Northern Berkshire Family Practice Joining NBH

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Northern Berkshire Family Practice will become part of the Northern Berkshire Healthcare family of care providers, NBH officials announced Wednesday.

Dr. William Kober will remain at the practice as medical director and is joined by Dr. Linda Hill, who most recently has practiced with Williamstown Medical Associates. Also joining the practice is Elizabeth Toomajian of North Adams, a family nurse practitioner. The medical practice is accepting new patients for primary care. The number is 413-664-4088.

NBH will purchase the building at 820 State Road.

"We're excited to welcome Drs. Kober and Hill, and Liz Toomajian to the NBH family, as we work to maintain and expand primary care services in the community," said Richard Palmisano, president and CEO of Northern Berkshire Healthcare. "It's no secret that there are immense pressures on primary care doctors across the state and especially here in Berkshire County, and it's important to do all we can to strengthen the provision of those services here."

Palmisano added that NBH continues to devote resources to physician recruitment, including recruitment in the areas of primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, surgery and other specialties.


Kober, a board-certified family practice physician, has practiced in North Berkshire since 1994, when Northern Berkshire Family Practice was established. He earned his medical degree from Boston University School of Medicine and served his internship and residency at University of Connecticut Affiliated Hospitals at St. Francis' Medical Center in Hartford.

Hill earned her medical degree from the Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, and served a rotating internship at Brighton Medical Center in Portland, Maine. She also is a board-certified family practice physician. She came to North Berkshire from the Veterans Administration Primary Care Clinic in Glens Falls, N.Y., and has practiced in communities in Maine, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Toomajian completed her family nurse practitioner certificate program at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She also holds a master of science in nursing from the University of Texas at Austin. Toomajian most recently has worked for the Neighborhood Health Center in Pittsfield, and for Southwestern Vermont Medical Center's department of employee and occupational health. She has also worked in North Adams Regional Hospital's psychiatric unit and, from 1995 to 1998, for Northern Berkshire Family Medicine.

Northern Berkshire Healthcare's family of care providers includes NARH, the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice of Northern Berkshire, Reach Community Health Foundation and Sweet Brook Transitional Care and Living Centers and Sweetwood Continuing Care Retirement Community in Williamstown. Information: 413-664-5000 or www.nbhealth.org.
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Pittsfield Considers Repairing East Part Cemetery

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Historical Commission will consider grant opportunities for repairs to East Part Cemetery.

A resident reached out to the city with concerns about degradation in the half-acre burial ground at the top of Williams Street. East Part Cemetery was established in the early 1800s and has about 300 interments. 

“It's a nice old cemetery, and basically, (the resident) had had concerns that the stone wall had taken some damage, the gravestones have taken some damage, and was wondering if there's anything that could be done to repair the gravestones and the wall," City Planner Kevin Rayner told the commission on Monday.

In cooperation with cemetery leadership and residents, the Historical Commission will consider applying for Community Preservation Act funds to support repairs. West Part Cemetery, on the other side of Pittsfield, has previously used CPA funds for revitalization work. 

The 1080 Williams St. property is owned by the city and managed by the Pittsfield Cemetery Commission. Rayner presented photos of broken and overgrown gravestones, parts of the stone wall collapsing, and knocked-over obelisks. 

Some aspects could use general maintenance and restoration, he observed. 

According to the Pittsfield Cemetery and Crematory's website, East Part Cemetery was established around 1808 on land owned by Nathan Webb, who permitted and authorized its use as a public burying ground.  

In 1842, Nathan Webb's son, also named Nathan Webb, deeded the property to the Methodist Episcopal Society of Pittsfield as a public burying ground, and in 1893 the Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Society transferred their control of the cemetery to the Proprietors of the Pittsfield Cemetery. Their action was confirmed by the Berkshire Probate Court.

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