FAIRFIELD – What has been known as the Chip’s Family Restaurant plaza for years is giving off a new vibe as two health care neighbors moved in.
Hartford HealthCare (HHC) this week continued its move into Fairfield County by opening a primary and specialty care facility and a separate urgent care center at 525 Tunxis Hill Cut Off. The new sign at the shopping center reflects HHC’s status as it is conspicuously perched at the top.
The urgent care center is the second in the town and 10th in Fairfield County; there is also one downtown on the Post Road.
“This (Harford HealthCare Urgent Care) opened a few weeks ago,” HHC President of the Fairfield Region Bill Jennings told Westfair’s Fairfield County Business Journal. “Primary care and specialty care opened this week (three stores down). We’re going to have endocrinology and pulmonary in addition to a six-person primary care office there.”
Hartford HealthCare, in partnership with the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce announced the grand opening of urgent care center with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday, Dec. 3. The new urgent care center is located where DOCS Urgent Care used to be and the HHC primary facility is where Ole Soccer was.
Hartford HealthCare has made a habit of opening facilities in Fairfield over the past year as it carries out a strategy to make health care more affordable and accessible in Fairfield County.
“Hartford HealthCare has an operating model and expertise adding more access in a very affordable way,” Jennings said. “It’s become a disruptor in Fairfield County. Being more accessible and affordable shouldn’t be innovative but it is. And we’re bringing that innovation to the community.”
It all started six years ago with a relationship forged with the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce and Town of Fairfield and continued with the opening of the Hartford HealthCare Fairfield Cancer Center at 4185 Black Rock Turnpike in May. The cancer center is a partner of Sloan Kettering Medical Center and affiliated with St. Vincent Hospital, which is part of the HHC network. Then HHC was honored by the chamber with its annual award for economic development.
“We are so incredibly grateful for this growing partnership,” First Selectman Christine Vitale said at the ribbon cutting. “Being in this space as someone who on Thanksgiving morning broke a glass and had to get 24 stitches in her hand – not this Thanksgiving – having a place like this minutes away from home (is important).”
The new urgent care center is HHC’s 10th in Fairfield County.
Both Fairfield locations are open seven days a week, offering patients two easy options: reserve your spot online or simply walk in for immediate care.
The new North Fairfield center joins a network of Hartford HealthCare Urgent Care locations across the county, including Monroe, Trumbull, Shelton, Stratford, Wilton, Westport, Stamford, and Norwalk. Each center provides treatment for a wide range of illnesses and injuries, plus physical exams, and X-rays, offering a cost-effective, stress-free alternative to the ER for non-life-threatening care.
The hours of operation for the new Fairfield urgent care center are Monday–Friday: 8 a.m.–8 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday: 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
The connection between Fairfield and HHC goes deep as the Hartford-based health care provider’s medical director of specialty services, Fairfield region lives in town.
“As a longtime Fairfield resident, as a parent raising a family here, I know the importance of having high quality accessible healthcare locally,” Dr. Frank Illuzzi said. “Just in my own personal life, taking my daughter to the urgent care for rolling over an ankle and needing to get an X-ray.
“We have a medical office three doors down, which is just as stunning as this place is. We have primary and specialty care doctors there.”
