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June 22, 2021

Gaylord goes Hollywood: PBS special to feature hospital this fall 

PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED Burt Wolf hosts the show, "Travels & Traditions with Burt Wolf," which is spotlighting Gaylord Hospital in an upcoming episode.
By Maureen Lynch

In his popular show “Travels & Traditions with Burt Wolf,” the globe-trotting journalist has spotlighted topics such as cruising the rivers of Europe and whether success is due to nature or nurture.

Now he is spotlighting something really close to home: Gaylord Specialty Healthcare in Wallingford.

A production crew from the international public broadcasting series filmed an upcoming episode at Gaylord in June, and it will air to an international audience of millions this fall.

What prompted Wolf to feature Gaylord?

Wolf said a friend told him about the “spectacular” care he had received there, so Wolf decided he wanted to know more, even though he had never filmed a show about a hospital before.

“I kept calling the parents of the people who were in the hospital,” said Wolf about his research process. “Talking to them and saying, ‘What happened?’ ‘What did you feel about it?’ ‘Why was it interesting?’”

Burt Wolf

Wolf found many interesting stories of patients and their families. When talking about one of the patients, he believed her rehabilitation was a product of a hospital that “really cares.”

Wolf said that he wants to learn something new every day, and he hopes his viewers will learn with him during each episode. Gaylord is a place Wolf wants people to learn about.

“It’s just an amazing place,” Wolf said. “It’s the hospital of the future. If anything goes wrong… get me a helicopter, a medevac, a jet and get me to Connecticut, I want to be at Gaylord.”

The public broadcasting show has been exploring the world for over twenty years. Wolf wanted to explore what makes Gaylord unique.

Wolf posed a hypothetical situation to explain the type of care he found at Gaylord.

“They say to the patient, ‘Well what is it you want to achieve here?’” And the [patient] says, ‘well, I want to walk my daughter down the aisle, she’s getting married. And they say, ‘you got it.’”

The hospital’s treatment method is designed to treat patients' injuries as well as rehabilitate them. 

Dozens of Gaylord staff, its former patients and their families were interviewed for the show.

Gaylord President and CEO Sonja LaBarbera said she is “thrilled” to share Gaylord’s uniqueness and culture globally.

“We treat the whole patient, as opposed to a symptom or injury,” LaBarbera said. “People come to us during a very difficult time and we give them back their lives.” 

Jillian Harpin was one such patient.  She said the team at Gaylord “really helped me get my life back.”

“They taught me how to navigate the world from my chair,” she said.

Tara Knapp, vice president of external affairs, credits Gaylord’s team for its successes.

“People here at Gaylord are united in their passion for caring for patients and they’re creative, they are innovative, they are able to ‘Think Possible,”’ Knapp said, using the hospital’s slogan.

“Think Possible” would appear to have been Gaylord’s mantra from its beginning. Gaylord was founded over a hundred years ago to treat tuberculosis patients during the endemic in 1902. Since then, the hospital has grown into a hospital that treats all types of serious injuries.

Patients who come to Gaylord receive care from multiple rehabilitative facilities. The grounds include a hospital, a rehabilitative gym and facilities to help them practice everyday tasks such as getting out of a car or grocery shopping. They also have physical therapy centers in Cromwell, North Haven and Cheshire.

“Travels & Traditions with Burt Wolf” films entirely on location, so the episode will include footage from the hospital and interviews with patients. Launched in 1980, it explores cities worldwide, including their history, culture and attractions. It is broadcast to a global audience of more than 100 million. Tune in to watch the Gaylord episode on PBS.

Maureen Lynch is an intern for New Haven BIZ.

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