The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Middlesex Hospital rebrands
‘M+ Middlesex Health’ is new logo
MIDDLETOWN — The new light in the night sky is the latest step in the re-branding of Middlesex Hospital.
Over the weekend, SIGNLite, Inc., a North Haven company, installed a sign atop the hospital identifying it as part of “M+ Middlesex Health.”
Even though it is crowned with a new sign that serves as a beacon to the community, the venerable hospital (the original building opened in 1904) remains Middlesex Hospital.
“We’re still an independent hospital,” spokeswoman Amanda Falcone said in a telephone conversation on Tuesday.
The re-branding is taking place because, “We’re more than just the hospital,” Falcone said.
There is the Middlesex Cancer Center, a neurology center, assisted living, physical rehabilitation and many, many more services.
Middlesex has satellite medical centers in Marlborough and Westbrook, as well as urgent care and/or primary-care offices in Chester, Cromwell, Durham, Essex, Madison, Portland and Old Saybrook, in addition to a number of offices offering a variety of services in Middletown.
In 2015, the hospital became a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network.
It was the first hospital in Connecticut to join the network.
Falcone said the advantage to joining the network is that it allows Middlesex to cooperate with the Mayo Clinic and other network partners on research.
The Mayo Clinic, which opened its doors in 1889, is located in Rochester, Minn.
Discussing the network on the hospital’s website, officials said the Clinic “has a long history of sharing knowledge to help solve complex medical problems. Through the Mayo Clinic Care Network, this information is reaching patients in new ways. More people than ever before are benefiting from Mayo Clinic expertise — many of whom never walk through Mayo's doors.
“Since launching in 2011, the Mayo Clinic Care Network has grown to include more than 40 health care organizations across the US and in China, Mexico, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Organizations continue to join the network, recognizing its value to their patients.”
As just one example of the impact of that collaborative effort involving Mayo and other network members, Falcone said Middlesex is making strides “in how we can improve treatment for COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease).”
Installing the sign some 90 feet up in the air required using “two 90-ton cranes and a two-man basket that our men worked from to install the sign,” SIGNLite vice-president Mark DeTulio said.
A 52-year-old, secondgeneration family owned business, SIGNLife, which employs some two-dozen people, “designed and engineered the sign,” which was then approved by the hospital administration.
The sign contains some 500 high-efficiency LED modules.
The work — and the location — are nothing new to SIGNLite, DeTulio explained in an email.
“We also removed the old sign that we made and installed in 2004,” he said.
The hospital is not the only place in Middletown where SiGNLite’s work shines.
Among other projects SIGNLite has worked on in the city are Metro 12 cinemas, Liberty Bank, and O’Rourke’s Diner, DeTulio said.