and ethnic groups between 2018 and 2019.

"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.

Change the Script, a statewide opioid prevention campaign managed by Connecticut Clearinghouse, and funded by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, teamed up with Bristol’s prevention coalition (B.E.S.T.-4-Bristol) on an Overdose Awareness Event on August 31 in Brackett Park, Bristol.

Wheeler and its on-site pharmacy partner Genoa Healthcare will provide information about Naloxone (NARCAN®), a lifesaving medication used to reverse overdoses, and medication assisted treatment (MAT) for addiction at a community outreach event on Wednesday, September 23 from 1 pm –4 pm at Wheeler’s Family Health & Wellness Center at 855 Lakewood Road, Waterbury.

Some of the clearest ways that private philanthropy saves lives at Wheeler is at our community health centers.

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.

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.

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.

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 President and CEO Sabrina Trocchi, PhD, MPA, appeared on the award-winning 'For the People' radio program to talk about Wheeler's new Family Health & Wellness Center in Waterbury, our response to COVID-19, and more.

The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), in partnership with local organizations and communities, kicks off National Prevention Week 2020 with an array of theme-specific online and social media activities, and two scheduled webinars led by spiritual and clinical leaders.

Wheeler’s Waterbury Family Health & Wellness Center has moved from 100 Jefferson Square to 855 Lakewood Road, and the new community health center is now open. An expanded array of primary care and behavioral health services, including medication-assisted treatment for addiction, will be offered through walk-in, appointments, and telehealth and telemedicine services.