Danbury Hospital

Newtown resident Eric Chanko, MD, a doctor of internal medicine, has joined Primary Care Center in Danbury. He is eligible for certification by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr Chanko earned his medical degree from New York Medical College. Primary Care Center is affiliated with Danbury Hospital and provides health care for all ages as well as walk-in services seven days a week.

Waterbury Hospital

John H. Tobin, president and CEO of Waterbury Hospital, has been nominated as chairman-elect of the Connecticut Hospital Association. He will be sworn in as chairman at the annual meeting in June 2000. A Southbury resident, he has been in the top post at the hospital for nearly 14 years and also is president of the Greater Waterbury Health Network, the parent company of the hospital.

Kristaps Keggi, MD, an orthopedic surgeon  and medical director for the Orthopaedic Center for Joint Reconstruction of Waterbury Hospital, has received one of Estonia’s highest medical honors for his work in that nation. Through the Keggi Orthopaedic Foundation, Dr Keggi developed an exchange program between doctors in the Baltic nations and the United States. Nearly 150 physicians from Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine have trained at Waterbury Hospital and Yale University since the foundation was created 11 years ago and some $2 million in equipment and humanitarian aid has been sent to the Baltic countries.

Akua Sam, MD, has joined the FamilyCare Practice in the Phoenix Professional Building in Waterbury. FamilyCare is an affiliate of the Greater Waterbury Health Network. Dr Sam graduated from the University of Ghana Medical School, completed her residency at the University of Connecticut, and is board certifie din internal medicine. She is practicing with her husband, Kweku Sam, a FamilyCare pediatrician.

Erick  G. Wexler, vice president of business development and community relations at Waterbury Hospital, has been named one of the state’s rising business leaders by a New Haven business magazine. The New Haven Business Times named Mr Wexler one of its “Forty Under 40” business leaders. Recipients were selected for both their professional success and community involvement.

Family Counseling Center, Inc.

Theresa A. Blackmer, a licensed clinical social worker, has been appointed executive director of the Family Counseling Center, 121 Mt Pleasant Road, Newtown. For the past 10 years she held the position of director of professional services at Catholic Family Services of Danbury, overseeing the daily operations of its mental health clinic and serving as the supervisor of its program directors and clinical staff. She also is co-chair of the Local System of  Care for Children with Serious Emotional Disorders and is an active member of the Danbury Regional Advisory Committee for the State Department of Children and Families (DCF).

The Center For Reconstructive Foot Surgery

After practicing for 19 years in Danbury, Dr Gary Peter Jolly, DPM, has established The Center for Reconstructive Food Surgery in Danbury. The center will perform services that include treatment of adult and pediatric foot deformities, revisional surgery, management of the diabetic foot, wound care, foot traumas, biomechanical evaluation, and quantitative sensory testing to measure the loss of feeling in patients with diabetes and nerve problems. The center has established a human gait laboratory managed by Juan Carlos Garbalosa, PhD..  Dr Jolly is affiliated with Danbaury Hospital and the JOSLIN Center for Diabetes at New Britian General Hospital.