Our Namesake

Dr. Bellizzi was educated in the city of Hartford. He attended Parkville Elementary School, Hartford Public High School and Trinity College. His Medical School training was at Tufts Medical School located in Massachusetts. While in attendance there he was a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He belonged to the Hartford County Medical Association, the Connecticut State Medical Association, the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Bellizzi served with the United States Army in Panama for two years, retiring with the rank of Captain.

Dr. Bellizzi had a private pediatric practice in Hartford for forty years. He was a staff member at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center and an adjunct staff member at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He was a member of the Governor's Council on Mental Retardation, Medical Director of the Hartford Public Schools for thirty-five years as well as a consulting physician for the West Hartford non-public schools. He assisted in the development of the Pediatric Residency Program at St. Francis Hospital.

His contributions to the Hartford Public School System are many: Dr. Bellizzi initiated school based immunizations in all Hartford schools, provided by school nurses under his authorization. He recruited and assigned part-time school physicians to conduct school based physical exams. Dr. Bellizzi initiated system-wide screening for both Sickle Cell Anemia and Tuberculosis in the late 50's and early 60's.

In 1975, in conjuction with the Hartford Board of Education, The University of Connecticut Health Center, the Connecticut State Department of Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, he was a leading force in developing and implementing the first school-based EPSDT (Early, Periodic, Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment) clinic in the State and possible in the country. The clinic was established in the Mary Hooker Elementary School.

Between 1978 and 1985 he served as preceptor to apporoximately 16 school nurses who took advanced training, on their own time, to become school nurse practitioners. This allowed the school system to expand its EPSDT services to all the schools in the system.

In 1978, in conjunction with the Hartford Board of Education, the Connecticut State Department of Health, the Connecticut Department of Income Maintenance, the University of Connecticut Health Center and the City of Hartford Health Department, he was again a leading force in having the entire Hartford Public School System approved by the State of Connecticut as an approved provider of EPSDT services. This made the Hartford Public School System eligible for reimbursement of funds expended for approved health services to Medicaid eligible children. The Hartford School System was the first school system in the country to be approved as a Medicaid provider. At the time, approximately 70% of Hartford school children were Medicaid eligible.

In 1984, with support and funding from the State Health Department, the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, the Adolescent Health Council and the Board of Education, he was instrumental in developing the first school-based clinic in the State, and possibly in the country, offering "expanded health service". Expanded health services included mental health and reproductive health. The clinic was named the "We Care Clinic", and the Thomas J. Quirk Middle School. Another clinic with expanded services quickly followed at Hartford Public High School. Based on statistics at this time, the Hartford School System was the largest provider of pediatric ambulatory health care in the city.

In 1985, he was the central figure in developing the first Board of Education policy in the State, and possibly the country, regarding the inclusion of students who tested HIV positive. The Board of Education approved the policy based on the recommendation of Dr. Bellizzi. THe Hartford School System received numerous requests throughout the state and the country for copies of the policy. He was a key member of the first advisory panel in Hartford which considered the appropriate educational program for students who were HIV positive and he worked closely with school based administrators and teachers who had HIV students in their classrooms.

He contributed an innumerable number of hours, of his own time, responding to staff inquiries regarding a range of health issues such as: should school nurses be certified in First Aid and Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (Dr. Bellizzi recommended school nurses be trained and certified: they were); an outbreak of Measles in the late 80's resulted in a combined effort on the part of the school system and the State Health Department to reimmunize thousands of Hartford students; air pollution of several classrooms at Bulkeley High School because a smoke stack was not high enough (Dr. Bellizzi required the smoke stack be raised or the school would have to be closed for health reasons; the smoke stack was raised); polluted (green) water at Mark Twain School because the water pipes were also serving as the electrical ground for the school (other electrical grounds were used, water pipes were flushed and the school had clean water); numerous outbreaks of pediculosis (students were required to remain home so parents could treat the condition with recommendations from school nurses, students were allowed to return to school when school nurses verified the condition no longer existed). Dr. Bellizzi believed that Hartford students were entitled to the same support services, especially health services available to students in the rest of the State.

Working with staff and administrators responsible for Health education, Dr. Bellizzi was a major influence in the development of a K-12 Health Education curriculum that included topics omitted in previous curricula such as growth and development, human reproduction and sexuality.

Because of his vision and commitment to Hartford children, Dr. Bellizzi was the single greatest force in the 60's, 70's and 80's who significantly altered the scope of health services and the manner in which they were provided to Hartford children. He was a pediatrician and health care leader with few, if any, equals.

The above was taken from a program distributed during the renaming of the former South Middle School to Dr. Joseph J. Bellizzi Middle School