One Institution, Many Services

The Winsted Health Center, located at 115 Spencer St., offers a wide range of medical and health-related services to residents of Winsted, Barkhamsted, East Hartland, West Hartland, Colebrook, Norfolk, North Canaan and Riverton. It also serves several towns in southern Massachusetts, including Tolland and Sandisfield. The Health Center is in the former Winsted Memorial Hospital, which operated from 1902 until 1996. The hospital closed its doors in October 1996, after it declared bankruptcy. After the hospital closed, the Winsted Health Center Foundation, a 501 c-3 outfit, purchased the hospital facilities. According to its mission statement, the Winsted Health Center aims to ensure the highest quality of health care for residents in its service area. Several programs at the center are operated by The Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, including its emergency medical care service. That service offers patients of all ages emergency, urgent and non-urgent medical treatment and is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Health Center is also a location of a LifeStar medical transportation service, which transports critical-care patients by helicopter to a suitable medical facility. Also, under the center’s roof are a variety of other medical and wellness programs, including a cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation program. The cardiac program is designed to help people who are at risk of coronary artery disease, who have had a heart attack or have had cardiac surgery. The program includes a cardiovascular fitness program to promote weight loss and good health. The pulmonary rehabilitation program provides exercise and education to people with asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis. Charlotte Hungerford Hospital also operates a hospital laboratory at the center. The center also houses a Veterans Administration Primary Care Center, which opened in 1999. According to the Health Center’s annual report, the Care Center was originally opened one day a week with a part-time physician. The Care Center is now open five days a week and serves an estimated 4,000 patients. Another service operating in the Health Center is the Helping Hands Chore Service, which opened in March 2006, and is an affiliate of the Winsted Health Care Center Foundation. The service helps elderly and disabled residents in the area with chores such as vacuuming, dusting, meal preparation, laundry and yard work. Finally, the Health Center is home to the offices of 13 medical doctors with a wide range of medical specialties. The Health Center is also now the home of a satellite office of The Community Health and Wellness Center, which provides medical care to residents regardless of their ability to pay. The Community Health and Wellness Center provides a sliding fee scale. For more information about the Winsted Health Center, including the Winsted Health Center Foundation, call 860-379-0888.