News from Wheeler

Accessing same-day, walk-in primary care is now easier than ever for the Bristol and Waterbury communities.

A Community Baby Shower for expectant families and new parents living in Norwich, New London, Mansfield, Colchester, Killingly, Stonington, and surrounding areas will take place on April 25 from 3 to 6 pm at the UCFS Healthcare Community Room at 47 Town Street in Norwich, Connecticut.

Dozens of attendees honored an anniversary in Bristol for two decades of a highly successful model of home-based behavioral health treatment. Wheeler was intimately involved in the development of the Multisystemic Therapy – Building Stronger Families model in 2004-2005 and continues to be a leading provider around the state.

For more than 16 years, Wheeler’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Services (MCIS) program has served children and youth in the Greater Hartford region, right in their homes, schools, and communities. This approach helps to divert unnecessary visits to the emergency room or inpatient hospital stays.

With a new $250,000, multiyear grant, The Cigna Group Foundation is expanding access to health care in Hartford through a partnership with Wheeler Health.

Every day, across the state, dozens of Wheeler clinicians step out of their cars, ring a doorbell, and change lives in the most intimate setting, a family’s home.

A short video with Sharon Pendleton-Ponzani, director, Wheeler Foster Care Programs, highlights the need for loving foster homes in Connecticut and what individuals and families can do to help.

John and Brian Pica-Sneeden started their foster care journey nearly 30 years ago. Since then, they have adopted six of their foster children – one as recently as last month!

"Now, it's just a whole different perspective."

Sharon Pendleton-Ponzani, director, Wheeler’s Foster Care program, was a guest on Connoisseur Media’s “For the People Radio” show on November 17, where she highlighted Wheeler’s foster care programs and discussed the significance of National Adoption Month.

To provide same-day assessments and rapid access to follow-up care, Wheeler Health has been awarded a $600,000 federal grant as part of a $4.2-million funding package distributed to seven community health centers across Connecticut.

Wheeler Health has announced a $110,000 grant from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation. The funds will support the “Walk With Me” program at its Family Health & Wellness centers in Hartford, New Britain, Plainville, and Waterbury, Connecticut, and extend the program and its services to Wheeler’s Bristol, Connecticut, center.

Daniel Melchor, LCSW, integrated care supervisor at the Wheeler Family Health & Wellness Center in Waterbury, recently sat with NBC Connecticut and Telemundo to discuss how to manage anxiety and stress in these turbulent times.

Wheeler has been named a Top Workplace for professional development of its staff and for being a woman-led organization.

Gary Rhule, MD, MPH, MBA, can trace a timeline of his journey joining Wheeler’s Board of Trustees, and his own impressive education and career, to his childhood receiving health care in the Hartford community.