BHS Hospitals Earn Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditations

PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Berkshire Health Systems has announced that all three of its hospitals have been awarded Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) by the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP).

Fairview Hospital recently was awarded renewed accreditation and has been accredited since 2022. North Adams Regional Hospital, which reopened in 2024 as a Critical Access Hospital, received accreditation in late 2025. Berkshire Medical Center has been accredited since 2023. All three hospitals were awarded Bronze Level Accreditation for three years.

"Our Emergency Departments are often the front lines of care for our senior population, and this accreditation exemplifies our commitment to the highest level of care," said Darlene Rodowicz, Berkshire Health Systems President and CEO. "The Berkshires has a significantly higher than average number of senior patients compared to much of the rest of the Commonwealth, and I applaud the providers in our Emergency Departments for their team-based approach to care that has led to these accreditations."

The GEDA program is the culmination of years of progress in emergency care of older adults. In 2014, ACEP along with the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Emergency Nurses Association, and American Geriatrics Society, developed and released geriatric ED guidelines, recommending measures ranging from adding geriatric-friendly equipment to specialized staff to more routine screening for delirium, dementia, and fall risk, among other vulnerabilities.

The voluntary GEDA program, which includes three levels similar to trauma center designations, provides specific criteria and goals for emergency clinicians and administrators to target. The accreditation process provides more than two dozen best practices for geriatric care and the level of GEDA accreditation achieved depends upon how many of these best practices an emergency department is able to meet. A Level 3 emergency department must incorporate many of these best practices, along with providing interdisciplinary geriatric education, and have geriatric appropriate equipment and supplies available.

Berkshire Community College Graduates Historically Large Class

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
06:41AM / Saturday, May 30, 2026

Class valedictorian Jeremiah Reagan says he found himself at BCC in in nursing, earning his associate's degree from the program. See more photos here. 

LENOX, Mass. — The largest Berkshire Community College class in more than 10 years crossed Tanglewood's stage on Friday night.

 

It was also President Ellen Kennedy's last BCC commencement in the position, as she will step down at the end of June.

 

"It has been the greatest gift of my professional life to have been on this journey with you, all of you," Kennedy said. 

 

"Though our paths will now diverge, I know that the memories, the relationships, the moments of conflict and pain that led to new possibilities and growth, those will stay with me always." 

 

The 341 graduates in 38 programs of study earned a total of 377 awards: 218 associate degrees, and 159 certificates. This is the highest number of graduates the college has had since 2014, when it conferred awards to 362 students.

 

Graduates ranged in age from 17 to 68, and while a majority live in Massachusetts, others are from Connecticut, Kentucky, New York, Vermont, and West Virginia.

 

Travis Murach, who earned an associates degree in liberal arts, took the mic as he crossed the stage to receive his diploma to say he had been at BCC for a total of 15 years, dropped out three times, and has finally done it.