New health center director has history with organization

WINSTED — The Winsted Health Center has named a new executive director.

Jonathan Blum, a Colebrook native and resident, took over as the center’s executive director and chief executive officer on Feb. 1.

For the last two years, Blum had been serving as treasurer on the Winsted Health Center Foundation’s board of trustees.

The foundation’s executive director post had sat vacant for most of the past two years, with executive assistant Kris Griffin tending to most of the day-to-day duties.

But with the likelihood that the facility’s largest tenant, Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, will relocate its emergency room and other health-related operations to a proposed medical center along Route 44 just over the border in Barkhamsted, Blum said the board felt it was time to fill the position.

“It just made a lot of sense,� he said, adding that Griffin will stay on and continue to serve in her current role as the board’s executive assistant.

Although the majority of Blum’s professional experience has been in the private financial services sector — most recently as vice president trust officer for the Lakeville-based Salisbury Bank and Trust — he has been an active member of the center’s leadership for the past three years, first as a corporator and then as a trustee.

During his time on the board, Blum has not only served as treasurer but also as a member of the foundation’s strategic planning subcommittee.

“So, I have been intimately involved in the workings and the affairs of the center,� Blum said. “It’s contagious, the enthusiasm for this place and the people involved in it … it just made a lot of sense to take that next step and make it full time.�

As the executive director, Blum heads three separate organizations: Winsted Health Center Foundation, which develops and funds the center’s programs and services; Winsted Health Center Inc., which manages the center’s buildings and property; and Helping Hands Chore Service, a center program that provides in-home, non-medical support services to elderly and disabled residents throughout the greater Winsted area.

Both the foundation and the property management arm of the center have the same board and officers. Helping Hands, however, has its own separate board of directors.

Blum said that while much of the recent focus on the center has understandably revolved around Charlotte Hungerford’s future at the facility, the center is also home to other important health service organizations, such as the Veteran’s Administration and Saint Francis Center for Occupational Health, as well as individual health-care providers.

The board is also currently in talks with two federally qualified community health centers interested in a opening satellite office at the Spencer Street site.

One of those organizations is the Community Health and Wellness Center of Greater Torrington, which provides primary medical care and advocacy services to under- and uninsured individuals throughout Litchfield County at its 489 Migeon Ave. office in Torrington.

The Torrington center is hoping to open an office in Winsted sometime this year.

In addition, Blum said last year the foundation partnered with Northwestern Connecticut Community College  to establish a dental screening program for Winsted elementary school students.

The college and the foundation have partnered up again this year to create an elder-care continuing education course that will begin next month at the school’s Winsted campus (see related story on Page A1).

Blum said the center is looking to expand its Helping Hands Chore Service program this year as well.

“That will be one of our main focuses,� he said.

Blum said he expects there will be plenty on his plate to keep him busy in his new role throughout the new year.

“The foundation remains committed to developing new health and wellness related programs to benefit area residents,� he said.