Provider Profile – Suzanne Childs, BHS Occupational Therapist

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Across the country, there are nearly 135,000 Occupational Therapists, and Suzanne Childs, who provides this specialized care at the Center for Rehabilitation at BMC, says OT goes beyond helping someone regain their functions for work.
 
"We promote functional independence for people and help restore not only vocational skills, but also homemaking and daily living skills," said Childs. "Occupational Therapy covers the full range of activities people of all ages do to live functional, meaningful lives."
 
Suzanne has been with BMC since 1994 and has served as an Occupational Therapist in the Berkshires for nearly 30 years, most of that time in the outpatient setting. She came to the Berkshires after providing OT services in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and later New York state.
 
"Occupational Therapists often work together with Physical Therapists, but our roles are quite unique. PT focuses on improving the patient's ability to move their body, whereas I concentrate on improving my patient's ability to perform activities of daily living. We help our patients to do things beyond their PT care, such as brushing their teeth, getting dressed, making meals and all of their other everyday tasks that may have been impeded by an illness or injury."
 
Suzanne is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and completed her clinical education at Toledo Mental Health in Ohio and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia. Over the years, she has provided care for spinal cord injury, stroke, post-acute rehabilitation for children and young adults and general rehabilitation.
 
If you need Occupational Therapy or any kind of rehabilitative care, ask your primary care provider for a referral or call the Center for Rehabilitation at BMC at 413-447-2234.




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Pittsfield's Ward 2 Councilor Petitions to Explore Police Station at Morningside

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Ward 2 Councilor Cameron Cunningham wants the city to explore turning Morningside Community School, which will not reopen in the fall, into a police station. 

He announced on social media that he will file a petition requesting the city to study converting the Morningside Community School building into a new Pittsfield Police Department headquarters and community resource hub.

"Morningside families deserve to feel comfortable and safe in their neighborhood. Converting the building into a police headquarters at 100 Burbank Street could put an integrated, visible public safety presence in the heart of a neighborhood that has asked for an end to this pattern of violence, he wrote. 

"Combined with youth programming, violence prevention resources, and community services in the same building, this is the kind of structural change that Morningside needs. The building must not be allowed to sit vacant deteriorating. It's time to use it to make Morningside safer. 

Cunningham's petition, which he posted, asks that Pittsfield conduct a feasibility study on the proposal, considering at minimum, considering the building's physical condition and cost of necessary rehabilitation, an estimated cost of relocating the Pittsfield Police Department, opportunities for the co-location of community services, available funding mechanisms to offset costs, and a recommended timeline. 

The pattern of violence references a deadly shooting near Morningside last week. 

Police are seeking an "armed and dangerous suspect," identified as Terry Martizna, for the murder of 29-year-old Pittsfield resident Justin Crawford.

Crawford was one of two individuals who were shot on Thursday, June 18, near the intersection of Pleasure Avenue and Tyler Street in Pittsfield. The second person, who has not been identified, was treated for a non-life-threatening injury at Berkshire Medical Center.

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