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Barbara Connor, seated and Rebecca Schaffrick hand out KN95 masks and face shields Saturday to a nurse from BMC. The MNA set up the distribution point at the union's office on Burbank Street.

Nurses Association Calls on Governor to Mandate N95 Masks

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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The KN95 masks were approved for use by the FDA on April 3 to help ease the shortage of high-performance masks nationwide.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Nurses had already been making their way up Burbank Street from Berkshire Medical Center get protective masks and face shields when a man drove up to the curb. 
 
Could he get a mask for his wife? She works at Hillcrest Commons, he said. "I have her ID."
 
After a quick consultation, a mask and face shield were passed over to him. Berkshire Healthcare, which operates nursing and rehabilitation facilities, was a close enough affiliate of Berkshire Health Systems, the nurses set up outside union headquarters decided.
 
Local members of the Massachusetts Nurses Association expected to disperse more than 500 protective masks on Saturday afternoon to colleagues at Berkshire Medical Center. 
 
The MNA is calling for all nurses and health-care professionals to have access to personal protective equipment during the novel coronovirus pandemic. Saturday's distribution of KN95 masks was made possible by donations, particularly $150,000 from Skyhawk Therapeutics and Dragonfly Therapeutics, based in Waltham.
 
The donations allowed for the purchase of FDA-approved KN95 respirator masks, along with gowns, face shields, sneakers and other items. The masks are comparable to N95 — masks that filter 95 percent of airborne particles — except that they are made in China. These masks were approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration on April 3.
 
Barbara Connor, a registered nurse in the endoscopy unit and a MNA local leader, said high-performance protective gear is being limited within the hospital to areas where known COVID-19 patients are being treated. 
 
"Some nurses do feel that they need an N95 versus just a surgical mask because of the amount that this filters versus a surgical mask for when they're dealing with the COVID patients," she said. 
 
The nurses say new information on how people may be infected but not showing signs make it more important than ever to ensure protection for health-care workers and patients.  
 
"I think everybody feels that we want to treat every patient as if they have it, right," said Rebecca Schaffrick, a registered nurse who works in pulmonology. "You're only testing symptomatic people, and they're finding more and more that people can be carriers of it without being symptomatic. And if you're not protected, you're spreading, right?"
 
In a statement announcing the disbursement of the masks, Alex Neary, an ICU nurse and co-chairman of the Bargaining Committee, said nurses have struggled to get the PPE they need. "Nurses have had to use the same mask several times. We should have adequate PPE protection as if all patients are positive."
 
The shortage of protective gear has been felt across the state as Massachusetts and health-care facilities have had to fight it out on the open market — often losing to the federal government — to get masks, face shields and gowns. It's lead to incidents of basically smuggling PPE into the state whether by mismarked tractor trailers or the Patriots' team jet. 
 
Michael Leary, spokesman for Berkshire Health Systems, said the system was "extremely proud" of the work being done at all levels by its medical, technical and support staff. 
 
Early efforts at setting standards for infection control, managing supplies and "judicious use" of PPE exceeding state and federal standards "have kept our staff safe and limited the number of our employees who have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus to levels far lower than many of our counterparts nationally," he said, adding that the hospital has also segregated patients with symptoms of the virus to further prevent contagion. 
 
The shortages have lessened as the state began distributing PPE and local companies began gearing up to manufacture needed supplies. Still, to date, the state has distributed about 153,000 N95 and KN95 masks to all of Western Massachusetts and only about 26,000 to hospitals here. 
 
Dr. James Lederer, chief medical and quality officer, said recently that the hospital normally would go through about 80 N95 masks a month; but that would only last a matter of days with just two or three COVID-19 patients. 
 
"If we have 30 some patients, and we have multiple caregivers and you consider an ICU stay versus a general medical stay, then there's probably even more caregivers so that 80 quickly turns into the need for thousands," he said.
 
Leary noted that the MNA had cited steps that BMC has taken beyond many other hospitals, including the mandatory use of surgical masks by all staff anywhere in the hospital and that all patient-facing staff use surgical masks, gowns, gloves and protective eyewear.
 
"The use of N95 masks — in critically short supply nationally and locally — and gowns, gloves and protective eye wear for those caring for patients either with COVID-19 or with tests for the virus pending," he added. 
 
The MNA is calling on Gov. Charlie Baker to follow New York State's lead to require all direct care staff get a new N95 mask each day, rather than allow them to be reused. 
 
"Anytime anybody had something communicable or there was a question of it, you always treated them like they had it and prepared for the worst," said Connor. "But with this, we've changed how we're dealing with it. They're telling us don't mask until you know that they're positive. Well, it's kind of like closing the barn door after the horses."

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Crosby/Conte Statement of Interest Gets OK From Council

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Architect Carl Franceschi and Superintendent Joseph Curtis address the City Council on Tuesday.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — With the approval of all necessary bodies, the school district will submit a statement of interest for a combined build on the site of Crosby Elementary School.

The City Council on Tuesday unanimously gave Superintendent Joseph Curtis the green light for the SOI to the Massachusetts School Building Authority by April 12.

"The statement I would make is we should have learned by our mistakes in the past," Mayor Peter Marchetti said.

"Twenty years ago, we could have built a wastewater treatment plant a lot cheaper than we could a couple of years ago and we can wait 10 years and get in line to build a new school or we can start now and, hopefully, when we get into that process and be able to do it cheaper then we can do a decade from now."

The proposal rebuilds Conte Community School and Crosby on the West Street site with shared facilities, as both have outdated campuses, insufficient layouts, and need significant repair. A rough timeline shows a feasibility study in 2026 with design and construction ranging from 2027 to 2028.

Following the SOI, the next step would be a feasibility study to determine the specific needs and parameters of the project, costing about $1.5 million and partially covered by the state. There is a potential for 80 percent reimbursement through the MSBA, who will decide on the project by the end of the year.

Earlier this month, city officials took a tour of both schools — some were shocked at the conditions students are learning in.

Silvio O. Conte Community School, built in 1974, is a 69,500 square foot open-concept facility that was popular in the 1960s and 1970s but the quad classroom layout poses educational and security risks.  John C. Crosby Elementary School, built in 1962, is about 69,800 square feet and was built as a junior high school so several aspects had to be adapted for elementary use.

Ward 6 Councilor Dina Lampiasi said the walkthrough was "striking" at points, particularly at Conte, and had her thinking there was no way she would want her child educated there. She recognized that not everyone has the ability to choose where their child goes to school and "we need to do better."

"The two facilities that we are looking at I think are a great place to start," she said.

"As the Ward 6 councilor, this is where my residents and my students are going to school so selfishly yes, I want to see this project happen but looking at how we are educating Pittsfield students, this is going to give us a big bang for our buck and it's going to help improve the educational experience of a vast group of students in our city."

During the tour, Ward 5 Councilor Patrick Kavey, saw where it could be difficult to pay attention in an open classroom with so much going on and imagined the struggle for students.

Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said, "we cannot afford not to do this" because the city needs schools that people want their children to attend.

"I know that every financial decision we make is tough but we have to figure this out. If the roof on your house were crumbling in, you'd have to figure it out and that's where we're at and we can't afford to wait any longer," she said.

"We can't afford for the sake of the children going to our schools, for the sake of our city that we want to see grow so we have to build a city where people want to go."

Councilor at Large Kathy Amuso, who served on the School Building Needs Commission for about 18 years, pointed out that the panel identified a need to address Conte in 2008.

Curtis addressed questions about the fate of Conte if the build were to happen, explaining that it could be kept as an active space for community use, house the Eagle Academy or the Adult Learning Center, or house the central offices.

School attendance zones are a point of discussion for the entire school district and for this project.

"At one time I think we had 36 school buildings and now we have essentially 12 and then it would go down again but in a thoughtful way," Curtis said.

Currently, eight attendance zones designate where a student will go to elementary school. Part of the vision is to collapse those zones into three with hopes of building a plan that incorporates partner schools in each attendance zone.

"I think that going from eight schools to three would be easier to maintain and I think it would make more sense but in order to get there we will have to build these buildings and we will have to spend money," Kavey said, hoping that the city would receive the 80 percent reimbursement it is vying for.

This plan for West Street, which is subject to change, has the potential to house grades pre-kindergarten to first grade in one school and Grades 2 to 4 in another with both having their own identities and administrations. 

The districtwide vision for middle school students is to divide all students into a grade five and six school and a grade seven and eight school to ensure equity.

"The vagueness of what that looks like is worrisome to some folks that I have talked to," Lampiasi said.

Curtis emphasized that these changes would have to be voted on by the School Committee and include public input.

"We've talked about it conceptually just to illustrate a possible grade span allocation," he said. "No decisions have been made at all by the School Committee, even the grade-span proposals."

School Committee Chair William Cameron said it is civic duty of the committee and council to move forward with the SOI.
 
He explained that when seven of the city's schools were renovated in the late 1990s, the community schools were only 25 years old and Crosby was 35 years old.  The commonwealth did not deem them to be sorely in need of renovation or replacement.
 
"Now 25 years later, Crosby is physically decrepit and an eyesore. It houses students ages three to 11 in a facility meant for use by teenagers,"
 
"Conte and Morningside opened in the mid-1970s. They were built as then state-of-the-art schools featuring large elongated rectangles of open instructional space. Over almost half a century, these physical arrangements have proven to be inadequate for teaching core academic skills effectively to students, many of whom need extra services and a distraction-free environment if they are to realize their full academic potential."
 
He said  the proposal addresses a serious problem in the "economically poorest, most ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse area" of the city.
 
Cameron added that these facilities have been deemed unsatisfactory and need to be replaced as part of the project to reimagine how the city can best meet the educational needs of its students.  He said it is the local government's job to move this project forward to ensure that children learn in an environment that is conducive to their thriving academically.
 
"The process of meeting this responsibility needs to begin here tonight," he said.
 
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