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Shaun Cusson gave a short speech to kick off the monthlong event.

Hillcrest Lights Up Park Square to Spread Autism Awarenes

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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A resource fair was held at Downtown Pittsfield Inc. prior to the lighting ceremony.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The downtown corridor will be lit up blue this month to raise awareness of autism.
 
Blue lights have been placed in Park Square, at City Hall, and in windows of various businesses on North Street in part of the Hillcrest Educational Foundation's Light It Up Blue campaign.
 
This is the second year for the event and the program has grown to include a resource fair, connecting parents of autistic children with resources. 
 
"Last year, we did this just at Hillcrest and, this year, we wanted to make a bigger impact," said Hillcrest Director of Communications Katrina Cardillo. "We knew there were others who provides resources to the community so we wanted to make sure we viewed together."
 
Joining the effort this year are Community Resources for People with Autism, UCP of Berkshire County, College Internship Program, and Ad Lib, all which provide resources for autistic children and adults. Those organizations joined together in Downtown Pittsfield Inc.'s offices Friday evening to share information.
 
"We just want everybody in the community to know there are resources," Cardillo said. "There are others in the community who don't understand autism."
 
Following the fair, the groups gathered at Park Square for a lighting ceremony. However, the blue film on the lights weren't working properly so the lighting up ceremony was more symbolic.
 
Those lights will be fixed, according to Hillcrest Executive Director Shaun Cusson, and flood lights will keep the city's center lit up all month, reminding people in the community both "what autism is, and what it isn't." Cardillo said Hillcrest's main office and the Housatonic Academy will also feature lights.
 
"Awareness is absolutely critical. We have to spread the word," Cusson said during a brief speaking portion at Park Square in windy and rainy weather. "That awareness shapes understanding, understanding shapes policy and funding."
 
Part of the effort is to de-stigmatize autism. The local effort builds on the autism advocacy organization Autism Speaks' worldwide effort. Other international landmarks being lit up this month include the Rockefeller Center in New York, the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, Shanghai Tower in China, the Sydney Operate House and others. More than 11,000 buildings will be lit up.
 
Locally last year, the blue lights were only at City Hall and Park Square. This year, Hillcrest enlisted the help of Downtown Pittsfield Inc. to spread the lights to businesses downtown. Lampposts, spotlights, and small blue lights will be lit up throughout the downtown, including at iBerkshires' offices on North Street.
 
"Typically during holidays we encourage businesses to decorate the windows with lights so we tapped into that," Downtown Pittsfield Executive Director Kristine Hurley said. 
 
Limelight Productions is lighting up Park Square with flood lights. 
 
Cusson said he envisions the awareness effort growing in coming years. 

Tags: autism,   awareness event,   hillcrest educational,   North Street,   

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North Adams Regional Reopens With Ribbon-Cutting Celebration

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

BHS President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz welcomes the gathering to the celebration of the hospital's reopening 10 years to the day it closed. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The joyful celebration on Thursday at North Adams Regional Hospital was a far cry from the scene 10 years ago when protests and tears marked the facility's closing
 
Hospital officials, local leaders, medical staff, residents and elected officials gathered under a tent on the campus to mark the efforts over the past decade to restore NARH and cut the ribbon officially reopening the 136-year-old medical center. 
 
"This hospital under previous ownership closed its doors. It was a day that was full of tears, anger and fear in the Northern Berkshire community about where and how residents would be able to receive what should be a fundamental right for everyone — access to health care," said Darlene Rodowicz, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. 
 
"Today the historic opportunity to enhance the health and wellness of Northern Berkshire community is here. And we've been waiting for this moment for 10 years. It is the key to keeping in line with our strategic plan which is to increase access and support coordinated county wide system of care." 
 
Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, under the BHS umbrella, purchased the campus and affiliated systems when Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and closed on March 28, 2014. NBH had been beset by falling admissions, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, and investments that had gone sour leaving it more than $30 million in debt. 
 
BMC was able to reopen the ER as an emergency satellite facility and slowly restored and enhanced medical services including outpatient surgery, imaging, dialysis, pharmacy and physician services. 
 
But it would take a slight tweak in the U.S. Health and Human Services' regulations — thank to U.S. Rep. Richie Neal — to bring back inpatient beds and resurrect North Adams Regional Hospital 
 
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