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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Access Stairs Planned at Pontoosuc Lake

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is planning to enhance access to Pontoosuc Lake's south shoreline with a staircase from the boardwalk and a couple of stair sets to the water. 

Last week, the Conservation Commission was updated on work on the park's southern section off Hancock Road, which last year saw a new boardwalk and access stairs from the parking lot. 

Pittsfield plans to build a set of stairs from the end of the boardwalk to the grassy area near the shoreline and is seeking additional feet of bank stabilization. The city's request for an amendment to the project's order of conditions was continued to July 23, as there were some explanatory presentation slides missing. 

"I've already got permissions from the original notice of intent, orders of condition, to bring a stair set off of the boardwalk down to this grassy area," Parks, Open Space, and Natural Resources Manager James McGrath told the commission. 

"So, when you're on the boardwalk, if you want to utilize this stair set, which we're proposing, you come down the boardwalk stair set, onto the grass, over to the bank, into the water." 

Two sets of stairs are proposed for shoreline access, supported by $12,000 in Community Preservation Act funds, along with additional feet of bank stabilization. 

Last year, community members argued that erosion control plantings impeded access at Pontoosuc Lake; four easy access points were proposed, and a site visit with the Conservation Commission revealed that some of the bank erosion was worse than they believed. 

Stairs were then proposed for that area instead. They will be about 3 1/2 feet wide. 

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