Great Barrington Author Wins Awards for First Novel

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Great Barrington resident Judith Shaw's book "Charley's Horse" has been named "Children's Book Winner" and "Young Adult Winner" in the 2018 New England Book Festival.

Entries are judged by a panel of industry experts for general excellence, an author's passion for telling a good story and its potential to reach a wider audience. Since its release in 2018, the novel has also received a Maxy Award and a Reader's Favorite Review Award.
 

"Charley's Horse" is the story of an 11-year-old girl who is in love with horses. She knows everything about them except how to ride. When her parents announce the end of their marriage, she and her brother are sent to camp for the summer. The scenario is familiar. Children all over America face variations of family breakups every day. The details may differ, but the feelings cross the board. The novel is set in 1959, when divorce was not as common as it is today. Neither parents nor children had a road map for coping safely with the seismic change in their lives.

Along with divorce and its effect on families, a few themes run through the novel that will ring bells with parents of middle school and older children. Bullying figures largely in Charley’s Horse, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Another theme is fear.

A native New Yorker, Shaw married an Aussie and raised two children in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Blue Mountains west of Sydney Australia. She has a deep love of animals and feels deep connections with dogs, horses, and, on one striking occasion, a pet python. When a riding accident
ended her active involvement with horses, She focused on her writing. After decades as an editor and journalist, she began to explore fiction. "Charley's Horse" is her first novel.

 

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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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