The Connecticut Health I-Team

Mission Statement

The non-profit Connecticut Health Investigative Team [C-HIT] is dedicated to producing original, responsible, in-depth journalism on issues of health and safety, in Connecticut and the surrounding region.

What We Do

C-HIT is a team of award-winning journalists, based in Connecticut, who have come together to provide the public with informative stories about health, safety and medical issues. C-HIT is a web-based news service that serves three main purposes:

  • To fill a void in health, safety and medical coverage by producing a steady stream of news stories, many of them investigative, that focus on systemic problems within the healthcare system that affect real people – ie, the quality of care in hospitals, nursing homes, schools and other facilities; regulatory actions by government agencies; mental health treatment issues involving children and adults; and healthcare reform, including coverage of the insurance industry, the impact on consumers and the elderly.
  • To provide regular coverage of healthcare issues faced by veterans, especially those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. C-HIT journalists have extensive experience in covering veterans’ health issues.
  • To provide citizens with an independent, continually updated and user-friendly database that empowers consumers to access information from regulatory agencies and other sources on healthcare facilities and providers.

Who We Are

C-HIT  received start-up funding from the Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Foundation and from the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. Other foundations that have supported C-HIT’s work since 2010 include, the Connecticut Health Foundation, The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

C-HIT is overseen by a team of veteran Connecticut journalists, including: C-HIT Editor Lynne DeLucia, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former assistant managing editor of the Hartford Courant with more than 40 years’ experience in Connecticut journalism; and Bonnie Phillips, a former Hartford Courant editor, with more than 30 years of experience.  At the Courant, Bonnie was a member of the 1999 breaking news Pulitzer team.  She joined C-HIT in 2018, after C-HIT co-founder and award-winning reporter Lisa Chedekel died in January 2018.

Our Partners

C-HIT works with students in the journalism programs at University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT, Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT and Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven, CT, on research for stories, while providing the next generation of journalists with practical reporting experience. C-HIT also runs summer investigative journalism workshops for high school students.

C-HIT is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, a coalition of non-profit journalism organizations that produce non-partisan investigative news and Lion Publishers, an organization devoted to local independent online news publishers.

For more information contact Lynne DeLucia, C-HIT editor, at delucia.cthealth@gmail.com or call 203-215-6373.

Policy on Editorial Independence

We subscribe to INN’s standards of editorial independence as follows:

Our organization retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We will maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions.

We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.

Our organization also may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.

Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $500.00 or more and list all individual donors.  We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that sufficient safeguards have been put into place that the expenditure of that donation is made independently by our organization and in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards.

Equity and Inclusion

The Conn. Health I-Team aims to reflect the diversity of the communities it serves in its staff and contributors, its editorial choices and priorities.  We are doing this by:

• Continuing, as part of our core mission, to cover key health care issues that illuminate health care disparities, health care access, and health care equity;

• Raising the voices of under-served populations by highlighting their real-life experiences in our coverage;

• Enriching our content with a diverse team of writers that mirror the population we served;

• Ensuring that our board of directors reflect the state’s population.

Our Board of Directors

Ethics Policy: The Board of Directors provides expertise, guidance and operational support to C-HIT, but has no control or input into editorial decision-making.

Karen Hunter, C-HIT’s board of directors chair, is a writer, editor, and communications project manager at Hartford Hospital. Working in Fund Development, she produces communication pieces about the hospital’s philanthropic community. She also manages the department’s website. Before joining Hartford Hospital in 2013, she served as assistant director of marketing communication at the University of Hartford. Formally trained in journalism at Howard University in Washington, D.C., Karen spent more than 30 years working in the news industry as a reporter, writer, and editor before joining the University of Hartford. She has worked for some of the most respected news organizations on the East Coast, including The Hartford Courant, the Baltimore Sun, the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones and Co., and CNN. She served two years as a Pulitzer Prize jurist. Karen lives in Middletown. During her free time she is a hospital volunteer and enjoys gardening and traveling. She also produces social media marketing campaigns and creates and manages websites for small businesses and organizations.

Marie K. Shanahan’s interest in the possibilities of interactive media led her away from an early career as a print journalist to the digital side of news. After five years as a newspaper reporter, she spent the next decade as a digital news producer and online editor at The Hartford Courant. Her online roles involved expanding the presentation of all facets of news content on the Courant’s websites, training the newsroom in best practices of online journalism and building audiences with social networking tools.  In July 2010, Shanahan joined AOL/Patch.com as a Regional Editor.  In August 2011, she was appointed to the journalism faculty at the University of Connecticut and granted tenure as an associate professor in 2018. Her research focuses on the intersection of journalism, technology and free speech/anonymous online speech, as well as online media ethics and emerging digital newsgathering and storytelling techniques.  Shanahan holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and history from UConn and a master’s degree in Interactive Communications from Quinnipiac University.

Craig Hunter of Trumbull is Vice President and Editorial Director at Teach For America.  Prior to that he worked at The Appeal and earlier was editor at the Daily Kos.  Craig spent the majority of his career at The New York Times, where he served successively as assistant technology editor, assistant science editor, and deputy media editor. Craig was also a leading member of the newspaper’s 2005 Diversity Council, which brought new hiring and promotion practices to The Times and prompted the hiring of its first-ever chief diversity officer. Prior to his work at the Times, Craig served in a variety of roles at both the Hartford Courant and the Connecticut Post. A longtime student of emerging media trends, Craig is the co-founder of HeadStepper Media, a multimedia company that produces award-winning podcasts and helps other content creators reach audiences through the power of audio and video.

Rich Hanley is an associate professor of Journalism and the graduate program director of Journalism in the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University, in Hamden, Connecticut. Hanley has worked for more than 25 years as a journalist, writer, professor and documentary film producer, including a stint at Time magazine, among others. He has received seven Emmy nominations for his work in television. At Quinnipiac, where he has been a faculty member since 2001, Hanley played an instrumental role in elevating the graduate Journalism program to national prominence with a focus on multimedia journalism and in transforming the Interactive Media graduate program into one of the most innovative and largest of its kind in the country. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Haven and a master’s degree from Wesleyan University.

Lindy Lee Gold is a senior specialist at the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development responsible for business retention, recruitment, expansion and development of public housing.  She represents the commissioner on all workforce development and education boards and commissions.  From April 1996 to 1997 she was director of development and community relations for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (Connecticut office).  Lindy is the chair of the Gateway Community College Foundation, is a Pierson College Yale University Fellow, vice-president of the Jewish Federation Association, and a member of the executive board of the Shubert Performing Arts Center.  She has received numerous community awards including the 2013 Urban League of Southern Connecticut Community Service Award and the 2012 Connection Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jeanne Milstein has a long and distinguished career in public service to children and families in the state of Connecticut and in New York State.  She is currently the director of Human Services for the city of New London. She served as Connecticut’s Child Advocate from 2000 until 2012. She served as the Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Planning and Policy Development for the Office of Children and Family Services in New York State.  She began her career as a VISTA volunteer immediately after graduating from Cornell University in 1977. Jeanne has also served as the Director of Government and Community Relations at the Department of Children and Families; Legislative Director at the Connecticut Commission on Children; Director of Government Relations at the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women; and Director of the Women’s Center of Southeastern Connecticut. Jeanne is guided by the adage, “If you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention.” She is a tireless and passionate advocate for children and families.

Nancy Meyer was named president and publisher of the Houston Chronicle in December 2021.  She was previously president of the Miami Herald. Prior to that appointment in October 2020, she was the Southeastern General Manager of the Sun-Sentinel of Florida and two other papers owned by Tribune Media. She is the former President and Publisher of the New Jersey Media Group, encompassing The Record of Bergen County, northjersey.com and 201 Magazine. Formerly, she was the Publisher and CEO of the Orlando Sentinel Media, an award-winning multiplatform media company which publishes the Orlando Sentinel, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper. In 2015, the Orlando Sentinel was awarded A “Top Ten That Do It Right” by Editor and Publisher. Prior to her move to Orlando, Nancy was the Publisher of the Hartford Courant Media Group in Hartford, CT, leading the Courant’s celebration of its 250th anniversary as the country’s oldest continuously published newspaper, an unprecedented milestone in American Journalism. Previously, she was the Chief Revenue Officer of Advertising at CT1 Media, which included the Hartford Courant, WTIC-TV (FoxCT) and WCCT-V (CT) television. While in this position, Nancy led the integration of the newspaper and television station advertising and digital operations, unlike any other in the country. She was promoted to that role from her former position as Vice President of Advertising, Strategies and Targeted Media for the Hartford Courant. Nancy’s extensive 28-year publishing career began in 1987 with Gannett newspapers. She went on to hold executive and leadership positions at Hearst Newspapers at the San Francisco Chronicle and sfgate.com and at the Times Union in Albany, NY. She speaks frequently to community and professional groups regarding the media industry, women in leadership and the transformation of traditional media to the digital platform. Nancy is passionate about her involvement in the communities where she serves and has been active with many professional, industry and community organizations. She is a cancer survivor and works extensively with Susan G. Komen – Southern New England. Meyer attended the University of Hartford in Hartford, CT, majoring in Communication studies and is working on her Masters in Interactive Studies at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT.

Linda Richetelli-Pepe is Senior Director of Healthcare Economics, Policy, and Reimbursement: Payer/Employer Solutions at Medtronic. Over her more than 30 years in the healthcare delivery system, she has held executive positions with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Connecticut and Anthem in marketing, national account sales, members services, and underwriting.  She joined Metronic (then Covidien) in 2008, holding pivotal positions in professional affairs and clinical education as well as marketing, focused on clinical and economic benefits of key therapies.  She is also executive director of Medtronic’s Women In Surgery platform, helping to fill the pipeline of future surgeons, and adjunct professors/lecturers in business at both Quinnipiac University and Southern Connecticut State University.

Nan Birdwhistell is resident part-time in the law firm of Murtha Cullina, New Haven, working as part of the Municipal Law Practice Group, which provides legal counsel to towns on matters ranging from renewable energy projects for municipalities, land use planning, and employment and labor issues to contracts, commercial matters and other general legal matters. She is a former three-term First Selectwoman of the Town of Woodbridge. She was the Chair of the South Central Regional Council of Governments, a member of the Board of the Connecticut Council of Municipalities, and Vice President of the Council of Small Towns.  She is a member of the Women and Girls Fund, Grants Committee, Community Foundation for Greater New Haven; board member of the Jewish Federation of Greater Haven and a board member of WOWPAC, Women Organizing Women Political Action Committee.

Financial Documents

As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, the Connecticut Health I-Team, Inc., is supported by foundations, individuals, and corporate sponsorships.

2020 Conn. Health I-Team, Inc., 990 form

2019 Conn. Health I-Team, Inc. 990 form

2018 Conn. Health I-Team, Inc. 990 form

2017 Conn. Health I-Team, Inc. 990 form

2016 Conn. Health I-Team, Inc. 990 form

2015 Conn. Health I-Team, Inc. 990 form

2014 Conn. Health I-Team, Inc. 990 form

2013 Conn. Health I-Team, Inc. 990 form

2012 Conn. Health I-Team, Inc. 990 form