Bridgeport Hospital Wins Community Service Honor

BRIDGEPORT, CT — The Connecticut Hospital Association has named Bridgeport Hospital the recipient of its 2025 Community Service Award, recognizing the hospital’s Family Bridge program, an initiative providing home visits for families with newborns.

The program offers up to three no-cost visits by maternal-infant health nurses to families who deliver at either of Bridgeport’s hospitals. Nurses conduct health assessments for both mother and baby, offer education on infant care, and perform screenings. Lactation consultants are available for breastfeeding support.

According to the hospital, about 45 percent of families continue with the program’s community health workers, who assist with access to resources such as diaper banks, food banks, and government programs including WIC and SNAP.

Participation is available for up to six months postpartum.

— From left, Patrick Charmel, chairman, Connecticut Hospital Association; Manisha Juthani, MD, commissioner, Connecticut Department of Public Health; Christopher O’Connor, CEO, Yale New Haven Health; Anne Diamond, DBA, JD, president, Bridgeport Hospital; Magna Dias, MD, medical director, Family Bridge; Majeda Basilio, RN, supervisor, Universal Nurse Home Visiting; Greg Buller, MD, chair of Medicine, Bridgeport Hospital. Photo credit: Bridgeport Hospital

The Community Service Award honors hospitals or health systems in Connecticut that demonstrate exceptional commitment to addressing community needs through innovative programs.

"We are honored to have been selected by CHA for the Community Service Award," said Magna Dias, MD, medical director of Family Bridge and chair of Pediatrics for Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital’s Bridgeport Campus. "The Family Bridge program addresses a vital need in our community by supporting mothers and families during a pivotal time, when they return home from the hospital with a newborn. By meeting families where they are, the program provides essential support that many may not have known was available or even necessary."

The initiative is funded by five state agencies: the Office of Early Childhood, Department of Public Health, Department of Social Services, Office of Health Strategy, and Department of Children and Families. The service is offered at no charge to families.