Provider Profile – Suzanne Childs, BHS Occupational Therapist

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Across the country, there are nearly 135,000 Occupational Therapists, and Suzanne Childs, who provides this specialized care at the Center for Rehabilitation at BMC, says OT goes beyond helping someone regain their functions for work.
 
"We promote functional independence for people and help restore not only vocational skills, but also homemaking and daily living skills," said Childs. "Occupational Therapy covers the full range of activities people of all ages do to live functional, meaningful lives."
 
Suzanne has been with BMC since 1994 and has served as an Occupational Therapist in the Berkshires for nearly 30 years, most of that time in the outpatient setting. She came to the Berkshires after providing OT services in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and later New York state.
 
"Occupational Therapists often work together with Physical Therapists, but our roles are quite unique. PT focuses on improving the patient's ability to move their body, whereas I concentrate on improving my patient's ability to perform activities of daily living. We help our patients to do things beyond their PT care, such as brushing their teeth, getting dressed, making meals and all of their other everyday tasks that may have been impeded by an illness or injury."
 
Suzanne is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University and completed her clinical education at Toledo Mental Health in Ohio and Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia. Over the years, she has provided care for spinal cord injury, stroke, post-acute rehabilitation for children and young adults and general rehabilitation.
 
If you need Occupational Therapy or any kind of rehabilitative care, ask your primary care provider for a referral or call the Center for Rehabilitation at BMC at 413-447-2234.




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Pittsfield Teacher on Leave for Allegedly Repeating Slurs

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A Herberg Middle School teacher was put on leave after allegedly repeating homophobic and racial slurs used by a student. 

The teacher was reportedly describing a classroom incident when the slurs were repeated. On Wednesday, the Pittsfield Public Schools Human Resources department confirmed that an 8th-grade teacher at the middle school was placed on leave this week. 

The complaint was publicly made last week by parent Brett Random, who is the executive director of Berkshire County Head Start. 

On her personal Facebook page, she said her daughter reported that her math teacher, "used extremely offensive language including both a racial slur (N word) and a homophobic slur (F word) and then reportedly tried to push other students to repeat those words later in the day when students were questioning her on her behavior."

"While I appreciate that school administrators have begun addressing the situation, this is bigger than one incident. It raises serious questions about the culture within our schools and what students may be experiencing from adults they're supposed to trust," Random wrote.

"This moment should be used to take a hard look at how we're supporting responsive teaching, anti-racism, respect and creating truly inclusive classroom environments."

Her original post was made on April 30. On May 2, she reported that interim Superintendent Latifah Phillips and School Committee members Ciara Batory and Sarah Muil promptly responded and recognized the seriousness of the situation. 

"We are aware of allegations involving a staff member at Herberg Middle School and take concerns about derogatory and discriminatory language very seriously," Phillips wrote in an email to iBerkshires. "We recognize the impact this type of language has on students and families, and our priority is maintaining a safe and respectful learning environment while we conduct a fair and thorough review. Because this is a personnel matter, we cannot share additional details at this time."

The Berkshire Eagle, which first reported on the incident, identified the teacher as Rebecca Nitsche, and the teacher told the paper over the phone, "All I can tell you is it's not how it appears." Nitsche told the paper she repeated the words a student used while reporting the incident to another teacher because officials needed to know it happened. 

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