Dr. Ece Tek, Chief Medical Officer, Mental Health and Addiction Services, Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center; LindyLee Gold’s grandson Ari Kroop; Michael Taylor, CEO of Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center; LindyLee Gold, President of the Amour Propre Fund and recently named Chair of the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center Foundation board; and local attorney Keith Bradoc Gallant, who assists with the Amour Propre Fund.
Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center has received the largest donation in its 55-year- history, a $1 million infusion that will support a wellness center within a new facility for women in recovery from addiction.
The $1 million donation comes from New Haven philanthropist LindyLee Gold’s Amour Propre Fund.
Following is the text of a release issued by Hill Health:
Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, Connecticut’s first community health center and among the nation’s leaders in the delivery of quality community healthcare services, is receiving the largest donation in its 55-year history.
The $1,000,000 gift, from noted local community volunteer and economic development official LindyLee Gold and the Amour Propre Fund, will support the Women’s Wellness Center that is being established as part of the new Recovery and Wellness Center (RWC), now under construction by Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center (CS-HHC) in New Haven.
Gold’s philanthropic focus through the years has been on addressing mental health challenges affecting women and their children, supporting not only basic needs but striving to achieve sustainable change that will improve the trajectory of their lives and their families.
“This gift aligns perfectly with the mission and work of Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, which treats people holistically, bridging the socioeconomic gap in health care services and moving the needle in a sustainable way, which changes individuals’ lives today and impacts generations that follow,” Gold explained. “Physical health and mental health are intertwined and interdependent, and that is at the core of their approach to treatment.”
The donation was announced Tuesday night by Gold at a well-attended reception celebrating her birthday, in New Haven in support of the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center.
CS-HHC has earned its place among the top 3% of the 1,400 community health centers across the U.S, and is known for providing comprehensive primary care and an expansive array of medical sub-specialties to serve their patients. These include eye care, dermatology, podiatry, and pharmacy, as well as behavioral health, dental, pediatric, and addiction services.
Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center has more than 700 staff members who accommodated more than 360,000 patient visits during fiscal year 2022 at more than 25 care sites throughout Greater New Haven and the Lower Naugatuck Valley.
Gold was selected recently to chair the board of the newly formed Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and was among the state, local and community leaders featured on the program at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Recovery and Wellness Center, held in September in New Haven.
Senior Regional Manager at the Connecticut State Department of Economic & Community Development, Gold has a distinguished career in economic development in Connecticut. She is also a member of several foundation boards within the local community, and has served her community as both an elected official and a volunteer, receiving numerous awards for her noteworthy contributions, including, most recently, the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Volunteer of the Year Award for 2022. Gold also founded and was President of New Haven’s Fellowship Place, Inc., which focuses on therapeutic services for adults with mental illness, and Cornerstone, Inc., a New Haven-based mental health facility, as well as supporting The Connection, Inc. and the establishment of the Wellness Center at Gateway Community College earlier this year.
“LindyLee Gold is well known and highly respected throughout our neighborhoods, our city, our region, and the state of Connecticut. Her professional and personal accomplishments represent the ‘gold standard’ of achievements, selflessness, compassion, and commitment,” said Michael Taylor, CEO of Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center. “Her passion for making a meaningful difference in people’s lives is unwavering, and we are tremendously grateful for her generosity and commitment, and the impact it will have for years to come.”
“When we free someone from the grip of addiction, when we effectively treat other behavioral health issues and also address their medical challenges — all in a patient-centered and integrated manner — we not only make individuals healthier, we strengthen our community,” said Taylor. “LindyLee Gold’s leadership gift brings us closer to providing these much-needed healthcare services to more people in our community, particularly to women and their families.”
The RWC will offer a safe, short-term therapeutic living environment for people in treatment for substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health illnesses so they can become stable in their recovery. It is being built alongside CS-HHC’s South Central Rehabilitation Center (SCRC), enabling a unique and fully integrated comprehensive continuum of care. The RWC, including the Women’s Wellness Center, is expected to open for patients by the end of 2023.
The three-story, 31,000 square foot RWC will include individual and group counseling rooms and a medical suite; a women’s dormitory and men’s dormitory with semi-private rooms; and designated space for multiple therapies, for in-patient and out-patient services. When combined with existing behavioral health care services, the RWC will make the CS-HHC behavioral health care campus one of the most comprehensive in the state.
Dr. Ece Tek, Chief Medical Officer for the health center’s Mental Health and Addiction Services, points out that “Mental health is part of well-being, and we provide comprehensive and collaborative care. This integrated support is essential to a full recovery, and that is our goal for every patient. We are grateful for contributions that help to advance our work, and respond to the significant need in our communities.”
“I am energized by seeing the concept of a Recovery and Wellness Center come to fruition, and, most of all, by the impact it will have on the lives of those in our community whose lives depend, quite literally, on access to quality healthcare – precisely the care that Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center so expertly provides,” Gold said. “It is truly a privilege to support these extraordinary efforts, which enable CS-HHC to reach and respond to more people.”
Thank you to LindyLee Gold and the Amour Propre Fund for donating funds to this worthy cause. Addiction recovery care programs and mental health care are incredibly important and there aren’t nearly enough care providers or services available to meet the need.