Salisbury Forum shines light on Northwest CT ‘healthcare crisis’

The panel at the Salisbury Forum March 21 included, from left, State Rep. Maria Horn, D-64, SVNA Home Assistance Director Meghan Kenny, Sharon Hospital President Christina McCullough, Community Health and Wellness Center CEO Joanne Borduas, Foundation for Community Health President Nancy Heaton and it was moderated by Salisbury Forum President Patricia Jenny.

Alec Linden

Salisbury Forum shines light on Northwest CT ‘healthcare crisis’

FALLS VILLAGE —March’s Salisbury Forum brought community healthcare leaders to Housatonic Valley Regional High School for a thoughtful and timely discussion on the Northwest Corner’s “healthcare crisis.”

Nancy Heaton, who is President and CEO of the Sharon-based Foundation for Community Health, began the discussion by describing the region’s healthcare landscape as equally challenging for patients and providers alike.

“Two of the main challenges of providing rural healthcare are low population base and travel distances,” Heaton explained, factors which have compounding effects on workforce availability, patient accessibility and many other logistical issues that impact every level of the healthcare process.

“These two factors alone ensure that without innovation, each unit of rural service is likely to be more expensive to deliver than in an urban setting,” she emphasized. She further explained that government reimbursement programs for service providers, such as Medicaid, often aren’t designed with a rural setting in mind.

“These reimbursement rates really have not kept up with costs, and our providers are hurting,” Heaton said.

When Heaton opened the floor, Medicaid emerged as a significant concern shared by the panelists.

Joanne Borduas, CEO of the Community Health and Wellness Center, a Torrington-based federally qualified health center (FQHC) that recently opened a facility in North Canaan, maintained that the future of Medicaid in the current federal climate is “very concerning.”

As an FQHC, Community Health and Wellness Center is obligated to turn no one away, and as such approximately 60% of patients seeking services are on Medicaid — services which are at risk.

Borduas explained that Connecticut pays out approximately 30% less than neighboring states for Medicaid services, which means many practices cannot afford to see most Medicaid patients. Borduas warned that if further cuts are made at a national level, then drastic changes will need to be made in the state’s reimbursement strategy to ensure providers are able to continue to offer their services.

Borduas also chairs non-profit Community Health Center Association of Connecticut, which recently took legal action against the state Department of Social Services for insufficient Medicaid reimbursement.

State Rep. Maria Horn (D-64), who also sat on the panel, shared Borduas’ worry about funding from Washington drying up. She described the situation as “shadow boxing with what might happen at the federal level.”

Other panelists brought up more regionally focused obstructions to adequate and accessible care, with Meghan Kenny citing a lack of affordable housing as prohibitive to maintaining a workforce. Kenny is the director of SVNA Home Assistance and Litchfield County Home Assistance and says her work’s vital role of bringing care to homebound patients is jeopardized by losing employees who are priced out.

Christina McCullough, who is the President of Sharon Hospital, reported that attracting a workforce to the hospital — which she described as a “critical and vital” component of Northwest Connecticut’s healthcare landscape — has proven to be a real challenge, alongside financial insecurity and patient scarcity.

Borduas pointed out that rural healthcare is plain hard work, and doctors in the countryside are often overworked and burned out. Many younger physicians coming out of medical school are pursuing specialized careers, she reported, while the reservoir for family doctors — especially those willing to live and work in rural communities — is drying up.

While the situation may seem grim, all is not lost, the panelists affirmed. Concluding the Q&A session, which was conducted via anonymous index cards, Heaton chose to read a unique submission: “What can this audience do to help you?”

The entire panel chimed in to respond, with Borduas emphasizing a “strength in numbers and power in advocacy” approach to activism.

Horn encouraged civilians to utilize the modern convenience of remote testimony to make their voices heard in Hartford.

McCullough championed self-education and participation, and Kenny echoed her call for education.

“I do think now, more than ever, people need to be engaged,” said Heaton as a final remark for attendees to chew on as they made their way out of the school and into the cold night.

Latest News

East Canaan's Cow Pots to face the 'Sharks'

Amanda Freund of East Canaan will appear on the television show "Shark Tank" on April 4 to pitch CowPots.

Photo by Ruth Epstein

CANAAN — Fans of the television show “Shark Tank,” stay tuned. On Friday, April 4, Amanda Freund of East Canaan will be facing the panel, imploring members to invest in her unique product: cow poop.

Freund and her father Matthew Freund produce and market CowPots, which are made from the abundance of manure found on their dairy farm. Matthew Freund, realizing cows were producing more manure — 100 pounds per cow per day — than was needed for fertilizing fields for crops, came up with the concept of the pots. Years of trial-and-error experimentation finally resulted in success. In 2006 he began selling the biodegradable pots using 100% composted manure to local stores. Now the pots can be found in outlets across the country, as well as internationally.

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss lacrosse ices Kingswood Oxford 19-0

LAKEVILLE — The Hotchkiss School opened the girls varsity lacrosse season with a big win in the snow against Kingswood Oxford School.

The Bearcats won 19-0 in a decisive performance March 26. Twelve different players scored for Hotchkiss, led by Coco Sheronas with four goals.

Keep ReadingShow less
HVRHS releases second quarter honor roll

FALLS VILLAGE — Principal Ian Strever announces the second quarter marking period Honor Roll at Housatonic Valley Regional High School for the 2024-2025 school year.

Highest Honor Roll

Grade 9: Parker Beach (Cornwall), Mia Belter (Salisbury), Lucas Bryant (Cornwall), Addison Green (Kent), Eliana Lang (Salisbury), Alison McCarron (Kent), Katherine Money (Kent), Mira Norbet (Sharon), Abigail Perotti (North Canaan), Karmela Quinion (North Canaan), Owen Schnepf (Wassaic), Federico Vargas Tobon (Salisbury), Emery Wisell (Kent).

Keep ReadingShow less
Thomas Ditto

ANCRAMDALE — Thomas Ditto of Ancramdale, born Thomas David DeWitt Aug. 11, 1944 in New York City changing his surname to Ditto at marriage, passed peacefully on Pi Day, March 14, 2025. He was a husband, father, artist, scientist, Shakespeare scholar, visionary, inventor, actor, mime, filmmaker, clown, teacher, lecturer, colleague, and friend. Recipient of numerous grants, awards and honors in both the arts and sciences, a Guggenheim and NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts fellow, he was a creative genius beyond his time. In addition to authoring scores of papers, he held several patents and invented the first motion capture system and the Ditto-scope, a radically new kind of telescope. He was a pioneer in computer generated video, film, and performance.

When not hard at work, he was always there to help when needed and he knew how to bring smiles to faces. He loved his family and pets and was supportive of his wife’s cat rescue work.

Keep ReadingShow less