News

New Haven Register
By Pam McLoughlin
Sep. 30, 2021

WALLINGFORD — Glenn Merritt III, 25, had a dreaded fear of getting COVID-19 and having to be intubated, so he planned to get the vaccine as soon as his age group became eligible in early April.

But less than two weeks before that magic date, Merritt, better known as “G” was hospitalized with the virus and his worst fear came true - he had to be intubated, suffered numerous major organ complications and his parents were told at one point he likely had three days to live.

Stamford Advocate
Alexander Soule
Sep. 26, 2021

As companies return to normal after the worst of the pandemic, some of Connecticut’s large employers are finding creative ways to deal with new kinds of workplace stresses.

At Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties, that means managing what was, for a time at least, the hottest real estate market in memory. That’s a good sort of stress but one that requires a balancing act — and help from a psychologist — as CEO Candace Adams describes it.

At Westport-based Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, the challenge includes maintaining a famously intense, bluntly critical way of operating while most employees remained out of the office.

By Lori Riley Hartford Courant SEP 26, 2021  CHESHIRE — A CrossFit competition wasn’t on Jillian Harpin’s radar five years ago. Harpin hiked but was not someone who went to the gym at all. But when Harpin, of Wethersfield, became paralyzed after losing her balance and falling three stories off a balcony on vacation in Mexico, she knew she had to keep up her strength in order to get around with her wheelchair. So when she heard about a high-intensity exercise class called EX4L, or Exercise 4 Life, started by Gaylord Hospital physical therapists Kim Levesque and Philip Severio two years ago, she signed up. This spring, Harpin, 29, who is paralyzed from the waist down, competed in a national CrossFit competition, which offered an adaptive version for the first time.  

Middletown Press
By Ginny Monk
Published September 26, 2021

Sonja LaBarbera, with a background in speech pathology, is the first clinician to hold the position of president and chief executive officer of Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in nearly 40 years. LaBarbera, 47, has been in the job since January 2019 and has worked in health care for a quarter-century.

In October 2020, under LaBarbera’s leadership, Gaylord opened the Milne Institute for Healthcare Innovation.

LaBarbera, also the first woman to head Gaylord, serves on the board of directors of Gaylord Hospital/Gaylord Farm Association Inc., which oversees all the organization’s services. Recently, LaBarbera was named to the Hartford Business Journal 2020 list of Power 25 in Healthcare. 

WALLINGFORD, CT. September 23, 2021 - The University of Connecticut School of Medicine announces the first and only Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) Residency in Connecticut created in partnership with Hartford Hospital, Gaylord Hospital, and UConn Health. The joint program will have a tremendous impact on the health and quality of life of Connecticut residents as well as the aging national population by helping fill the need for additional PM&R physicians.  "This program is a testament to the quality and diversity of healthcare provided here in Connecticut," said Governor Ned Lamont. "Partnerships like this showcase the true collaborative spirit of our residents - particularly our young people. I continue to believe Connecticut is a great place to live and work, and full of...

WTNH Channel 8
by: Rich Coppola

Posted: Sep 22, 2021

(WTNH) — A Florida COVID-19 patient was brought to Connecticut earlier this month for a life-saving treatment after his family reached out to 169 hospitals without success.

Susan Walker was running out of time. Her husband Robby was lying in a Florida hospital on a ventilator with COVID-19, pneumonia in both lungs.

“My mother-in-law was with me, and my daughter,” she said. “We went back to our hotel room and cried about it of course because we had felt like we had lost the battle.”

In reality, it was far from over.

Fox 61 News
Author: Jim Altman

Published: September 21, 2021

DANBURY, Conn. — It was a good day to be out on Candlewood Lake on Tuesday as a fishing tournament meant to support Connecticut’s servicemen and women returned after a year-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Disabled Veterans Fishing Tournament – which is put on by the Gaylord Hospital’s Sports Association, the Connecticut Bass Nation and the Mayor Steven Roy Andrews Fishing Outreach Program – made its triumphant return, giving disabled veterans a day out in the water for fishing and comradery.

The Day
By Brian Hallenbeck   Day staff writer

Wallingford — Expert care and the latest technology are helping Brad Kerr walk again. 

But the Groton mountain biker’s grit and optimism have been at least as important in his promising recovery from an April crash that injured his spinal cord, leaving him partially paralyzed, his prognosis uncertain.

Will he walk again? How about bike?

“I don’t see why I can’t,” Kerr, seated in a wheelchair, said during a recent interview here at Gaylord Hospital, a medical rehabilitation center that specializes in the treatment of patients with brain and spinal cord injuries, strokes and other serious conditions.

 

WALLINGFORD, CONNECTICUT, September 15, 2021 — Gaylord Specialty Healthcare will host an exclusive preview party on Thursday, October 14 from 6 to 8 p.m. to debut a new episode of the popular Public Broadcasting series “Travels & Traditions with Burt Wolf” which features the rehabilitation-focused healthcare system. Titled “The Hospital of the Future,” the half-hour episode celebrates Gaylord’s 120-year history and unique, patient-centered care and clinical innovation through the first-hand perspective of its patients and staff. Gaylord President and CEO Sonja LaBarbera explained that she is thrilled to share Gaylord’s unique “Think Possible” culture at the preview event and on the global stage. “This feature is an opportunity for the world to see the...

CTPost
By Colin McEnroe
April 20, 2021Updated: Aug. 25, 2021 9:52 p.m.

In September of 2020, The Significant Other turned ⬛. It was a milestone. Let’s leave it at that.

There was (and still is) a pandemic. I was, additionally, reeling from a horrible diagnosis rendered to The Son a few months prior.

But The Significant Daughter came up with a wonderful surprise. The S.O. had become a fan, through me, of the musical artist Jill Sobule. I discovered her music during the late 1990s.  Article