©Voices 2010

Wellpath Chosen as Lead Agency

5/15/10 

WATERBURY - Wellpath, Inc. has been selected as the lead agency for greater Waterbury in a project that will replicate Child and Family Resource, Support and Training, a successful early childhood system of care developed at Bridgeport Hospital.

Child FIRST is a model which has been shown to reduce emotional disturbance, developmental and learning problems, abuse and neglect among high-risk children, birth through 6 years-old, and their families.

Five cities in Connecticut were selected to participate in the statewide initiative, which is supported by a grant of $3.2 million by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Locally, the Connecticut Community Foundation and the Leever Foundation provided funding to support the initiation of this project.

The Child Health and Development Institute of Connecticut is managing the statewide expansion of Child FIRST, including rigorous quality oversight and fidelity adherence to insure the positive results from the initial work done in Bridgeport are achieved at all the program sites.

The project utilizes home-based intervention and a highly collaborative service approach to help strengthen the entire family.

Several Waterbury area agencies, schools and providers will be involved as key stakeholders.

Those seeking additional information may call Diane Desmarais, Child FIRST team leader, at 203-575-0466, ext. 211, or visit www.wellpathct.org.

Hartford Courant, Sept 10, 2009

Company Celebrates by Giving Back

Secured snugly into her wheelchair with a slight smile playing on her lips, Annmarie Mangini swayed gently in a new "Whisper Glide" swing installed onto the deck of the Middletown-area group home where she lives.

"This is really neat, it's a great thing to do when we come to visit," said the young woman's mother, Pat Mangini , as she lightly stroked Annmarie's arm.

Equipped with a movable ramp so that it can be used by people with disabilities, the swing was recently donated to the group home, which is operated by the Connecticut Institute for the Blind/Oak Hill, through an outreach campaign of the Farmington-based KBE Building Corp., in recognition of its five decades in business

"We thought '50 Ways to Make a Difference' was a catchy way to celebrate our anniversary," said Dave Papandrea, manager of business development at KBE, which for 49 years was known as Konover Construction. "We wanted to do something to give back to the community and to incorporate our anniversary. Konover/KBE has a history of reaching out to the community starting with the company's founder Simon Konover."

Donated in memory of the late Jacinta Bunnell, a former resident of the Oak Hill group home, the swing is the 45th way in which KBE has tried to make a difference in the lives of others this year. Earlier projects included monetary donations for things needed such as a new playground at a school in Barkhamsted; painting and repairs at Wellpath Behavioral Health for Children and Families in Waterbury; garden benches at the Colchester Senior Center and funding for a mentoring position at Covenant for Care, in Bloomfield.

"There were so many and it was amazing to see the outpouring of requests," said Papandrea. "We had a hard time selecting."

For other projects, KBE employees rolled up their sleeves and did the work themselves. They spent a day inside the Plainville Senior Center applying a fresh coat of paint; weeded the grounds of Eno Memorial Hall in Simsbury and provided much-needed repairs and paint to the gazebo on the Derby Town Green.

"We went everywhere, that was part of it, we didn't want to focus on one particular area of the state, we wanted to spread it across the state," said Pappandrea. "At the Plainville Senior Center, just seeing some of the seniors come in throughout the day and seeing their faces over a new coat of paint...or getting a letter from a second-grader about their new playground, it's just a moving experience."

Jacinta's family helped to pay for 50 percent of the cost of the swing, so that it could be used by the friends and caregivers she left behind after her death at age 27 last March.

"I don't know about the 44 other ways, but I know the six ways you have made a difference," Jacinta's mother Eva Bunnell said, gesturing toward the home's young men and women who were gathered on the lawn. "I can't think of a better way to remember Jacinta, your gift is just so incredible."

Wellpath Announces Emergency Mobile Crisis Services for the Northwest Region

 
WATERBURY, Conn. (April 6, 2009) — Wellpath Inc., a regional non-profit behavioral healthcare provider, recently won a competitive bid of $1.6 million from DCF to provide enhanced and expanded EMPS services to a 42 town region.  Wellpath will be directly responsible for the crisis services provided out of our Waterbury, Torrington and Danbury offices.  This will lead to higher quality, more effective and highly efficient crisis services to families.

The new EMPS model has a high degree of mobility into the community, making the services easily accessible.  Referrals can be made by parents, guardians, schools, law enforcement officers, DCF staff, counselors, community agencies, parent advocacy groups, pediatricians, shelters and group homes. 

Our EMPS program offers highly trained clinical and paraprofessional staff that will assist families in time of crisis.  EMPS offers organized, compassionate, individualized and culturally competent assessment and short term treatment services that engage families in active crisis and service planning.

The EMPS service is available 24 hours a day 365 days of the year.  The new hours for this service are 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1:00 – 10:00 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and major holidays.  This crisis service can be accessed by calling Infoline 211, 24 hours a day.  The main goal of EMPS is to assist families with children in crisis and provide short term treatment directly and to reduce emergency room visits and impatient hospitalizations for children and adolescents.    

Wellpath serves the following towns: Barkhamsted, Beacon Falls, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Canaan, Cheshire, Colebrook, Cornwall, Danbury, Goshen, Hartland, Harwinton, Kent, Litchfield, Middlebury, Morris, Naugatuck, New Fairfield, New Hartford, New Milford, Newtown, Norfolk, Oxford, Prospect, Redding, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Salisbury, Sharon, Sherman, Southbury, Thomaston, Torrington, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Watertown, Winsted, Wolcott and Woodbury.

For more information about Wellpath, call (203) 756-7287, for behavioral health emergencies, call Wellpath’s crisis hotline at Infoline 211 or visit www.wellpathct.org

Voices March 4, 2009

WATERBURY - Wellpath Inc., a regional non-profit behavioral healthcare provider, has been awarded a $15,000 grant from Naugatuck Savings Bank Foundation in support of its agency wide technology plan.

Electronic Medical Records offers an opportunity for improving the quality and access to children's behavioral healthcare in Connecticut.

"It is anticipated this initiative will serve as a vehicle to begin the transformation of children's behavioral healthcare in Connecticut into a more effective and efficient system of care, improving access to those most in need by capitalizing on emerging 'e-health' technologies", said Gary Steck, CEO of Wellpath.

In 1999, Wellpath served 1,200 children and families in the greater Waterbury area with a $1.2 million budget and 30 employees working out of a single site.

Today, it is a regional agency that serves more than 6,000 children, adolescents and families in 42 towns across western Connecticut with an $11 million budget and 180 employees working out of nine sites.

Wellpath serves the towns of Barkhamsted, Beacon Falls, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Canaan, Cheshire, Colebrook, Cornwall, Danbury, Goshen, Hartland, Harwinton, Kent, Litchfield, Middlebury, Morris, Naugatuck, New Fairfield, New Hartford, New Milford, Newtown, Norfolk, Oxford, Prospect, Redding, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Salisbury, Sharon, Sherman, Southbury, Thomaston, Torrington, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Watertown, Winsted, Wolcott and Woodbury.

Those seeking additional information about Wellpath may call 203-756-7287.

For behavioral health emergencies, call Wellpath's crisis hotline at 1-866-543-2774 or visit www.wellpathct.org.

Wellpath Inc., a regional non-profit behavioral healthcare provider, has been awarded a $15,000 grant from Naugatuck Savings Bank Foundation in support of its agency wide technology plan; (from left) Gary Steck, chief executive officer, Wellpath, Inc.; Caren Bouchard, Naugatuck Savings Bank Foundation secretary; Jackie Post, director of Development and Community Relation, Wellpath, Inc.

The Register Citizen 

Thursday, February 5, 2009 1:37 AM EST

Thanks for your help
 

I’m writing this letter to thank the agencies in Torrington that assisted my family during a very difficult time.

One of the agencies was Torrington Youth services, that provided counseling, care coordination, holiday assistance, and countless phone calls to assist my children.

Another wonderful service called Well Path gave counseling, care coordination, advocacy and financial assistance, so my family could be reunited into a home of our own. They really worked hard to help our family reach many milestones.

We learned a lot from our experiences and met some wonderful people.

The staff at these agencies are real life miracle workers, and go over and beyond their job titles. These services are wonderful, and they helped make a family whole.

God Bless to all of you!

Mr. and Mrs. Scott Phair Sr.

Torrington

01/08/09 - Shared Spirit

Town Times, Watertown CT

Blum Shapiro, in the spirit of the holiday season, recently presented a check for $5,000 to Wellpath Behavioral Health for Children & Families in Waterbury. Pictured are Vanessa Rossitto (left), Blum Shapiro; John Zinno, Blum Shapiro; Gary Steck, Chief Executive Officer, Wellpath, Inc.; Frank Scinto, Board Chairperson, Wellpath, Inc; Jackie Post, Director of Development and Community Relations, Wellpath, Inc.  Blum Shapiro partners and employees decided to cut back on their own company's annual holiday celebration so they could help those in need throughout Connecticut and in New York.  More than $20,000 was contributed by Blum Shapiro to these non-profit Organizations: Wellpath Behavioral Health for Children & Families; the Thomas Merton Center in Bridgeport; Foodshare in Bloomfield; and the Penny Harvest Program, a branch of Common Cents, in New York.

7/08/08 - Wellpath Receives State Grant

BY MARC SILVESTRINI

REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN

Wellpath Inc., formerly known as the Child Guidance Clinic of Greater Waterbury, has received a $100,000 grant toward purchasing a new electronic records system.

            The new system will allow the private, nonprofit regional behavioral health-care provider to convert all of its patient records into electronic records, enabling it to increase the number of clients it serves by more than 100.

            Wellpath, founded in 1951, serves more than 6,000 children, adolescents, and families per year across a 42-town area that encompasses most of western Connecticut.  It has a $10 million annual budget and employs about 170 people.

            The grant, which was announced Monday by Gov, M Jodi Rell, is from the Connecticut Health and Education Facility Authority, a quasi-public agency that helps Connecticut nonprofit Organizations enhance their programs.