CHP Adds Three Providers to Staff

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Community Health Programs has added three new health care providers to its medical and dental ​network in the Berkshires.

Dr. Claire Horth, a family medicine physician, has joined the primary care team at CHP Community Health Center in Great Barrington. A graduate of UMass School of Medicine in Worcester, she completed her residency through Brown University at Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island; she earned her undergraduate degree with honors at Notre Dame University. She has a particular interest in preventive medicine, adolescent and women's health.

Gina Nickels-Nelson, family nurse practitioner, has joined the primary care team at CHP Berkshire Pediatrics in Pittsfield. She earned her M.S. in nursing at the University of Rochester after completing her undergraduate nursing degree from Northern Michigan University. She has specialized in pediatric urgent care and wellness care, and is currently completing her doctor of nursing practice degree at the University of Texas at Tyler. Her
studies are focus​ed on improving adolescent asthmatic health outcomes.

Dr. Elwira Tyra has joined the dental staff at CHP Neighborhood Dental Center in Pittsfield. She graduated from Poznan University of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland, where she received her doctor of Dental Surgery degree, followed by a dental residency program at Collegium Stomatologicum in Poznan. She then moved back to the United States and completed her general practice dental residency at CHP through Berkshire Medical Center's residency program. A resident of Connecticut, where she attended the University of Connecticut, she is fluent in English and Polish. She has a long history of giving back to her community through volunteer activities and is committed to providing quality care for all her patients.

Striking Out Cancer in Berkshires Holds Sunday Party Before June 27 Games

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
10:53AM / Monday, June 15, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Striking out Cancer in the Berkshires has been bringing smiles for half a decade.

 

This year, it also is bringing Smiley.

 

A day of community baseball and softball games that act as a fund-raiser for the Jimmy Fund is the brainchild of Joe DiCicco, who has expanded the event’s footprint over the years and seen a steady growth in money raised as a result.

 

This year’s games are scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on June 27 on Buddy Pellerin Field at Clapp Park.

 

But the festivities begin this Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Sideline Saloon on Fenn Street, where DiCicco invites families to come down, free of charge, to take photos with a Boston Red Sox World Series Trophy and meet Boston mascot Wally the Green Monster and Smiley, the mascot of the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox.

 

“It’s just a little way to give back to the community to start the week,” DiCicco said. “Last year, we had the trophy for the first time, and they want to bring it back, so that’s a good thing. Wally is different, and so is Smiley.”

 

What has not changed is DiCicco’s dedication to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Jimmy Fund, inspired by Einar Gustafson, a child who beat cancer with the help of Dr. Sidney Farber in 1948 and shared his story with the world under the name Jimmy to protect his anonymity.