Twelve years ago this past June the Board of Directors of Sharon Hospital with the concurrence of the hospital’s medical staff made the decision to sell the hospital to Essent Healthcare of Nashville, Tenn. When word of this decision became known in the community, it resulted in a two-year battle between those opposed to the decision and those who had faith in the board and medical staff’s decision.Both Richard Blumenthal, then Connecticut’s attorney general, and Ray Gorman, commissioner of the Connecticut Office of Healthcare Access, were involved in weighing the merits of the hospital’s planned sale to Essent. In April 2002, after obtaining the approval of both Blumenthal and Gorman, the final papers were signed, and Sharon Hospital became the first hospital in Connecticut to become a for-profit health-care facility.It seems to me that it is worthwhile to reflect back on that decision from the vantage point of a decade-plus. When the Sharon board made that decision, Sharon Hospital had been losing money for a number of years, and in order to continue operating, the hospital had been forced to invade its endowment. Over a period of several years, the erosion of this endowment became a significant factor as the board weighed a number of possible options in their efforts to keep a hospital in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut. There were approaches to New Milford Hospital and Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in an attempt to form a consortium that could reduce administrative overhead, but these proved unsuccessful. Other attempts included approaches to Hartford Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, but these overtures also did not pan out. In New York state, Health Quest, the parent of Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie, was approached, but their unacceptable proposal meant that Sharon would become a band-aid station in referring all patients to the larger facility more than 45 minutes away. Several for-profit firms also were interested in buying Sharon Hospital, and the board and medical staff, after careful examination of the available options, settled on Essent Healthcare, which promised to keep Sharon Hospital as a full-service health-care facility. The importance of having this full-service facility available to people in Connecticut and New York was the determining factor for both the Board of Trustees and the hospital’s medical staff.In the past year we have witnessed the changing landscape of some of Connecticut’s hospitals. New Milford Hospital, similar in size and scope to Sharon, recently made the decision to become a diagnostic and emergency center and is referring most of its patients to Danbury Hospital under a recently concluded merger agreement. Waterbury’s two major health-care facilities, Waterbury Hospital and St. Mary’s, have been involved in a potential merger that now seems unlikely to be finalized due to the Catholic Church’s tenets and directives which St. Mary’s must follow. Both hospitals are now in the process of being acquired by two different for-profit hospital companies. It is interesting to note that these same Catholic tenets and directives would have applied to Sharon Hospital had the Board made the decision to partner with St. Francis Hospital in Hartford in 2000. This reality was not acceptable to the Sharon board and the hospital’s medical staff.So it does seem to make some sense in reflecting back on that decision which caused so much discord and upset with the perspective of 12 years. In the first place, the charitable assets of Sharon Hospital, valued at some $15 million in 2002, were turned over to the Foundation for Community Health, which in the past 10 years has provided over $5 million in grants that have helped improve the health and well-being of residents in both the Connecticut and nearby New York state communities in Sharon Hospital’s service area. The assets of that Foundation have increased to more than $24 million during that same 10-year period due to the wise stewardship of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, which was chosen by the Sharon Hospital board to be the recipient of the hospital’s endowment.The interior of Sharon Hospital has been transformed with a new and improved emergency room and a state-of-the-art birthing center. In fact, during the last 12 years, the for-profit owners of Sharon Hospital have spent over $36 million in upgrades and improvements to the facility. The recent merger of Sharon Hospital with Nashville-based RegionalCare Hospital Partners totally eliminated the hospital’s debt, so that Sharon Hospital is the only debt-free hospital in the state of Connecticut. The town of Sharon has also benefited from the taxes which the for-profit facility pays, which has meant $320,000 annually as a windfall to the town’s operating budget.Best of all, residents in the Northwest Corner of Connecticut and in eastern Dutchess and Columbia counties in New York continue to have access to quality medical care close to home. Rusty Chandler was a member of the Sharon Hospital board at the time the sale of the hospital was finalized with Essent. He first joined the hospital board in the early 1980s, became president of the board in 1997 and served until the sale to Essent in April 2002. He lives in Lakeville.
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One systemic consequence of slavery is the loss and obscuring of the histories of those who were enslaved. Records were often not kept about where Africans had been stolen from or who they were related to. Families were torn apart, leaving nothing but the faintest traces of the past. The delineation point, where genealogists can no longer trace histories back, is refered to this as the “document wall.”
Today, 250 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and more than 160 years since the Emancipation Proclamation, there is a growing effort to restore some of the history stripped from enslaved people and their descendants. Among the leaders of these efforts is Mills, president of the Alex Breanne Corporation, a nonprofit organization that works to identify previously anonymous Black Americans from history and connect them with their living relatives.
The work began with Mills’ sister, who started digging into their family’s past in the 1990’s and introduced him to this emerging world of genealogy. Through that process, the Mills family discovered their great-great-grandfather, Ned Mills, who had been enslaved in Texas. His last name came from his final enslaver and remains the family surname. Through their research, they found that the document wall directly affected their ancestor, who learned of his liberation on June 19, 1865, now commemorated as Juneteenth.
“For the first time,” Mills writes on his website, “American slavery wasn’t something that had happened to anonymous people in a history book. It had happened to my family.”
The discovery gave Mills a familial pride he had been missing for years. That pride fueled his desire to help others find their own history. In 2023, Mills received his certificate in genealogical research from Boston University. He has used his expertise to help descendants of enslaved people uncover histories they never dreamed of learning.
To do this, he uses a process called “reverse genealogy,” identifying a person from the past and working forward to discover their descendants. Along the way, Mills has found some remarkable people who fought for freedom on American soil, some of whom were never freed.
Pay Bill for Robin Starr’s service in the Continental Army.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
At the Cornwall Historical Society event, Mills will present the stories of four Connecticut families: Job Lathrop of Norwich, the son of Pirmus Armes, about whom Mills has published a book; Prince Mortimer of Middletown, also the subject of a book by Mills;, the three sons of London Wallace of Simsbury; and Robert “Robin” Starr of Danbury, who later lived in Cornwall and Sharon.
A few years ago, Cornwall Consolidated School social studies teacher Will Vincent reached out to Mills for research guidance on a local history project his students were undertaking. Together, they learned about Naomi Freeman of Cornwall. After purchasing an acre of land on Great Hollow Road in 1828, Naomi Freeman became the first Black female landowner in Cornwall.
The students petitioned the town to rename a road after the historic Cornwall resident In April 2025, Great Hollow Road was officially renamed Naomi Freeman Historic Road. U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes joined Mills and the Cornwall Consildated School students for a presentation of their research.
Since then, Mills has guided the students in their quest to learn more about Starr’s story. Starr was a Revolutionary War soldier who joined the Continental Army to earn enough money to buy his own freedom, receiving the Badge of Merit in the process. The stories of his descendents’ services are equally worthy of their own books.
In recognition of Mills and the students’ work, First Selectman Gordon Ridgway proclaimed Feb. 8 as Robin Starr Day.
Preregistration is required for the event at the Cornwall Historical Society. To learn more about Mills’ work, visit
alexbreanne.org.
John Mills speaking at Quinnipiac University.Courtesy the Alex Breanne Corporation
Stephanie Saetta runs Charlie Chicken Bones, a sanctuary in Salisbury.
Dogs have been at the center of Saetta’s life since childhood. She remembers going to the library to research different breeds and trying to convince her parents the family needed a dog. She had her heart set on an Irish Wolfhound, but she was more than happy when her mom brought home a West Highland terrier.
After college, she adopted Charlie as a puppy from a rescue on Long Island. He was a hound-shepherd-Rottweiler mix who suffered from intense seizures. Some veterinarians recommended euthanasia, but Saetta wasn’t ready to give up on him.
When Charlie would have an episode, she would sit with him, nose to nose, talking him through it. She learned to look for the moment he began to come around — when he could smell her again and his tail started to wag.
“You only get one or two of these soul connection dogs, so I do this in his honor,” Saetta said. “I like to think that all the dogs that come through are going to have that person that they connect with just the same.”
Through a network of women working to rescue animals in Texas, she learned about the desperate situations facing many dogs.
With limited space, some public pounds euthanize even healthy animals to make room. Limited access to veterinary care leaves sick dogs or unvaccinated puppies especially vulnerable.
Saetta saw that reality firsthand with a puppy named Gus, a Labrador mix she fostered who has since been adopted. Gus and his sisters had been dumped beside a road, where they were living under an abandoned car. People would leave food for them, but no one would take them to the pound.
“Even the people who rescue animals down there were like, ‘sadly, the best place for them to be is on the side of the road,’” she said. “That’s safer. Someone might actually help them that way.”
Saetta knows that there are far more dogs than any one person can save, but she also knows that helping one dog means one fewer on the street.
Stephanie Saetta,with her rescue dog George and Blue (left), a shepherd mix awaiting his forever home.Madi Long
Charlie Chicken Bone Sanctuary operates entirely through foster homes, a model that Saetta believes is best for the dogs and the humans hoping to adopt them.
Rather than moving directly from a difficult environment into a permanent home, the dogs have a chance to settle into a quieter setting. They can learn what it’s like to live with a family, sleep somewhere comfortable and receive affection without fighting for attention. Fostering also allows the rescue to really get to know each dog.
“As fosters, we’re honest,” said Saetta. We’ll tell you everything that’s been bad, everything that’s been good. What their temperament is and how they’ve responded to all the things they’ve experienced.”
A successful adoption is not just about finding a dog a home; it’s about finding the right home where the dog and family can thrive together.
Saetta is looking for more people willing to open their homes to foster dogs. She understands that the thought of growing attached and eventually saying goodbye can feel daunting. But she sees that goodbye a little differently.
Fostering means being part of a dog’s journey, even if only for a short time. It gives dogs a safe place to rest, the chance to trust again and the love they have gone without for much of their lives. And when the time comes for them to leave, it is not really a loss. It is the reward of knowing they are moving on to a forever home.
Blue, Saetta’s current foster, is hoping to find his perfect home.
Blue, a 7 year-old Shepard mix, is waiting for his forever home. Madi Long
Now around 7 years old, Blue spent most of his life wandering the streets of Texas. People sometimes left food out for him, but his mangy, dirty coat kept them from stopping to pet him. Today, he has a chance to experience something different.
Blue is still waiting for his forever home. Saetta believes he would do best as the only dog in a household or alongside another senior dog. He will need someone willing to continue working with him on his training and understand that a dog with his history needs patience.
But what he gives in return is a whole lot of love.
“He’s so enthusiastic, he’s so excited for life, he’s so friendly, and he’s got such a good heart, and he loves to cuddle,” Saetta said. “He’s a good, good, good dog.”
For more information on adopting Blue or how to foster, visit ccbsanctuary.org.
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