Guest Column: Quit Smoking for Valentine's Day

If you are pregnant or thinking of becoming pregnant, on this Valentine's Day consider taking the first step toward quitting smoking, vaping or using other tobacco. 1-800-QUIT-NOW has a special incentive for you — pregnant Massachusetts residents can receive up to $65 on a Mastercard gift card when they participate in its free coaching services.

In the program for pregnant people, you can receive up to nine coaching calls with the same quit coach as well as text messages, email support and materials. When you quit, your body becomes safer and healthier for your developing baby's brain and lungs, and what a gift that is. Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visit mass.gov/quitting for support.

The Massachusetts Quitline for tobacco/nicotine at 1-800-QUIT NOW (1-800-784-8669) is available for free coaching 24 hours each day, seven days a week (except Thanksgiving and Christmas) to support you through quitting. No lectures. No judgments. Just support. You can connect with the Quitline online, too, at mass.gov/quitting.

Pregnant or not, when you talk with a quit coach, they help you develop a quit plan that works for you, identify triggers, plan out your day without nicotine and manage withdrawals. 1-800-QUIT-NOW has a dedicated Spanish line (1-855-DÉJELO-YA) and interpreter services available for 200 other languages so language doesn't need to be a barrier to getting support.

Take the first step toward a nicotine-free life this Valentine's Day and call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) for help quitting for good. No lectures. No judgments. Just support.

To help you on your quit journey during pregnancy and for more information, the Tobacco-Free Community Partnership Program at Berkshire Area Health Education Center is holding a communitywide baby shower (Berkshire Babypalooza) on April 15 at Greylock Works in North Adams from 11 to 2. This event is free to the public.

Local agencies and vendors will be on hand to answer questions about pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding, baby safety and family planning. Gift bags will be given to the first 250 families. Please join us for fun, games, and raffles. Win door prizes by visiting information booths and attending educational sessions. For more information about this or smoking cessation programs, contact Joyce Brewer at jbrewer@berkshireahec.org.

Take the first step of your journey to quit for good this Valentine's Day.

Joyce Brewer is the program director of the Tobacco-Free Community Partnership at Berkshire  Area Health Education Center.

North Adams Hopes to Transform Y Into Community Recreation Center

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:19AM / Thursday, May 02, 2024

Mayor Jennifer Macksey updates members of the former YMCA on the status of the roof project and plans for reopening. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has plans to keep the former YMCA as a community center.

 

"The city of North Adams is very committed to having a recreation center not only for our youth but our young at heart," Mayor Jennifer Macksey said to the applause of some 50 or more YMCA members on Wednesday. "So we are really working hard and making sure we can have all those touch points."

 

The fate of the facility attached to Brayton School has been in limbo since the closure of the pool last year because of structural issues and the departure of the Berkshire Family YMCA in March.

 

The mayor said the city will run some programming over the summer until an operator can be found to take over the facility. It will also need a new name. 

 

"The YMCA, as you know, has departed from our facilities and will not return to our facility in the form that we had," she said to the crowd in Council Chambers. "And that's been mostly a decision on their part. The city of North Adams wanted to really keep our relationship with the Y, certainly, but they wanted to be a Y without borders, and we're going a different direction."

 

The pool was closed in March 2023 after the roof failed a structural inspection. Kyle Lamb, owner of Geary Builders, the contractor on the roof project, said the condition of the laminated beams was far worse than expected. 

 

"When we first went into the Y to do an inspection, we certainly found a lot more than we anticipated. The beams were actually rotted themselves on the bottom where they have to sit on the walls structurally," he said. "The beams actually, from the weight of snow and other things, actually crushed themselves eight to 11 inches. They were actually falling apart. ...