ATHOL – The Massachusetts Association of Community Health Workers has recognized Heywood Healthcare’s School-Based Services (SBS) program as the 2026 Outstanding Community Health Worker Program of the Year.
The award was presented at a special recognition event held June 26 at Athol Hospital and attended by health care leaders, school partners, community organizations and program staff.
Community health workers honored at Athol Hospital included Sheila Graham, Alexandra Davis, Johanna Jenks, Kaylee Vitols, Tracy Coller, Devon Murphy, Omayra Diaz and Joslyn Houle. Also recognized were Linda LeBlanc, part-time resource coordinator, and Brionne Beaudry, office administrator.
Heywood’s SBS program started 25 years ago when it began providing services at Murdock Middle/High School in Winchendon. Since then, according to a release from Heywood Healthcare, the program has grown “into a comprehensive, multi-district program that includes school-based health centers, telebehavioral health, mentoring, substance use services and community resource navigation.”
Services are now offered to all grades in Winchendon Public Schools and the Athol Royalston Regional School District; grades 7-12 in the Mahar Regional School District; and grades 5-12 in Gardner Public Schools and the Narragansett Regional School District.
The SBS program, according to the release, “…reduces barriers such as transportation and access to providers, ensures early intervention, and helps students stay healthy, engaged and ready to learn.”
At the June 26 event, Heywood Healthcare CEO and President Rozanna Penney said she was proud to recognize “the important work our community health workers are doing by truly transforming the lives of the people who live in this community. We are celebrating a model of care that works, and the only reason it works is because of our community health workers.”
After the SBS program began in 2001, said Penney, it was recognized early on that care in the schools needed more than a school nurse.
“They really needed the connection between the families and the resources the families needed access to,” she said.