Issues. People. Events. Waterbury Connecticut's Independent Newspaper
The Railroad Museum of New England (RMNE), after careful consideration by the Board of Trustees, will remain closed through the 2020 operating season, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The performance schedule for the Palace Theater in Waterbury, like other performing arts venues across the country, is continuing to evolve. While the Palace Theater awaits reopening guidelines, Broadway shows are planning and re-planning their national tour schedules. In order to include as many of the previously announced presentations as possible in the Webster Bank Broadway Series, the theater is expanding the 2020-21 Season to encompass dates in 2022.
Today, Congresswoman Jahana Hayes introduced two pieces of legislation to strengthen mental health care for veterans. The bills – the bipartisan VA Mental Health Staffing Act and the VA Mental Health Counseling Act – would ensure Connecticut veterans can access the mental health care and resources they need.
Wheeler has received $108,000 in federal awards for quality care, including special recognition as one of only two community health centers in Connecticut that met or exceeded goals for reducing health disparities across different racial and ethnic groups between 2018 and 2019.
STEM faculty & staff at NVCC hosted a week-long orientation event for the College’s new NViSION STEM Scholars. The first day of the week-long orientation was an on-campus meeting. Activities for the rest of the orientation week were conducted virtually.
Naugatuck Valley Community College CEO, Lisa Dresdner, Ph.D., faculty, and staff welcomed two cohorts of Advanced Manufacturing Technology students back to campus for the fall semester. CEO Dresdner expressed her enthusiasm for the opportunity this program represents: “We’re excited to welcome you to NVCC and into the Advanced Manufacturing Technology program, because it represents so much potential not only for you, but also for our communities when you enter the workforce!”
“There is something about a garden” many a phrase would begin, and so there is. Commenting on the gardens at NVCC, President Daisy Cocco De Filippis wrote. “The Gardens of Naugatuck Valley Community College are, above all, microcosms of the values we hold dear as an institution. Cultivated through many hours of hard work and labor, the Gardens are a product of intense study, understanding and application of theories learned. They are teaching laboratories that are open, transparent and beautiful and contribute much to make our College a humane and learned institution. Some have been built to support a particular horticultural concept, others to more closely examine plant species and three have been created in loving memory of colleagues past.”
WHO: Community Health Center, Inc. (CHC) is offering COVID-19 testing across Connecticut.
WHAT: Drive-through or walk-up testing, with or without an appointment.
WHEN: Every Monday-Friday from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
WHERE: Testing is available at the following CHC locations:
·CHC of Waterbury: 51 North Elm Street, Waterbury
The American Red Cross has an urgent need for blood donations to prevent another blood shortage as hospitals resume surgical procedures and patient treatments that were temporarily paused earlier this spring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governor Ned Lamont is reminding Connecticut residents who need help paying last winter’s home heating bills that there is still time to apply to the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP). An extended application deadline of Monday, June 1, 2020, gives eligible families and individuals – including those impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency – more time to apply for this vital assistance.
The Waterbury Reads StoryWalk® project will make its debut Saturday, May 23rd in Hamilton Park. StoryWalks® are a free and fun way to share books while enjoying the outdoors.
Waterbury Reads provides free books to local children in an effort to spark a lifelong love of reading. While the program is on break from distributing books during the COVID-19 crisis, these StoryWalks will provide a family-friendly way to encourage reading.
Like you, I have watched as our country has become more politically divided in recent years. There are quite a few causes, though it’s hard to say which is driving the trend. The political parties themselves are definitely more divided than ever. The major news media outlets have given up attempting fair reporting in favor of biased propagandizing. Finally, we have begun electing candidates based on superficial traits rather than the values or principles they hold and promote.
Surprisingly, the US is the only industrialized country that does not provide postpartum healthcare coverage. For mothers that have just given birth during a pandemic, that is especially alarming.
According to the CDC, although 15% of mothers experience postpartum mood disorders, the American insurance system does not include postpartum coverage. This is what led Mandy Major, Connecticut-based mom and certified doula, to launch That’s Major!, the new virtual doula agency that is changing how mothers receive postpartum care.
StayWell Health Center is excited to announce that we are now accepting patients into our new Adult Co-occurring Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) located at 1309 South Street in Waterbury. This program runs on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings from 9am until 12pm. Overseeing this program is Jackie Davis LCSW, LADC, our Assistant Director of Behavioral Health.
The Salvation Army is set to open its stores in Hamden, Newington and Dayville on Wednesday, May 20, 2020. The stores were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic but are now ready to welcome shoppers with bargain-priced clothing, household items, electronics, books, toys, furniture and collectables.
Residents in the Waterbury region will have easier access to a lifesaving medication used to reverse overdoses, thanks to the American Savings Foundation and Wheeler’s Family Health & Wellness Center community health center in the Brass City.
State Senator Joan Hartley (D-Waterbury) joined with Governor Ned Lamont to encourage any student loan borrower who has been financially impacted by the COVID-19 crisis to utilize additional resources newly available to them for free. Governor Lamont announced recently that borrowers can receive free assistance from the social enterprise Summer (www.meetsummer.org), which offers resources including tools and experts who can help with finding, comparing and enrolling in dozens of loan assistance and forgiveness programs.
There was the Loch Ness Monster, then Champ in Lake Champlain; now there is Quassilla of Lake Quassapaug in Middlebury Connecticut. A book produced by husband and wife team Janis Hogan (writer) and by Don Farrell (illustrator), former Southbury residents, recounts the tale of a plesiosaurus from Mesozoic era rescued by Middle McFee of Quassmorrah Bay from the icy shores of northern Europe. Their journey takes them through a secret cave beneath Manhattan to a tiny spring-fed lake in CT.
Primary care, behavioral health, and addiction treatment offered through walk-in, appointments, and telehealth and telemedicine services
Wheeler’s Waterbury Family Health & Wellness Center has moved from 100 Jefferson Square to 855 Lakewood Road, and the new community health center facility opened on Monday, May 11th.
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Connecticut invites all adults aged 50+ to register for its first online learning summer session through June 2020.