Newsroom

It has been six months since UConn Health came to Waterbury. Since then, we have been focusing on quality, hiring nurses and other caregivers, investing in your hospital, strengthening services, upgrading technology, reaching out to our neighbors, and fundamentally building a more connected healthcare system for Greater Waterbury.

UConn Health Waterbury Hospital announced today the successful completion of its first Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) closure procedures, marking a significant expansion of the hospital's structural heart program and its ability to offer advanced cardiac care to the local community.

UConn Health Waterbury Hospital is welcoming community members to a public hearing on Sept. 17 to receive feedback on the UConn Health Waterbury Hospital Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)

UConn Health Waterbury Hospital today announced a new collaboration with UConn Health John Dempsey Hospital to bring expert high-risk pregnancy care to the Greater Waterbury community.

UConn Health Waterbury Hospital today announced the launch of its new Prehospital Blood Program, an initiative that enables emergency medical responders to administer blood transfusions to critically injured patients before they arrive at the hospital.

Eileen Woods, RN, MSN, has worked at UConn Health Waterbury Hospital for nearly 50 years. She has been named a 2026 Healthcare Hero by the Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) but her award carries a lot of responsibility.

The annual Healthcare Heroes Award recognizes exceptional healthcare professionals whose work has made a significant impact on patients, communities, and the healthcare field. Woods was among a select group of healthcare professionals from hospitals across Connecticut honored during CHA’s Annual Meeting on June 11.

UConn Health Waterbury Hospital’s medical staff continues to be recognized among the best in the nation, with 28 physicians named to the 2026 “Top Doctors” list published in the May issue of Connecticut Magazine.

UConn Health Waterbury Hospital honored several first responders and EMS agencies during its annual EMS Awards Banquet Wednesday, recognizing outstanding EMTs, paramedics, dispatchers, educators, EMS leaders, hospital staff and emergency service organizations for their dedication and service to the community. Additional recognition was presented to multiple agencies and crews for exceptional performance during significant emergency incidents throughout the past year. Honored teams included agencies that responded to a major school bus accident in Southbury in February, teams that responded to a gas leak in Naugatuck in November 2025, and Naugatuck responders who saved the life of a man suffering a heart attack.

UConn Health Waterbury Hospital and Connecticut Children’s today announced the expansion of neonatal intensive care services through a new partnership. This collaboration enables more newborns to receive advanced, specialized care closer to home.

Six UConn Health Network Medical Group primary care locations in Middlebury, Naugatuck, Woodbury, and Watertown have achieved Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

Just weeks after UConn Health Waterbury Hospital officially became UConn Health Waterbury Hospital, it launched the largest hiring event with nearly 100 people expected to attend and find out about available jobs.

Waterbury Hospital is pleased to announce The Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine is a dual recipient of RestorixHealth’s Clinical Distinction and Excellence in Patient Satisfaction Awards. Recipients of these awards meet or exceed national quality benchmarks over a set period of time.

Waterbury Hospital recently celebrated its 100th permanent heart implant procedure, marking a major milestone in reducing stroke risk for patients across Greater Waterbury.

The Waterbury Hospital Pastoral Care staff is holding its annual Blessing of the Animals event on Sunday Oct. 5 at 12 p.m. in the Main Courtyard of the hospital at 64 Robbins Street.

VNA Health at Home, an affiliate of Waterbury HEALTH, has earned the highest possible 5-star ratings for patient satisfaction from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Care Compare. In addition to CMS accolades, the organization was named a “Superior Performer” by Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP), ranking in the top 20% of more than 3,200 eligible providers nationwide based on overall patient experience scores for the 2024 calendar year.

Waterbury Hospital has been named a High Performing Hospital by U.S. News & World Report for the quality of care it provides to patients with Diabetes, Heart Arrhythmia, and Pneumonia, according to the recently released 2025–26 Best Hospitals rankings.

Waterbury Hospital has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, recognizing its commitment to providing high-quality, research-based stroke care that improves outcomes and saves lives.

Waterbury Hospital Wound Center is the first wound center in Connecticut to offer a cutting-edge spray-on skin treatment to treat complex wounds. The technology called RECELL® Spray-On Skin™ Cell treatment is an advanced, personalized solution that uses a patient’s own skin cells to create a spray-on skin solution that is used to cover and rapidly heal complex wounds.

Waterbury Hospital and Manchester Memorial Hospital have been named among the top-performing hospitals in the United States in the 2025 Lown Hospitals Index, recognized for excellence in equity, value, and patient outcomes.

Eastern Connecticut Health Network and Waterbury HEALTH President and CEO Deborah K. Weymouth was recognized among the top women presidents and CEOs leading hospitals and health systems across the nation.

Weymouth is among 209 women leaders recognized in 2025 by Becker’s Hospital Review a medical industry trade magazine.

Waterbury Hospital honored individual and team first responders during its Annual EMS Awards Banquet this week including police officers, medics and dispatchers involved providing first aid to a Woodbury police who was stabbed while on duty and a Waterbury Firefighter who provided first aid to a basketball player who collapsed at the game. Additional recognition was bestowed to EMTs, Paramedics, Dispatchers and others for outstanding service and dedication to the community. National EMS Week is May 18 through May 24, honoring emergency medical personal for serving their communities.

Six Waterbury HEALTH primary care locations in Middlebury, Naugatuck, Woodbury and Watertown have achieved Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

The trauma center at Waterbury Hospital has been verified as a Level II trauma center by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS COT) through Jan. 9, 2028. This achievement recognizes Waterbury Hospital’s dedication to providing optimal care for injured patients.

Waterbury Hospital hosted ten Waterbury Public School middle schoolers as part of the 2025 Providing Early Acquaintance with Careers in Healthcare (PEACH) Program.

Waterbury Hospital is pleased to announce The Center for Wound Healing, Limb Preservation & Hyperbaric Medicine is a dual recipient of RestorixHealth’s Clinical Distinction and Excellence in Patient Satisfaction Awards. Recipients of these awards meet or exceed national quality benchmarks over a set period of time. This is the second time the Wound Center is receiving the dual award, covering all of 2024.

Waterbury HEALTH has added an Upper Extremity Clinic, the first of its kind in greater Waterbury meeting a great need for the service in the community.

Access Rehab Centers, a proud Waterbury HEALTH and Easterseals of Greater Waterbury affiliate, area’s largest therapy provider has added a new location to better serve patients.

Access Rehab Centers opened its newest clinic, at 36 North Main Street in Waterbury after an extensive analysis of the city and community health needs for physical therapy.

Waterbury Hospital has honored three nurses from the ED, medical and GI units with the Daisy Award for extraordinary nurses. Also honored is a patient transport associate with the BEE Award, given to healthcare professionals, including non-clinical staff for going above and beyond for patients.

Waterbury Hospital announced that it has received accreditation under the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer (NAPRC) becoming the third hospital in Connecticut to receive this accreditation.

The pharmacy team at Waterbury Hospital was awarded the Connecticut Society of Health-system Pharmacists (CSHP) Meritorious Team Achievement Award, along with teams at Manchester and Rockville hospitals for “team effort to mitigate the impact of the cyberattack on patient care.”

Executive Director of VNA Health at Home Jennifer Gallo, RN was honored with the Judith Hriceniak Award for Excellence in Nursing Leadership by the Connecticut Association of Healthcare at Home.

Waterbury Hospital was ranked a high performing hospital by U.S. News and World Report for quality treatment of patients suffering from Heart Failure and Diabetes in recently released 2024-25 Best Hospital Edition.

Waterbury Regional Chamber will honor Waterbury HEALTH colleagues at the 19th Annual Health Care Council Awards on Aug. 20.

Congratulations to the following Waterbury HEALTH colleagues:

Organizational Excellence Award: Behavioral Health, Addiction Services, and Crisis Intervention team at Waterbury HEALTH.

Unsung Hero: Dr. Marc Raad.

Waterbury Hospital hosted its second career development program for high school students this summer. The one-week job shadowing and hands on learning program is a healthcare internship shadowing program in partnership with Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board. Nine students from three Waterbury Public Schools participated in the program.

Waterbury Hospital hosted nine area public school students as part of the 2024 Summer Bridge Program providing students an opportunity to learn while exploring potential career options in healthcare.

American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines^® and Mission: Lifeline^® achievement awards for demonstrating commitment to following up-to-date, research-based guidelines for the treatment of heart disease and stroke, ultimately leading to more lives saved, shorter recovery times and fewer readmissions to the hospital.

By achieving IAC Echocardiography accreditation for 20 years, Waterbury Hospital has received a Bronze Milestone Recognition for demonstrating its long-term commitment to continuously improving patient outcomes and safety. Every three-year cycle, accredited facilities undergo an intensive application and review process to re-earn accreditation, with an assessment conducted by a panel of medical experts. The IAC accreditation process enables both the critical operational and technical components of the applicant facility to be assessed, including representative case studies and their corresponding final reports.

Waterbury HEALTH recently participated in its first Day of Caring, a day of volunteering to help those in need. As part of this new initiative, we helped God Provides Ministries International at the Spring 2024 Giveaway. This event was held at the North End Rec Center in Waterbury and served several thousands of individuals and families with free food, clothes, and household items.

Waterbury HEALTH primary care locations in Middlebury, Naugatuck, Woodbury, Watertown and Pediatric location in Middlebury have achieved Patient-Centered Medical Home Recognition by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

This program highlights clinicians who demonstrate they provide high-quality patient-centered primary care. Waterbury HEALTH locations and providers have been recognized as Patient-Centered Medical Homes for the past several years.

Waterbury Hospital Auxiliary Inc. is hosting artist Chace Bogues, a fifth grader art protégé from Rotella Magnet School.

Though Chace is only 10 years old he shows great promise as an artist. His art focuses on sketching, largely landscapes, some of which come from his imagination.

While ambulance services have been around in some form or fashion since the days of horse and carriage, emergency medical services (EMS) as a highly skilled profession only came to be in the 1970’s nationally.

Long before Los Angeles Firefighters Johnny Gage and Roy DeSoto introduced the world to the “Paramedic” and “EMT”, in the popular TV show “Emergency”, there was a group of black men from Pittsburgh paving the way for the EMS system as we know it.

Waterbury Hospital was recently awarded certification as an Advanced Primary Stroke Center by The Joint Commission. The certification is valid through November 2025.

Access Rehab Centers, a Waterbury HEALTH affiliate and greater Waterbury’s largest therapy provider celebrated its 25^th anniversary and remarkable growth.

The Waterbury Hospital Pastoral Care staff is holding its annual Blessing of the Animals event on Sunday Oct. 1 at 12 p.m. in the Main Courtyard of the hospital at 64 Robbins Street.

The American College of Cardiology has recognized Waterbury Hospital with Chest Pain Center Accreditation with Primary PCI based on rigorous onsite evaluation of the staff’s ability to evaluate, diagnose and treat patients who may be experiencing a heart attack.

Waterbury Hospital is the only hospital in Connecticut to hold this accreditation delivering excellent cardiovascular patient care, including:

• Faster treatment
• Better prognoses
• Better quality of life

Waterbury Hospital has a new Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Center that will serve more patients in greater Waterbury meeting an increasing need. The newly renovated space more than doubles the size of the Cardiopulmonary rehab space at Waterbury Hospital. The space is bright with large windows, has a separate waiting room and private changing rooms. The number of patients who can exercise in the space went from 8 to 12, providing better access to the medically supervised program that optimizes the physical, psychological, and social functioning of patients with cardiac and/or respiratory issues.