The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
New health center proposed for Winsted
Spencer Street facility’s services would be moved
TORRINGTON — Charlotte Hungerford Hospital announced plans Thursday to build a new, state-of-theart health facility at the end of Route 8 in Winsted, with all hospital services offered at the Winsted Health Center to be moved to the new building.
The facility will include emergency services, behavioral health, a LifeStar helicopter landing pad, primary care and specialty care services, including behavioral health.
“The people of Winsted and surrounding towns stand to gain access to a world-class facility, with enhanced existing services and the addition of new ones,” said Brian Mattiello, CHH vice president of Strategy and Community Development.
When asked whether CHH was responding to the downsizing of Sharon Hospital earlier this year, Mattiello said no. “Rather it is consistent with our longstanding plans to build out our services in Winsted, combined with Hartford Healthcare’s longstanding interest to establish an access point for specialty services in the greater Winsted area,” he said.
Hartford HealthCare Northwest Region senior vice president and CHH President Dan McIntyre said the move is “an important commitment to those we serve.
“And a level of healthcare investment the Winsted area has not seen in decades,” he said.
The enhancement and addition of health care services in northwestern Connecticut was a key factor in Charlotte Hungerford’s decision to affiliate with Hartford HealthCare, according to the announcement.
“We are enthused about providing all residents of the Northwest Region with broader, more convenient access to health services — with world-class, high-quality care,” said Jeffrey Flaks, Hartford HealthCare’s president and chief operating officer. “This strategic investment aligns with Charlotte Hungerford’s strategic plan and with Hartford HealthCare’s vision to be most trusted for personalized coordinated care.”
The proximity of the proposed building to the new Northwestern Connecticut Community College Health Science Center also presents collaborative opportunities between CHH and healthcare profession programs at the college, Flaks said.
Winsted Mayor Candy Perez said a new health center would provide opportunities for growth and economic development in town.
”With this announcement, there’s so much potential for that corner of town (at the end of Route 8 in Winsted),” she said. “With Northwest Connecticut Community College, the Joyner Building there already, it just brings
“The people of Winsted and surrounding towns stand to gain access to a world-class facility, with enhanced existing services and the addition of new ones.” Brian Mattiello, CHH vice president of Strategy and Community Development
more activity to that area.”
The Winsted Health Center building at 15 Spencer St. is the former home of Winsted Hospital, which closed more than 20 years ago. It is owned by the Winsted Health Foundation. The Community Health Center is moving to Main Street and into the old IGA grocery store building, Perez said.
A local veterans group is also a tenant in the Spencer Street building. “As far as the future of the building goes, it’s the health foundation as well as Hartford Hospital that are making these decisions,” Perez said. “They’ll be the ones to decide what comes next.”
Mattiello said all staff members at the health center will transfer to the new facility. However, he said he did not know what the future held for the Spencer Street site.
“That would be up to the owners of the property,” Mattiello said. “The question is best directed to them.”
Kris Griffin, who is listed as the foundation’s director at winstedhealthcenter.org, could not be reached for comment. A staff member in the emergency department at the health center referred questions to Charlotte Hungerford Hospital.
Winsted Community Lawyer Charlene LaVoie, who played a role in establishing the Winsted Health Center, also responded to the news that CHH and Hartford Hospital are moving into the area.
In a written statement, LaVoie raised many concerns. “In 1996, in the face of the proposed closing of Winsted Memorial Hospital, the community rallied to maintain health services, including emergency services, in the Winsted area,” she wrote. “The Winsted Health Center Foundation, with its original partners Charlotte Hungerford Hospital and Saint Francis Hospital, was the unique solution that provided emergency care, primary care, cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation, veterans health care and senior housing for area residents for the past 22 years.
LaVoie said Hartford Hospital’s “entry into the northwest corner” resulted in the “takeover of Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, and now the “dismantling of the Winsted Health Center.”
“More healthcare is a good thing for this area if it serves the community and not just the interests of the providers,” LaVoie wrote.
Winsted is the secondlargest community in Charlotte Hungerford’s service area. “The hospital has had a long-standing commitment to providing medical services to the greater Winsted area in leased space at the Winsted Health Center on Spencer Street,” hospital officials said in the announcement. “Services include a 12-hour-per-day emergency department with full laboratory support, diagnostic imaging, mammography, a blood drawing station, cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation and a sleep laboratory. All services on Spencer Street would be moved to the new facility.”
“In terms of getting a state-of-the-art facility for health care in Winsted, we’re very fortunate that Hartford Healthcare has decided to stay,” Perez said. “It’ll be a place where the LifeStar heliport will be, so it will improve services for patients, and it fills a serious need, having LifeStar. From a patient’s perspective, to have additional doctors to come in, it’s filling another need. And from an economic development standpoint it’ll add to our grand list and be on the tax rolls.”
The next step is for the Zoning Board to approve the plans. A proposed opening date is April 2020.
”We filed with the town this week and a hearing is being scheduled,” Mattiello said. ”We expect that in the coming weeks.”