Dalton Events to Mark Appalachian Trail Community Designation

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Appalachian Trail through hikers chow down at recent Great Barrington Appalachian Trail Community Day. Dalton joins Great Barrington and North Adams as Appalachian Trail communities in the Berkshires.
DALTON, Mass. — The town of Dalton become the third Appalachian Trail Community in the state on Saturday, Aug. 19, with a celebration including hikes, music and a cookout. 
 
State and local officials and representatives from the Appalachian Mountain Club and Appalachian Trail Conservancy will have a short ceremony at Pinegrove Park at noon. 
 
The 2,200-mile long trail completed in 1937 runs from Georgia to Maine, passing through 14 states and the length of the Berkshires. Great Barrington and North Adams are the only other Appalachian Trail Communities. It is maintained by local clubs, the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, state Department of Conservation and Recreation, and the nonprofit Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which is using the designation to promote stewardship of the trail as a natural and economic resource.
 
The community program offers marketing opportunities and visibility through the conservancy, partnerships with land agencies and volunteers, and eligibility toward educational and community service programs. Participating communities set goals to help conserve and support the trail and the trail community, and be good stewards of the land and see the trail as an asset.
 
Saturday's event runs from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., begins with a two-mile hike along the Appalachian Trail and ends with the cookout at Pinegrove Park. 
 
  • The 2-mile family friendly hike will be lead by Bob McBain and Brian Sears and will leave Pinegrove Park at 9:30 a.m.
  • Volunteer work opportunity at the Kay Wood Shelter on the trail is hosted by the Appalachian Mountain Club. Register in advance at at@amcberkshire.org. Meet at the Grange Hall Road trailhead at 9 a.m.; participants will be back at the park by noon. 
  • Beginning around 11 a.m., there will be hot dogs and hamburgers provided by the Dalton Firemen's Association, along with salads and Sweet Peas ice cream for sale. Contributions for the food also have been made by John Kelly and the AMC.
  • Music will be provided by Mark Franklin and Nate Sears from 11 to 1:30.
 
The event is also part of the 413 Heart/Music & Arts Festival, also happening that weekend in Dalton, and is sponsored by the Grow Dalton Initiative, Appalachian Trail Conservancy and the Appalachian Mountain Club Berkshire Chapter.

Tags: Appalachian Trail,   community event,   hiking,   

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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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