PITTSFIELD, Mass. — As part of Employee Appreciation Month in May, Berkshire Health Systems (BHS) recognized seven employees with annual CARE Awards and two Providers of the Year honors.
CARE Awards celebrate the health system's core values of Compassion, Accountability, Respect and Excellence, and employees who were honored work across the system at Berkshire Medical Center, Fairview Hospital, North Adams Regional Hospital, and BMC and Fairview Provider Practices.
Providers of the Year Honors
Providers of the Year were Maribeth Pomerantz, Certified Nurse Midwife at Berkshire OBGYN of BMC, and Adam Gicewicz, MD, a pediatrician at Berkshire Health Pediatrics.
Pomerantz was recognized for the personalized care she provides to expectant mothers. Her co-workers said, "There are many examples of her commitment to individual patients. She doesn't hesitate to add them to her schedule so that they can have a timely visit. She truly goes over the top in support of her patients and their families."
Dr. Gicewicz was cited for his ability to "ease the natural anxiety that any child must have when going to the doctor. One thing Dr. Gicewicz does is wear a multitude of different colored sneakers, and all the children love this. He understands all the different age groups associated with our practice and can relate to them on a level that is comfortable for them, making their visit that much better for both patient and parents."
CARE Award Winners
Ellen Beckwith, RN, is a Charge Nurse at Fairview Hospital and she was lauded by colleagues, who said, "Ellen consistently demonstrates exceptional compassion and dedication in patient care. I have had the privilege to witness Ellen having a profound impact on patients and colleagues. Ellen possesses the unique ability to provide not only outstanding clinical care but also emotional support that truly makes a difference in the lives of patients and their families."
Frank Bentz is the Environmental Services Supervisor at the Hillcrest Campus of BMC. His team said, "With an extraordinary 36-year career in Environmental Services, Frank has exemplified what it means to be a committed, ethical, dependable, and hardworking team member. Frank is someone you would want in your foxhole. Throughout his long tenure at BHS, Frank has consistently upheld the highest standards of cleanliness, customer service, and safety."
Richard "Ricky" Cyrulik, Environmental Services Specialist, North Adams Regional Hospital, "is a seasoned team member in the EVS department at NARH who has exemplified extraordinary contributions to the team. He is consistently willing to help out anywhere in the hospital. Ricky always responds as quickly as he can with a positive attitude. Ricky was assigned to the emergency department and after one week of being there I heard from multiple staff members that they are so appreciative that he is there."
Noel Henebury, Recruiter, BHS Human Resources, was honored for how she interacts with those she is recruiting. "Noel is also highly invested in the people she encounters in our Talent Acquisition Program. She attends every RN pinning ceremony and when her new hires start, she makes it a point to meet with them when they are filling out paperwork and meets them at their orientation. Her enthusiasm for her tasks goes beyond a focus on those she is recruiting. She truly feels that recruiters change people's lives by hiring them to work here."
Yvette Losaw, RN, 5 West Surgical/Ortho, Berkshire Medical Center, was recognized for her patient-centered care. "She takes charge in difficult situations in a calm, confident manner, with just the right amount of humor. Yvette advocates for her patients to make sure that they get the care that they need. She has outstanding clinical skills. I would want her to be my nurse or my loved one's nurse, if we ever needed one."
Gwen McCarroll, Information Technology Engineer, BHS Information Technology, recognized for being "hardworking, collaborative, supportive and a team player. She can decipher report request needs with ease and patience. She continues to work tirelessly to ensure that users have what they need, and data is accurate."
Randy Wallingford, RN, Behavioral Health, Berkshire Medical Center, was honored for his compassionate approach to his patients. "It is unfathomable to attempt to consider the number of lives Randy has touched, the number of souls he has had a hand in healing through the years. His commitment to inclusive and excellent patient care, and to treating everyone around him with kindness and respect has been remarkably enduring and inspiring."
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BRTA Focuses on a New Run Schedule
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is still working on maintaining its run schedules after dropping the route realignment proposal.
Last Thursday's meeting was Administrator Kathleen Lambert's first official meeting taking over the reins; retiring director Robert Malnati stayed during a transition period that ended last month.
Lambert is trying to create a schedule that will lessen cancellations. There was a two-hour meeting the week before with the drivers union to negotiate run bids and Lambert is working with the new operating company Keolis, which is taking over from Transdev.
The board spoke about anonymous emails from drivers, which Lambert said she has not seen. iBerkshires was not able to see those letters, but has received some.
"They were lengthy emails from someone describing themselves as concerning BRTA employee, and there was a signed letter from a whole group of employees basically stating their concerns. So, you know, to me, it was a set of whistleblowers, and that, what my understanding is that this really triggers a need for some type of process to review the merits of these whistleblowers, not going to call them accusations, but basically expressions of concern," said member Stephen Bannon.
A letter iBerkshires received spoke of unhappy drivers who were considering quitting because of decisions being made without "input from frontline staff," frustration and falling morale, and the removal of the former general manager shortly after Lambert came in.
Lambert said it's difficult to navigate a new change. She also noted many drivers don't want to do Saturday runs and it has been hard negotiating with drivers on the new runs.
"I would like you all to keep in mind that the process of change is super difficult. Transdev has been here for 20 years, and some of these drivers have never known any other operating company, the way some of the operations have been handled has been archaic," she said. "So getting folks up to speed on how a modern transit system works is going to be painful for them. So I don't want to say that I'm unsympathetic, because I am sympathetic, but I am trying to coax people along with a system that's going to seem very strange to them."
The board spoke about better communication between them and Lambert, citing cooperation will be best moving forward.
"There's just a lot of stuff in the air right now, and there are a lot of fires to put out to make this a coordinated effort. And if we don't keep our communications open and be straightforward, then you get blindsided about how you know the input that you could get from us about your position, and how you know what's going on in your direction, and we get blindsided. And I think that we have to make sure that this is a collaboration," said member Sherry Youngkin.
"Both sides have responsibilities, because in the long run, this advisory board is going to have to make decisions as to how we brought forward and if we've gone forward in a fair and helpful way. And I think that's hopefully what everybody is looking for also."
Transdev and Keolis held a three-day recruiting event interviewing almost 40 candidates and offering jobs to eight, but only three stayed on to start training. Lambert said it was disappointing but she will keep trying to retain more people.
In her first report to the board, she noted that ridership dipped a little over 10 percent, but still remains higher than last year, adding that was because of cancellations of services because of the lack of drivers.
Like the last meeting, some of the advisory board members were torn over the start of the Link413 service, worried that the start of the service took drivers away and the numbers of riders are low.
Lambert, however, said the ridership has doubled from last month.
"As I've spoken before, we have, generally, a six-month adoption for brand-new service before you can really go in and evaluate, are you being successful based on the grant that my predecessor wrote along with the team for PBTA and RTA, we are ahead of schedule, which is pretty good, so I'm hoping that will continue to improve," she said.
Member Renee Wood said the board never approved the service, adding the only thing she could find in the minutes was a vote to accept the equipment. She said it was supposed to be put on the agenda to discuss.
"The Link413 service has been three years in the making. It's been a grant that was accepted and has been working with our partners, PVTA and FRTA, to put into place. So I don't have the entire history of how that process worked, but it's been three years in the making, and did we not understand that once we accept that grant that we were going to put in new service?" Lambert said.
The board discussed if Title VI, the Civil Rights Act, was followed with an accurate review and accurate amount of time for public comment period on the service changes and if its attorney should review if the grant conditions were properly followed.
Lambert said changes had the 60-day comment period included in the proposed route realignment packet, giving the opportunity for the community to respond to that as well but will look into the legality of the situation with their attorney.
The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is still working on maintaining its run schedules after dropping the route realignment proposal. click for more
The town election is less than a month away and, unlike recent ones, all open seats are uncontested, with even a vacancy remaining on the Planning Board.
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