North Adams Hospital, Practices to Close Friday

The hospital will close Friday, March 28, after 129 years of operations.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — North Adams Regional Hospital will close its doors on Friday after years of declining health.

After more than 125 years of providing medical care to the Northern Berkshire community, the full-service hospital could not adapt itself to the changing health care environment despite a number of last-minute treatments to staunch the flow of financial losses.

Some 530 full- and part-time employees will lose their jobs, but the hospital's closure will reverberate throughout the region, affecting thousands more who have depended on its care for generations.

"The implications of this decision are far-reaching, but our primary concern is for our patients," said Timothy Jones, president and CEO, who was brought in nearly two years ago to help redirect Northern Berkshire Healthcare into a position of profitability. "We are working tirelessly to ensure a smooth transition to other care providers including other hospitals in the region."

Jones' comments and those of other officials in the health-care system were provided in a statement. There were no immediate plans for a press conference.

Mayor Richard Alcombright said state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing had been leading the charge in Boston with state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi and the governor to craft an aid package to support the hospital.

"I haven't heard where this is dead yet, it's just closing," said the mayor, who described the closing as a "punch in the gut." "It's too early to say."

He held out hope that the health care system could re-emerge from a coma through support from the state or other outside sources.

"Right now my heart goes out to many, many folks who never in their lives working at the hospital thought they would have to be looking for work," he said.

The closure includes all of the health-care systems operations: VNA & Hospice of Northern Berkshire and the Northern Berkshire Healthcare Physicians Group of Northern Berkshire Family Medicine, Northern Berkshire OB/GYN and Northern Berkshire General Surgery.

The board of trustees voted on the closure because of the health system's worsening financial status.

Northern Berkshire Healthcare has been struggling with financial woes for a decade or more.

The health care system at the end of last year amputated some of its less-profitable departments — the Greylock Pavilion psychiatric care facility and pediatrics — in an effort to reinvent itself by focusing on outpatient care, imaging, a new joint replacement center and telemetry unit. It opened an award-winning wound care center in the last few years and partnered with Berkshire Surgical Associates while continuing collaboration talks with Berkshire Health Systems.

However, in public hearings late last year on the closure of the psych unit, hospital officials said the hospital had little money on hand and there were fears it would not be able to make payroll by March if they were not able to turn things around.

Health-care employees were being informed on Tuesday of the closure. Officials said they will be provided with job search help through the health system's human resources office and a "rapid response team" from the state.

The hospital is no longer taking admissions. The emergency department will close on Friday, March 28, at 10 a.m. Hospital officials said the health care system is working with area hospitals and ambulance services to ensure continuation of emergency services. Ecu-Health Care, which uses space in the facility, will have to move.

Those seeking emergency care will have to travel up to 20 miles or more to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield or to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vt. The North Adams emergency department sees some 20,000 visits a year.

"We're still evaluating things at the moment," said John Meaney Jr., general manager of the North Adams Ambulance Service. He said the service would be prepared to transport to Berkshire Medical Center and to Bennington. "We're just getting the news. We are prepared."

Patients of Northern Berkshire Family Medicine and the VNA & Hospice of Northern Berkshire will be transitioned to other practices and agencies through Friday, April 4, said officials.

"North Adams Regional Hospital opened 129 years ago in 1885, and as an institution we have served the people of this area with dedication and pride," Jones said. "Many of those who work here have served our patients for decades, and today's news is a shock. We wish it could be different."

Northern Berkshire United Way: War and Peace

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
09:38PM / Saturday, February 28, 2026

Northern Berkshire United Way is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Each month, we will take a look back at the agency's milestones over the decades. This first part looks at its successes and challenges during the war years.

 

The Community Chest started the decade on the upswing but ended with a decline in fundraising. A bright spot was its establishment of new agencies to help the citizens of North Adams and Clarksburg. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams Community Chest ended its first decade on an upswing, even as the clouds were darkening over Europe.

 

But what goes up, must eventually come down. 

 

The 1940 campaign drive again set a goal of $39,600 and volunteers toted up $23,000 at the first meeting.

 

James Hunter Machine was the first to attain 100 percent enrollment with annual gift of $6.13 per person for a total of $1,275. Some 200 businesses and organizations hit their red feather level of 100 percent, including all of the schools as well as State Teachers College. 

 

The litany of businesses and organizations included long-gone establishments such as Simmons Funeral Home, Spofford Motors, McCann Ice Cream Co., C.H. Cutting, West End Market, Apothecary Hall, Florini's Italian Garden, and Pizzi's, along with still existing enterprises like Whitney's Beverage Shop, Cascade Paper and Mount Williams Greenhouse.

 

The now annual dinner was served by the Ladies Aid Society of First Congregational at the YMCA, and attendees were entertained by singers from the Advent Christian Church, directed by the Rev. Martin Ball and accompanied by his wife on the piano. "Assisting in useful capacities" were YMCA junior members Howard Goodermote, Roy Modlinger, Fred Myers, Norman Remillard, George Grenier, Wallace Konopka and Anthony Pessolano.