Selectmen show support for health center

WINSTED — The Board of Selectmen has thrown its support behind keeping Charlotte Hungerford Hospital’s emergency center and other medical-related services in the Winsted Health Center.

At their meeting Monday, Aug. 16, the selectmen unanimously voted to approve sending a letter from the board to the Torrington-based hospital urging the organization to reconsider its plans to move out of the 115 Spencer St. center in Winsted and into a proposed new state-of-the-art medical facility along Route 44, just over the border in Barkhamsted.

“It’s important to me that we keep our emergency center here in Winsted for a number of reasons,� said Selectman Lisa Smith, who had requested the item be placed on the agenda for Monday’s meeting.

“I know the people I speak to, the emergency room is important to them. And they would like to keep it here at the health center,� Smith said.

Board member Michael Renzullo agreed.

“I definitely think we need to keep it in Winsted,� Renzullo said, adding that he felt the selectmen should speak directly to the hospital’s board of directors to “voice our strong opinion on wanting to keep it here.�

“If anything, we should be expanding the health center,� he said.

Currently, Charlotte Hungerford operates an emergency medical clinic at the Winsted Health Center daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Torrington hospital is the health center’s largest tenant.

In addition to the emergency clinic, Charlotte Hungerford runs cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs, as well as blood drawing, laboratory, X-ray and digital mammography services at the Spencer Street facility. The hospital’s four-bed Hungerford Regional Sleep Laboratory is also located there.

Last fall, however, Charlotte Hungerford announced it was looking into the possibility of moving out of the Spencer Street facility.

A short time later, the Torrington-based Borghesi Building & Engineering Co. submitted an application to the town of Barkhamsted proposing to construct a one-story, 18,290-square-foot commercial health services building at 390 New Hartford Road, next door to Mallory Brook Plaza.

The plan includes a large parking area, emergency medical clinic, cardiac rehabilitation center and a helipad for emergency medical helicopter landings.

Barkhamsted’s Inland Wetlands Commission unanimously approved the application in February. Earlier this month, Winsted’s Water & Sewer Commission accepted the town of Barkhamsted’s application to tap into the city’s water and sewer system for the new facility.

The commission, which officially accepted the application at its meeting Aug. 10, now has 65 days to render a decision on extending lines to the town’s systems. An interlocal sewer agreement, which was finalized in April 2003, already exists between the two towns, although it has yet to be acted upon by either town.

Borghesi currently is finalizing the project’s engineering plans. Once those plans are complete, the company expects to submit its designs to Barkhamsted’s Planning & Zoning Commission.

Before construction can begin on the Route 44 project, however, the proposal must receive final approval from the hospital’s board of directors. The hospital currently is conducting a financial feasibility study to ensure that the cost to lease out space in the new building will not be too high.

Once the cost pricing portion of the project is completed, Borghesi has told The Journal he will present the plan to the hospital’s board for approval.

If members give the project the green light — and it receives all necessary approvals by the town of Barkhamsted — construction on the new center is expected to move forward.

In addition to sending the letter to the hospital, the Board of Selectmen also decided to determine if Winsted’s Inland Wetlands Commission would have any legal right to be involved in the oversight of the proposed project’s development because of its close proximity to the town line.

In discussions with Barkhamsted officials earlier this year, however, Alan Borghesi said the proposed facility’s site is more than 500 feet away from Barkhamsted’s border with Winsted, which would make it exempt from any review or approval by Winsted planning and zoning officials.

When discussing the future of the Spencer Street campus, Mayor Candy Perez said she was “impressed� with the efforts of the Community Health and Wellness Center of Greater Torrington to bring their services to Winsted.

Currently, the community center is working with the Winsted Health Center Foundation, the board of directors that oversees the facility, to find a way to create a permanent home for the group there.

The community health center provides primary medical care and advocacy services to under- and uninsured individuals throughout Litchfield County at its 489 Migeon Ave. office in Torrington.

But Kathy Grimaud, the Torrington center’s chief executive officer, told The Journal earlier this week that one of the key components of her board’s strategic plan is opening a second satellite center in Winsted in 2010.

She said the Winsted Health Center is the ideal site for a second location because it sits in the second largest city in the Northwest Corner of the state. Also, the town serves as an important transportation hub for those who live in the more rural northern and western portions of the county.

Last year, the Torrington center applied for a grant through the federal economic stimulus program to help it fund the creation of a permanent home on the Spencer Street campus. And although the foundation put its support behind the proposal, it was not chosen to receive the funding. The community center, however, continues to work to find a way to open a satellite location in Winsted.

“I know that, in terms of supporting the health center here, obviously, we do want things to stay in town that make Winsted more attractive to everyone,� Perez said.