Berkshire Medical Center's Weight Loss Surgery Program Achieves National Accreditation

09:47AM / Wednesday, August 22, 2007Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD - The bariatric surgery program at Berkshire Medical Center has achieved national accreditation by the Bariatric Surgery Center Network of the American College of Surgeons. Established in 2005 by the ACS in an effort to extend established quality improvement practices to all disciplines of surgical care, the ACS BSCN Accreditation Program provides confirmation that a bariatric surgery program like BMC's has demonstrated its commitment to providing the highest quality care for its bariatric surgery patients. Accredited programs provide not only the hospital resources necessary for optimal care of morbidly obese patients, but also the support and resources that are necessary to address the entire spectrum of care and needs of bariatric patients, from the pre-hospital phase through the post operative care and treatment process. "This is a tremendous achievement for the medical center's weight loss surgery program," said Helen Downey, a registered nurse and chief operating officer of BMC. "The physicians, nurses and staff of our bariatric program have worked very hard to provide a program of the highest quality for our patients in the community who require bariatric surgery to greatly improve their health. Many of those who have had this procedure no longer require medications for the control of diabetes and hypertension." Dr. Andrew Lederman is the medical director of bariatric surgery. The program is coordinated by Lederman and Dr. Robert Fanelli of Surgical Specialists of Western New England, and Jodi Szczepaniak, a registered nurse and clinical nurse specialist and coordinator for bariatric surgical services at BMC. The comprehensive bariatric program at BMC provides gastric bypass and lap-band procedures. Each hospital surveyed by the American College of Surgeons undergoes an on-site verification by experienced bariatric surgeons, who review the hospital's structure, process and quality of data. Because high-quality surgical care requires documentation using reliable measurements of outcomes, accredited bariatric surgery programs are required to report their outcomes data either to the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program or the college's BSCN database. In the United States, more than 11 million people suffer from severe obesity, and the numbers continue to increase. Obesity increases the risks of morbidity and mortality because of the diseases and conditions that are commonly associated with it, such as type II diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, among other health risks. Currently, weight loss surgery provides the only effective, lasting relief from severe obesity. According to the ACS, it is "of utmost importance to extend our quality initiatives to accrediting bariatric surgery programs so that we can assist the public in identifying those facilities that provide optimal surgical care for patients who undergo this surgical procedure."

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

RIBCO Supply

Check out our great lineup of Boss Plows, and spreaders. 2 Locations Clarksburg & Pittsfield!

ribcosupply.com

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Healey Announces Housing Development Supports at Former Pittsfield Bank

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:29PM / Tuesday, February 17, 2026

Gov. Maura Healey poses with the bank's old safe. The building is being refurbished for housing by Allegrone Companies. The project is being supported by a commercial tax credit and a $1.8M MassWorks grant for infrastructure improvements.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Gov. Maura Healey stood in the former Berkshire County Savings Bank on Tuesday to announce housing initiatives that are expected to bring more than 1,300 units online.

"People come here from all over the world. We want them to stay here, and we want kids who grew up here to be able to afford to stay here, but the problem is that for decades, we just weren't building enough housing to keep up with demand," she said.

"And you guys know what happens when there isn't enough supply: prices go up. We have among the lowest vacancy rates in the country, so against that challenge, we made it our priority from day one to build more homes as quickly as possible."

Approximately $8.4 million from the new Commercial Conversion Tax Credit Initiative (CCTCI) is designed help communities transform empty or rundown commercial buildings into new homes along with $139.5 million in low-income housing tax credits and subsidies through the Affordable Housing Development grant program.

The historic 24 North St. with a view of Park Square has been vacant for about two years, and Allegrone Companies plans to redevelop it and 30-34 North St. into 23 mixed-income units. The administration announced its Commercial Conversion Tax Credit Initiative (CCTCI) and the Affordable Housing Development grant program as ways to aid housing production, both of which Pittsfield will benefit from.

The state is partnering with Hearthway for the construction of 47 affordable units on Linden Street, utilizing the former Polish Community Club and new construction, and Allegrone for its redevelopment of the block.

The Linden Street project is one of the 15 rental developments the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities is supporting through $25.7 million in federal low-income housing tax credits, $32.4 million in state low-income housing tax credits, and $81.4 million in subsidies.

Allegrone's project is supported by the commercial tax credit and was recently awarded $1,800,000 from the MassWorks Infrastructure Program.

Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll said she fully comprehends the importance of housing and how crushing it is in communities that need it and want to build, but face difficulties with high construction costs.

"Housing is the key to keeping people in the community in a safe way and giving them an opportunity to fill those many roles that we need throughout the Commonwealth in cities and towns, large and small, urban and rural, these are all important work. Having somebody fix your boiler, fix your car, we want those individuals to be able to live in our communities as well, particularly in our gateway cities," she said.

View Full Story