Local Physician Honored as 2014 Community Clinician

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Dr. Richard D. Perera was named as the Berkshire district's 2014 Community Clinician of the Year.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Dr. Richard D. Perera has been recognized by his physician peers of the Berkshire District Medical Society as the district's 2014 Community Clinician of the Year, an award honoring his professionalism and contributions as a physician.  

Perera received the award at the district society's annual meeting at the Country Club of Pittsfield on March 13. The Berkshire District Medical Society is comprised of nearly 500 physicians who live and work throughout Berkshire County.

The Community Clinician of the Year Award was established in 1998 by the Massachusetts Medical Society to recognize a physician from each of the society's 20 district societies who has made significant contributions to his or her patients and the community and who stands out as a leading advocate and caregiver.

Board certified in internal medicine, Perera is a physician with Berkshire Medical Group in Pittsfield and has practiced primary-care medicine in Pittsfield since 1962.  In 1995, he was appointed an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.



Perera received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University and his medical degree from New York Medical College. During the 1960s, he served as a physician in the Army, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel.    

He has been previously honored with the Community Faculty Educator Award by the UMass Medical School in 2003 and with the Most Patient Centered Physician Award from Berkshire Medical Center in 2005. He is a past president of the Berkshire County Chapter of the Massachusetts Heart Association and has been a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society since 1963.

The Massachusetts Medical Society, with more than 24,000 physicians and student members, is dedicated to educating and advocating for the patients and physicians of Massachusetts. For more information: www.massmed.org, www.nejm.org, or www.jwatch.org.


Tags: BMC,   MMS,   physician,   recognition event,   

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North Adams Regional Reopens With Ribbon-Cutting Celebration

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

BHS President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz welcomes the gathering to the celebration of the hospital's reopening 10 years to the day it closed. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The joyful celebration on Thursday at North Adams Regional Hospital was a far cry from the scene 10 years ago when protests and tears marked the facility's closing
 
Hospital officials, local leaders, medical staff, residents and elected officials gathered under a tent on the campus to mark the efforts over the past decade to restore NARH and cut the ribbon officially reopening the 136-year-old medical center. 
 
"This hospital under previous ownership closed its doors. It was a day that was full of tears, anger and fear in the Northern Berkshire community about where and how residents would be able to receive what should be a fundamental right for everyone — access to health care," said Darlene Rodowicz, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. 
 
"Today the historic opportunity to enhance the health and wellness of Northern Berkshire community is here. And we've been waiting for this moment for 10 years. It is the key to keeping in line with our strategic plan which is to increase access and support coordinated county wide system of care." 
 
Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, under the BHS umbrella, purchased the campus and affiliated systems when Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and closed on March 28, 2014. NBH had been beset by falling admissions, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, and investments that had gone sour leaving it more than $30 million in debt. 
 
BMC was able to reopen the ER as an emergency satellite facility and slowly restored and enhanced medical services including outpatient surgery, imaging, dialysis, pharmacy and physician services. 
 
But it would take a slight tweak in the U.S. Health and Human Services' regulations — thank to U.S. Rep. Richie Neal — to bring back inpatient beds and resurrect North Adams Regional Hospital 
 
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