Kevin’s Community Center No Longer Limited To Newtown

By John Voket

Tripling the size of Kevin’s Community Center, the free community clinic serving Newtown’s uninsured, means that the nearly all-volunteer operation now has the capacity to service qualifying individuals from other communities.

And founder Dr Z. Michael Taweh, who named the center in memory of his late son, says the clinic has already begun drawing up to what could eventually be ten percent of its patient base from surrounding towns and cities.

“We’re already up to five percent of patients coming from outside Newtown, and this is only our second week,” Dr Taweh told The Bee Wednesday. He said at the clinic’s former Peck’s Lane location, KCC volunteers would see between 12 and 20 patients every Wednesday.

“But last week we saw 25 and could see more today,” Dr Taweh said, adding that in the future, the organization will hold true to its pledge to keep the KCC patient base at least 90 percent Newtowners.

The clinic reopened December 9 after relocating to its third home in four years, at the rear of 153 South Main Street — the SCB Office Park just south of the Citgo minimart. Dr Taweh said the spacious accommodations will serve the organization for two years while it finalizes a permanent home at Fairfield Hills.

Dr Taweh said the few individuals from outside Newtown who qualify on KCC’s criteria for service, will be seen and treated. But he anticipates most of those patients, especially those from Brookfield and Danbury, will soon transfer to a new government-subsidized pediatric and general practice clinic on the verge of opening in Danbury.

That new operation, which will be directed by Dr Kathleen Mauks, will be in addition to a popular AmeriCares Free Clinic in Danbury, Dr Taweh said. He said Newtown patients can rest assured they will not lose an opportunity to be treated at KCC because of the few nonresident patients bumping them.

“Kevin’s Community Center will continue providing priority treatment for Newtown’s uninsured,” Dr Taweh said. “And while it may not be the model of other clinics in the region, all the care, referrals, and all services we provide to Newtown residents will be at no charge.”

The larger space also provides patients opportunities to visit with several professionals during one visit.

“On one visit, a patient may be seen by a doctor, our social services director, and even our diabetes director who monitors all patients with diabetes and prediabetes conditions,” Dr Taweh said, adding that the low overhead costs at the its new home means more resources can be devoted to staff, medical equipment, and supplies.

“This lease is much more economic on a per square foot basis than we had before, it has a lot of parking, an easy discrete entry and exit and allows other volunteers to work here on days when we’re not seeing patients,” he said.

“We’ve asked for a two-year lease. And we were the beneficiary of a very generous lease arrangement from Peter D’Amico,” Dr Taweh said of the local resident and benefactor who is also the founder of the Newtown Youth Academy at Fairfield Hills.

The clinic will vacate the South Main Street space when a permanent facility opens adjacent to the new Municipal Center at Fairfield Hills. The clinic and the town qualified for a $500,000 grant to help establish a permanent home for KCC, and the current plan calls for the organization to occupy a completely renovated former duplex residence at the former state hospital complex which is now owned by the town.

While the new space KCC occupies is more than three times what the operation had at its former location on adjacent Peck’s Lane, Dr Taweh said he anticipates the clinic will continue its one-day-a-week schedule until its final relocation.

Once the clinic is permanently installed at Fairfield Hills, Dr Taweh said he plans to expand operations to additional days. For now, his expanded staff is seeing more patients than ever, and is staying open later on Wednesdays to accommodate the extra workflow.

“Normally we close at 5 pm, but our first week in the new location we were there until after 7,” Dr Taweh said.

Dr Taweh said the new hours affords the possibility of a patient arriving as late as 4 pm, to be seen and treated by KCC staff, and be on the road to recovery by 7 pm that same day.