Berkshire Workforce Board Hires Second Career Readiness Coordinator

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Responsible for overseeing employment and training services in the region, the MassHire Berkshire Workforce Board recently hired a South County career readiness coordinator; a position that is funded by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.

Ruthann Eagen will be responsible for assisting the Berkshire Workforce Board youth director with coordinating strategies to further enhance career readiness systems and programming within the public school systems in Southern Berkshire County. She will also assist with the development of a South County College and Career Advisory Team and individual school district teams with the goal for every student to graduate with a completed college and career plan.  

As a youth, Eagen was a member of the Nassau County Law Enforcement Career Exploring Program through the Nassau County Police Department in Long Island, N.Y., and as an adult volunteered for the same program. She looks forward to bringing her career exploring experience to her new role.

Eagen was previously the senior district executive for the Appalachian Trail District of the Western Massachusetts Council, Boy Scouts of America. She received her masters of science in human services and leadership in 2017 from Saint Joseph's College, Patchogue, N.Y., and her bachelor's of science in criminology in 2014 from State University of New York (SUNY) Old Westbury.  She also holds a business administration certificate from Nassau Community College, Garden City, N.Y.

Eagen can be reached at 413-442-7177, ext. 144, or by email.

The Berkshire Workforce Board ignited the career readiness programming in 1992, works with all K-12 Berkshire school systems, hundreds of employers, and annually connects 3,000 youth with career awareness, exploration, and immersion activities.

 

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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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