Wheeler Family Health & Wellness Center Opens at 855 Lakewood Road, Waterbury
Primary care, behavioral health, and addiction treatment offered through walk-in, appointments, and telehealth and telemedicine services
Wheeler’s Waterbury Family Health & Wellness Center has moved from 100 Jefferson Square to 855 Lakewood Road, and the new community health center facility is now open. (For information, or to schedule an appointment, call Wheeler's Navigation Center at 888.793.3500).
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. On-site Genoa Healthcare Pharmacy and Quest Diagnostics services allow for one-stop convenience. Thanks in part to a grant from the American Savings Foundation, NARCAN®, a medication that reverses overdoses, will be available free to patients and families who do not otherwise have access to it.
“The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis underscores the need for high-quality, integrated health care for underserved communities such as Waterbury. The services offered through our community health center are designed to meet the complex needs of people in this city, many of whom struggle with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol, as well as mental health and opioid addiction and other forms of substance use,” said Sabrina Trocchi, PhD, MPA, president and chief executive officer, Wheeler. “Our Family Health & Wellness Center provides care and treatment in one convenient location and is a community asset intended to strengthen and enhance the overall health and well-being of individuals and families in Waterbury and nearby cities and towns.”
A full array of services is offered at the 855 Lakewood Road location, including:
Behavioral health for adults, children, and adolescents- Individual, family, and group outpatient therapies
- Intensive outpatient programs (IOP)
- Psychiatric services, including psychiatric evaluations and medication management
- Care management for adults with complex health care needs and behavioral health concerns
- Chronic disease management for asthma, diabetes, hypertension/heart health, HIV, and hepatitis
- Laboratory services
- Linkages to specialty and ancillary services like dental care
- Medication-assisted treatment for alcohol or opiate addiction
- Pediatric primary care
- Primary care for adults
- Prevention, health promotion, and wellness services
- Women’s health
Wheeler’s Waterbury Family Health & Wellness Center opened at 100 Jefferson Square in August 2019 and was Wheeler’s fourth community health center, with other locations in Bristol, Hartford, and New Britain. As a federally qualified health center, Wheeler is part of a network of community health centers nationwide that provide affordable, accessible health care for more than 29 million Americans.
Created in 1968 to serve the mental health needs of children in Plainville, Wheeler has grown today to approximately 1,000 staff and three-dozen locations across the state, serving more than 30,000 individuals, families, and communities annually. It has provided a wide array of services in the Brass City since 1986, and currently operates two offices and numerous programs in the city, including foster care, in-home family therapy, and alcohol and substance abuse education programming.
Wheeler’s integrated primary and behavioral health care service model, embedded in trauma-informed and culturally- and gender-responsive approaches, reduces barriers to care and provides a more effective path to primary and preventative care for individuals with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Wheeler is also designated by the Connecticut Department of Social Services (DSS) as a Person-Centered Medical Home Plus (PCMH+) provider, which aims to improve health outcomes and the care experience of Medicaid members.
Wheeler’s Waterbury community health center is a Health Center Program grantee under 42 U.S.C. 254b and a deemed Public Health Service employee under 42 U.S.C. 233(g)-(n).
