News from Wheeler

More than 150 golfers, supporters, volunteers, and friends took part in Wheeler’s 34th Annual Golf Classic presented by Mutual of America at the Country Club of Farmington on June 10—an event that raised nearly $60,000 and crossed the $1.2-million fundraising mark since its inception in 1986.

"People are dying. And I don't want to be a statistic."

Keturah Kinch, MPA, director of Health Center Community Engagement for Wheeler Clinic's Family Health & Wellness community health centers in Hartford, Bristol and New Britain, is featured in an Access Health CT social media campaign running this month as part of Mental Health Month.

Wheeler’s evolution of integrating health care over the last 20 years has rapidly advanced, with behavioral health experts like Adam Harrison, Psy.D. working side-by-side with primary care and dental practitioners, community health workers, and many others, in one setting, working as one team, with a full range of resources for patients.

The Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS), in partnership with local organizations and communities, will kick off National Prevention Week 2019 with a forum on May 13 at 5 p.m. at the New Britain Museum of American Art located at 56 Lexington Street in New Britain.

The Wheeler Family Health & Wellness Center, a community health center at 43 Woodland Street in Hartford, and Genoa Healthcare marked the opening of a full-service, on-site pharmacy with a ribbon-cutting event on April 2.

Expanded primary care and behavioral health services are now available for residents of Bristol and surrounding towns through Wheeler’s Family Health & Wellness Center at 10 North Main Street and 225 North Main Street.

Teodoro Anderson Diaz, LCSW, LADC, a behavioral health care leader and practitioner, has joined Wheeler as vice president of Adult Outpatient Services.

A free Spring Health Screening Camp provided by The Greater Hartford Sathya Sai Center in collaboration with Grace Lutheran Church and Wheeler Clinic will take place on Saturday, April 27 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. at Grace Lutheran Church, 46 Woodland Street, Hartford.

Learn more about the benefits of Zumba, offered to patients at Wheeler's Family Health & Wellness Center, Hartford.

Wheeler’s Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) program has doubled the number of teams in Region 5 (Waterbury/Danbury/Torrington) and tripled its number of teams in Region 2 (New Haven/Milford). The program now serves youth and families in more than 55 cities and towns in Connecticut.

Wheeler’s Connecticut Clearinghouse hosted a community quilting event on Saturday, March 30 to honor the memory of those lost to substance use disorders, including opioid addiction. This event was part of a statewide Remembrance Quilt initiative—launched in 2017 by the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) —to honor loved ones who have died from substance use disorders or addiction.

Our phones, the TV, and the devices all around us make this an age of distraction. How can parents and caregivers of young children ensure their kids have the best experiences for growth and development? A Wheeler early childhood expert says that storytelling is one very effective method to reconnect with what matters.

When James left prison in early 2018, he found a world that he didn’t recognize in many ways. There was new technology, new ways of communicating, new challenges. One major challenge remained, however, and that was addressing many of the factors that led him to prison to begin with, including addiction.

Health and wellness is so much more than going to the doctor or getting prescriptions filled. If individuals and families leave the physician’s office and return home to environments that don’t promote or sustain healthy behaviors, treating diseases like asthma, depression or heart disease can become difficult or even impossible. The social determinants of health influence everything else in our health care system.