Healthcare oasis in a medical desert

The two story building that rose out of nowhere and opened in the spring of 2024 is serving up a wide range of healthcare services to meet a rural community’s needs and its patient base is growing along with its staff.

The Northwest Corner has been marked by a scarcity of medical and healthcare providers. When the new facility opened, there was single primary care physician in North Canaan.

For months as the building was under construction and even afterward before the signs went up, the new building prompted curiosity. What is going into that new two-story building?

Now, the signs are up and the parking lot is filling up at the home of the Community Health and Wellness Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), a qualification given to certain healthcare organizations because of services provided, their community-oriented approach and accessibility to everyone regardless of ability to pay.

The new facility, one of 17 FQHCs in the state, is not a walk-in or urgent-care clinic. An appointment is required to be seen. However, if a patient is sick, they can call the center and see if same-day appointments are available to be seen for a sick visit.

Almost 1,800 patients have been served in the North Canaan office since it opened in May 2024, and that includes all services, including flu clinics.

There are 16 staff members in the North Canaan office and an additional four staff members travel from other sites to see patients one day per week.

The other sites are in Torrington and Winsted. In addition, the CHWC school-based services in seven Torrington schools and in three schools in the Region One school district: Housatonic Valley Regional High School, North Canaan Elementary School and Sharon Center School, both elementary schools.

There are hopes to expand the number of schools.

The range of services provided by eight medical providers on site in North Canaan include:

—General internal medicine, with infectious disease consultations, HIV primary care

—Youth autism evaluation (under age 6) and treatment/evaluation for individuals with developmental behavioral challenges (under age 21).

—Pediatric primary care from newborn through young adulthood. School based primary care at HVRHS and NCES.

—Primary care for adults and adolescents, and Dept. of Transportation physicals for CDLs.

—Psychiatric evaluation and medication management.

—Outpatient clinical services for adults.

—Diagnosis and management of musculoskeletal conditions.

And there is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker at the North Canaan facility.

Joanne Borduas, CEO of Community Health and Wellness, which is an award-winning 501(c)3 nonprofit serving more than 7,000 patients, told the Northwest Hills Council of Governments last May: “Access issues and unique challenges in rural areas lead to poorer patient outcomes compared to our urban counterparts.”

She said those challenges are especially acute given heightened risk factors in many rural communities, such as increased socio-economic disparities, economic downturn, elderly populations who wish to remain at home as they age, and funding and resource scarcity for healthcare facilities.

Borduas described Community Health and Wellness Center as an indispensable resource for Northwest Connecticut, a region that she described as experiencing a “rural healthcare crisis.”