Berkshire Family Practice Associates Expands Primary Care in North Berkshire

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Berkshire Family Practice Associates, an affiliate of Berkshire Health Systems, is expanding primary care services to North Berkshire. 

Berkshire Family Practice Associates of North Adams will provide comprehensive primary care services beginning on Monday, April 27, and is accepting new patients across the North Berkshire area.

"Access to primary care services is more important than ever, and Berkshire Health Systems is committed to expanding this access in the North Adams area as we continue to provide enhanced services at our North Adams campus," said David Phelps, president and CEO of BHS. "When Berkshire Family Practice Associates became an affiliate, one of their top priorities was to broaden their services to North Berkshire, where there has been a significant need for greater access to primary care providers."

Berkshire Family Practice Associates of North Adams is located at the North Adams campus of BMC, 71 Hospital Ave. in North Adams, third floor, and is led by Dr. Catherine Keating, a North Berkshire resident, partnering with Tiffany Poplaski, a family nurse practitioner. The practice will be open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will provide a full spectrum of family practice care for all ages, including comprehensive women's healthcare, and accepts almost all insurances. 

"We are excited to begin providing this full service family practice care for the North Berkshire community," Dr. Keating said. "The North Adams Campus is a central and convenient location and has fast access to outpatient services that our patients may need, including advanced imaging, the BMC Community Pharmacy, the Northern Berkshire Specialty Practices, Berkshire Orthopaedic Associates and many other services.”

Dr. Keating has been with Berkshire Family Practice Associates for the past seven years. She received her medical degree from the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, completing her residency in family medicine from St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center, Syracuse, N.Y.

Poplaski has a master’s in nursing from Texas State University and a bachelor’s in nursing from the University of Texas at Arlington. She has worked with Berkshire Family Practice Associates for the past six months. 

For an appointment with Dr. Keating or Tiffany Poplaski call Berkshire Family Practice Associates of North Adams at 413-664-5550.

North Adams Hopes to Transform Y Into Community Recreation Center

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:19AM / Thursday, May 02, 2024

Mayor Jennifer Macksey updates members of the former YMCA on the status of the roof project and plans for reopening. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has plans to keep the former YMCA as a community center.

 

"The city of North Adams is very committed to having a recreation center not only for our youth but our young at heart," Mayor Jennifer Macksey said to the applause of some 50 or more YMCA members on Wednesday. "So we are really working hard and making sure we can have all those touch points."

 

The fate of the facility attached to Brayton School has been in limbo since the closure of the pool last year because of structural issues and the departure of the Berkshire Family YMCA in March.

 

The mayor said the city will run some programming over the summer until an operator can be found to take over the facility. It will also need a new name. 

 

"The YMCA, as you know, has departed from our facilities and will not return to our facility in the form that we had," she said to the crowd in Council Chambers. "And that's been mostly a decision on their part. The city of North Adams wanted to really keep our relationship with the Y, certainly, but they wanted to be a Y without borders, and we're going a different direction."

 

The pool was closed in March 2023 after the roof failed a structural inspection. Kyle Lamb, owner of Geary Builders, the contractor on the roof project, said the condition of the laminated beams was far worse than expected. 

 

"When we first went into the Y to do an inspection, we certainly found a lot more than we anticipated. The beams were actually rotted themselves on the bottom where they have to sit on the walls structurally," he said. "The beams actually, from the weight of snow and other things, actually crushed themselves eight to 11 inches. They were actually falling apart. ...