The CHD Cancer House of Hope has relocated to this home at 1999 Westfield Road, West Springfield.
WEST SPRINGFIELD – The Cancer House of Hope has relocated to a new home in West Springfield.
The House merged with the Center for Human Development (CHD) two years ago and began offering programs at the 1999 Westfield St., West Springfield location last month.
Located on Route 5, the new location is highly visible and has a bus stop right out front.
“It’s five miles from the Westfield house and 12 miles from the Springfield house,” said Program Director of CHD Cancer House of Hope Cheryl Gorski.
Gorski said Noble Hospital retains ownership of the former Cancer House of Hope location in Westfield, while CHD owns the former Springfield location and will use that house for another purpose in the future. According to their website, CHD is a family of more than 70 programs that deliver a wide range of high quality social services in communities throughout Western Massachusetts and Connecticut, all aimed at helping people build strong productive lives.
Merging the programs to one central location just made sense, said Gorski.
“It is bigger and we really felt that we should be in one location, which is more efficient and cost effective,” she said.
Instead of spending money on supplies at two separate locations, CHD Cancer House of Hope can now put more into programming.
“There is a detached garage here that was renovated into a yoga studio,” Gorski said. “In Westfield, we had to run the yoga program at Genesis, so there was a disconnect. Here, we have all the programs in one place and we can use the yoga studio for Tai Chi and pilates and larger workshops.”
CHD Cancer House of Hope still has the same councilors and most of the volunteers from both the Westfield and Springfield locations now in West Springfield. Gorski said she hopes to reach a wider audience in the new house.
“Before if we had pilates in Springfield, it was not likely that someone from Westfield would come, or that a Springfield resident would travel to Westfield,” Gorski said. “Now we are in between both former locations.”
Gorski said although there have been many changes in the 16 years since Cancer House of Hope was founded, the move is probably the biggest, and will hopefully be the best. Even though there is no longer a house in Westfield, Gorski said CHD Cancer House of Hope has not forgotten its Westfield roots.
“That is where we got our start,” she said. “We are committed to the Westfield community, and that’s not going to change.”
