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The students are Tessa Hanson, Aiden Hoogs, Elizabeth Kanz, Elliot Krantz, Brandon Macchi, Brady Mickle, Megan Mitchell, Collin Parker, Serena Rhind, Emily Roller, Nate Smith, Vova Tsyrkunou, and Ryan Williams.
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The "boo boo bags" are filled with coloring books, crayons, toys, finger puppets, and a comic book based on teacher Dan Sadlowski's book Finding Brooklyn.
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Nurse Cristina Lenfest came up with the project to help teach about health care and empathy.
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The students designed a logo to place on the outside of the bag.
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The students were welcomed with a reception by BMC staff.

Richmond Students Build 'Boo Boo Bags' For Children In The ER

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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The students delivered 200 boo boo bags to the hospital on Friday.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Richmond Consolidated School cares.
 
They care about every child in the emergency room, scared and nervous. They want those children to feel like everything is going to be OK.
 
On Friday, 13 seventh-graders from the school piled out of the school bus in front of Berkshire Medical Center with arms full of care packages for those children.
 
The "boo boo bags" are filled with coloring books, crayons, toys, finger puppets and a comic book based on teacher Dan Sadlowski's book "Finding Brooklyn." The nurses in the emergency room now have 200 of those bags to help make their youngest patients feel comfortable.
 
"They come in, they're nervous, and all the nurses are running around trying to get something for the kids. We thought it would be a good project to create the boo boo bags," school nurse Cristina Lenfest said.
 
She said a child's first visit to the hospital is when "you are setting them up for a lifetime view of health care." Often, parents end up in such a rush to get the child there, they don't have time to pack up anything to entertain and calm the children.
 
Nurse Missy Abderrahim knows firsthand how much those bags could help put a child's mind at ease. But she hasn't had an organized effort to provide it in years. She said there was once a project in which senior citizens knitted blankets for children to hold, but that was years ago.
 
"We, as employees, have occasionally brought in stuff. We go to the dollar store and pick up a bunch of stuff, have a box. Or maybe there is a stuffed animal we could get a child," Abderrahim said.
 
Lenfest said she came up with the idea earlier this year. A friend of hers had a child in the emergency room elsewhere and had received a bag. She contacted Abderrahim to craft a project to not only create the boo boo bags but also teach the students about health care. Abderrahim came to the class to tell them about her profession and the work she does day in and day out.
 
"I went in there and stayed a little bit over because the kids were really into it. They all asked me questions. They just asked a million questions. They were so excited and interested and engaged in the class. There were always hands up to ask. It was a fun day," she said.
 
And then the seventh-graders put together the bags. Lenfest even incorporated a technology lesson by holding a contest in which each student designed a logo to stick on the bags, and the students voted on the best.
 
"It was nice because we worked with STEM and technology," Lenfest said.
 
When the class arrived, the hospital had set up a reception to thank the students. Nurses, doctors and administrators praised the students, saying they all made their jobs easier.
 
"We will use them," Abderrahim said. "We see a ton of kids in the ER. ... It will help."
 
Lenfest said she hopes the project will continue into the future. And she hopes it will instill the school's philosophy of caring for others.
 
"It is really creating empathy for others," she said.
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EPA Lays Out Draft Plan for PCB Remediation in Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant requested the meeting be held at Herberg Middle School as his ward will be most affected. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric have a preliminary plan to remediate polychlorinated biphenyls from the city's Rest of River stretch by 2032.

"We're going to implement the remedy, move on, and in five years we can be done with the majority of the issues in Pittsfield," Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro said during a hearing on Wednesday.

"The goal is to restore the (Housatonic) river, make the river an asset. Right now, it's a liability."

The PCB-polluted "Rest of River" stretches nearly 125 miles from the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river in Pittsfield to the end of Reach 16 just before Long Island Sound in Connecticut.  The city's five-mile reach, 5A, goes from the confluence to the wastewater treatment plant and includes river channels, banks, backwaters, and 325 acres of floodplains.

The event was held at Herberg Middle School, as Ward 4 Councilor James Conant wanted to ensure that the residents who will be most affected by the cleanup didn't have to travel far.

Conant emphasized that "nothing is set in actual stone" and it will not be solidified for many months.

In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup was signed by the U.S. EPA, GE, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.

Remediation has been in progress since the 1970s, including 27 cleanups. The remedy settled in 2020 includes the removal of one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and floodplain soils, an 89 percent reduction of downstream transport of PCBs, an upland disposal facility located near Woods Pond (which has been contested by Southern Berkshire residents) as well as offsite disposal, and the removal of two dams.

The estimated cost is about $576 million and will take about 13 years to complete once construction begins.

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