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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New Camp Is Safe Place for Children Suffering Loss to Addiction

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

Last year's Happy Campers courtesy of Max Tabakin.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A new camp is offering a safe place for children who have lost a parent or guardian to addiction. 
 
Director Gayle Saks founded the nonprofit "Camp Happy Place" last year. The first camp was held in June with 14 children.
 
Saks is a licensed drug and alcohol counselor who works at the Brien Center. One of her final projects when studying was how to involve youth, and a camp came to mind. Camp had been her "happy place" growing up, and it became her dream to open her own.
 
"I keep a bucket list in my wallet, and it's right on here on this list, and I cross off things that I've accomplished," she said. "But it is the one thing on here that I knew I had to do."
 
The overnight co-ed camp is held at a summer camp in Winsted, Conn., where Saks spent her summers as a child. It is four nights and five days and completely free. Transportation is included as are many of the items needed for camping. The camp takes up to 30 children.
 
"I really don't think there's any place that exists specifically for this population. I think it's important to know, we've said this, but that it is not a therapeutic camp," Saks said.
 
She said the focus is on fun for the children, though they are able to talk to any of the volunteer and trained staff. The staff all have experience in social work, addiction and counseling, and working with children.
 
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