News from Wheeler

Suffering from headaches, or back and neck pain? Wheeler’s Family Health & Wellness Centers at 855 Lakewood Road, Waterbury, and 43 Woodland Street, Hartford, in conjunction with Anthony H. Debe, DC, offer chiropractic care for adults, children, and teens to address these conditions and more

John and Brian Pica-Sneeden always wanted a large family, and they began fostering children 27 years ago. Since then, they have adopted five of their foster children and recently renewed their license with Wheeler to foster LGBTQ youth.

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.

Many people talk about wanting to make a positive change in someone else’s life. Paula and Patrick Mills moved this quite literally into action 16 years ago becoming foster parents with Wheeler in 2004.

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.

The foster care journey: Two of our parents share their perspectives.

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.

As families everywhere prepare for the return to school amid the COVID-19 crisis, there are many issues to consider and address, including back-to-school anxiety on the part of children, adolescents, or teens. Kim Nelson, chief program officer, Wheeler, shares some strategies for addressing your child's anxiety amid the uncertainty.

Black Breastfeeding Week is approaching, which provides an opportunity to reflect on what we can do as partners, friends, and family members to increase support for black breastfeeding/chestfeeding parents.

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.

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.