Becket Police K-9 Mourned

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BECKET, Mass. — The police force's K-9 Kain died Sept. 14 after six years of service to the town. 
 
The Police Department, in a Facebook post, said Kain had "proudly and enthusiastically served as a member of the Becket Police Department since August of 2018."
 
Born in Hungary on Aug. 28, 2017, Kain was a dual-purpose police canine. He was certified by the North American Police Work Dog Association, a nationally recognized certification that he successfully renewed annually at a weeklong training conference. He also was certified as a narcotics detection and patrol utility canine. 
 
This training and certification gave K-9 Kain the ability to locate missing parties, and individuals who fled from police after committing crimes. Additionally, he was trained to detect illicit narcotics in vehicles, buildings, and luggage.  
 
Police said Kain had been an enormous asset to the town and to Berkshire County as a whole. He had been deployed in more than 10 communities assisting with the locating of suspects and of missing persons, individuals struggling with mental health, building searches, and narcotics detection in vehicles, buildings, and schools. In addition, Kain had participated in numerous canine demonstrations at schools, DARE programs and various community events. 
 
"He truly was an integral member of our community and will be deeply missed. K-9 Kain's partner, Sgt. [Michael] Hunt, and the Becket Police Department wish to extend our sincere thanks and appreciation to our community for its unparalleled support through this difficult time," stated the post. 
 
Police Chief Kristopher McDonough says the "overwhelming support" from the community has prompted the department to establish a donation account to ensure the K-9 unit's future. 
 
"Over the last week, several community members have reached out offering to make financial contributions in memory of K-9 Kain," said McDonough in a statement. "The Becket Police Department as a whole cannot express enough how sincerely thankful we are to have such support from our community, colleagues, and extended family."
 
He said all funds will be only for expenses such as "purchasing, outfitting, caring for, and the training of a dedicated Police K-9."
 
Checks can be mailed or dropped off to the Becket Police Department, 557 Main Street, Becket MA 01223. Checks payable to: Kain's Legacy K-9 Fund C/O Becket Police Department.

 


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Fusion Health Brings Personalized Care

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

CANAAN, Conn. — A new health and wellness center just over the border in Connecticut is offering physical therapy and holistic practices.

Owner and physical therapist Jane Simonds wanted to provide more help to her clients and make her services more accessible.

"I worked in outpatient therapy for about 15 years, and it was a grind, and I didn't feel like I was giving people the whole picture of what they needed," she said. "I just didn't feel like people were certainly getting better, but it just felt like something was missing. And so through that experience, plus my own, I started to find my way to this more holistic approach that I'm trying to educate people about and provide."

Her wellness center focuses on a patient's body as a whole rather than the one problem ailing them. 

"It is a health and wellness center that really targets helping people see their body from multiple angles and from all the possibilities that may be leading them to feel a certain way," Simonds said.

"So rather than someone having shoulder pain and only focusing on the shoulder, thinking about what other aspects of their life might be influencing, how that's feeling and their well-being, what nutrition, what role that's playing it, what their emotional health is doing, and how the pain affects those things in return."

Simonds has more than 20 years of clinical experience. Fusion Health offers physical therapy services, holistic life coaching, nutrition coaching, reiki, infrared and light sauna therapy, cryotherapy, cryosculpting and more. It also plans to offer salt cave halotherapy in the near future.

Some of the services offered may be covered by health insurance.

The center is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; some services have personalized schedules.

Learn more about Fusion Health here.

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