The Wellness Community-Greater Boston opened its doors in October, 1993. It was inspired by the late Gilda Radner, who was a participant at The Wellness Community in Santa Monica, California. In her autobiography, It’s Always Something, Gilda wrote about how much hope she gained from The Wellness Community, and how that experience helped her to continue living her life to the fullest.
In the last months of her life, Gilda was living in Connecticut. Her close friend, Pam Katz, recounts that Gilda was very disappointed that there were no Wellness Communities on the East Coast. Gilda asked Pam to start a Wellness Community. At that time, Pam was living in Boston. After Gilda’s death, Pam returned to Boston and found the resources to establish The Wellness Community-Greater Boston.
The organization grew rapidly; when it opened its doors, it occupied 3000 square feet of office space in Newton Centre. It expanded into adjoining space in 1995. In August of 2003, The Wellness Community moved to its current location on the banks of the Charles River.