North Berkshire Orthopaedic Specialist Joins Berkshire Orthopaedic Associates

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Berkshire Health Systems has announced the appointment of Dr. James R. Parkinson, a well-respected and former longtime provider of Orthopaedic services in North Berkshire, to the medical staff of Berkshire Medical Center and the physician staff of Berkshire Orthopaedic Associates.

Dr. Parkinson will provide orthopaedic evaluation and care at Berkshire Orthopaedic Associates' North Adams Campus of BMC office.

Parkinson served on the medical staff of the former North Adams Regional Hospital and with the former Orthopedic Associates of Williamstown for more than 20 years. He also served as medical director of Sports Medicine and Team Physician for Williams College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts from 1982 to 2016.

North Adams Updated on Schools, Council President Honored With 'Distinction'

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
12:31PM / Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Superintendent Timothy Callahan gives a presentation on the school system at Tuesday's City Council meeting. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council got an update on what's up in the school system and its president was inducted into the mayor's Women's Leadership Hall of Fame.

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey, as the city's first woman mayor, established the Hall of Fame in 2022, during March, Women's History Month, to recognize local women who have had a positive impact on the city. Past inductees have included the council's first woman president Fran Buckley, Gov. Jane Swift and boxing pioneer Gail Grandchamp. 

 

She described President Ashley Shade as a colleague and a friend and a former student. 

 

"Ashley is known not just for her leadership, but for her compassion, her ability to listen, to understand and to stand up for those whose voices are often gone unheard," the mayor said. "She has been a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ plus community and marginalized communities at both the local and national level here in North Adams."

 

Elected in 2021, Shade is the first openly transgender person to hold the role of council president in Massachusetts. She also leads the first-ever woman majority council in the city's history. 

 

The McCann Technical School graduate also has served on boards and commissions, "always working to make our city more inclusive, equitable and welcoming," said the mayor. "Ashley not leads not only with strength, but with a heart, and our community is a much stronger place because of it."

 

Shade, wearing her signature pink suit, was presented with a plaque from the mayor designating her a "woman of distinction."