The City of New Haven and the Yale New Haven Health system marked the opening of a new City Hall wellness center for present and former city employees with a ribbon-cutting Thursday.
The new facility, located on the fourth floor of the Hall of Records at 200 Orange St., represents the next step in a partnership between the city and the health system to provide preventive care and services to city workers, their dependents and retirees.
The city already contracts with YNHH for a wellness program, which serves in an average some 200 municipal workers from up to 10 city departments. The new facility will enable all wellness offerings to be available under one roof for workers.
In addition to such services as examinations, blood-pressure screenings and small classes, among the benefits available to employees are yoga classes and massage therapy at the site.
“The city has an interest in preventive care, early diagnosis and wellness programs” for its workforce, explained Mayor Toni N. Harp. That interest is not solely altruistic: Because the city is self-insured, wellness and preventive-care programs can help hold the line on health-insurance premiums, to the benefit of taxpayers, she added.
“We want to be sure our employees are as healthy as possible to better serve the people of New Haven,” Harp said.
City Controller Daryl Jones, whose office is next door to the new wellness center, said the wellness program was modeled after a similar initiative introduced by Electric Boat for workers at that company’s Groton plant. He also said, “We’re looking to do more” in the future, including having a nurse practitioner onsite at 200 Orange St.
Contact Michael C. Bingham at mbingham@newhavenbiz.com
