Top Workplaces: A CT hospital where ‘Our staff does not give up on patients’

Hartford Courant – Thursday, September 11, 2025
By Helen Bennett

There is a very simple reason Annamarie Grise, the development and communications manager for the Hospital for Special Care, believes the organization’s team members see it as a top workplace in Connecticut.

“Our employees are connected to our mission,” Grise said. “They truly love being a part of our mission.”

That is1,300 employees at the New Britain hospital, which was founded in 1941 and is a long-term acute and chronic care facility, but also has expanded to provide the different kinds of care its patients needed, such as the first in-patient autism unit in Connecticut, which opened about five years ago.

The hospital does about 55,000 outpatient visits a year; about 85% of the hospital’s patients are covered by Medicaid.

Grise noted that sometimes the hospital’s patients are with them for four months, six months, a year or longer, so employees love that they become “very much connected” to the people with whom they work.

It is “being able to support our patients through their incredible rehabilitation journey,” Grise said. “They see them through that process.”

The process can be helping a patient learn to walk again, learn to use a prosthetic, recover from a heart issue, or in the case of children, learn to eat or to develop other life skills, she said. These are the kinds of situations that can be life-altering, she noted.

The 236-bed, nonprofit hospital doesn’t have an emergency room or an operating room as its focus is on chronic disease, such as of the heart or lungs, and rehabilitation, such as for people with brain and spinal cord injuries. The hospital also provides care for people who need a ventilator around the clock, newborn and specialty pediatric care, and care for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, among many other diagnoses.

“A lot of our patients say ‘Staff gave me the courage, the tenacity, the strength to get out of bed,’” Grise said. “It is motivating them and cheering them on.”

The hospital also has an autism unit that is a 1-to-1 program, so there is one staff member for each patient. The average stay on the unit is 33 days and it has served patients from 23 states, a hospital official has said.

Part of the unit’s expertise is for children and adolescents who have aggression, self-injury, or issues that hurt their ability to be in the community. The $13.6 million unit drew support from then-Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and bonding money and donations to help build it.

Grise said staff members often have “an innate ability to connect with a patient going through something life-altering.” That connection helps patients physically and mentally and that staff are “my champions” is often heard, she said.

Life after or during an illness, or after an accident, might look “different” but “we have all these tools to support you,” Grise said. “Our staff does not give up on patients.”

Grise also noted that staff members say they “truly feel they are part of a team.”

“They’re the ones who have to feel that motivation,” she said. “Every day is mission driven as an employee. It is making a difference in a patient’s life, it is making a difference in a group of patients’ lives.”

According to the submission in the Hartford Courant Top Workplaces program, the hospital, “from adaptive sports and therapeutic horseback riding, to aquatics and art programs, … provide(s) resources for individuals of all ages and all abilities.”

The hospital also “supports early career professionals in health care and related fields by providing student placements and clinical training opportunities for diverse students from across Connecticut and beyond.”

“The hospital administers scholarship programs for nurses, physicians, physical therapists and certified nurses assistants made possible by donors to support emerging healthcare heroes,” it said.

Dr. Nathan Nartey, a member of the hospital’s medical rehabilitation team, which focuses on health needs such as stroke and other kinds of brain injuries, spinal cord injury and other complex conditions, has said part of the motivation of his work is “seeing the outcomes.”

“I like connecting with my patients,” he has said. “I love what I do.”

The hospital staff includes: advanced practice registered nurses, psychiatrists, clinical and neuropsychologists, registered nurses, respiratory therapists, physical and occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, recreation specialists, behavioral analysts, nurses aides, accountants, health information management and technology specialists, clinical engineers, registered dieticians, chefs, lifeguards, coaches, chaplains, environmental services and food service employees, and others.

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