St. Stanislaus School benefit, 9 to 4 in Kolbe Hall, Adams. Bake sale, snack bar, games, Chinese auctions, money raffle, crafts, and pierogi.
Blackinton Union Church, 1373 Massachusetts Ave., North Adams; 10 to 2. Crafts table, bake sale, Chinese auction, the Christmas table, and kid's grab bag. Lunch $4, $2 kids.
First Congregational Church, North Adams, 9-2.
Nov. 28 Becket Federated Church, Route 8, holiday bazaar from 9-3. Lunch, crafts, baked goods, holiday and other items. Information: Mary Peltier, Parish House, 413-623-5217.
Dec. 5
Holiday Fair at First Congregational Church, 25 Park Place, Lee, from 10 to 3; handcrafted items, raffles, children's shop, bake sale, cut Christmas trees and lunch from 11 to 1. Includes angel-themed goods from SERRV. Information, 413-243-1033 or www.ucc-lee.org.
Dec. 12-13
North Adams Country Club, crafts 9-4; food from That's a Wrap from 11-2. Information: Sheryl Morehouse at 413-822-3329.
Planning a bazaar this season? Submit information to info@iberkshires.com to have it listed here.
We're trying out blogs to offer shorter, easy-to-find news. Let us know what you think.
Send press releases and announcements to info@iberkshires.com. Need to contact someone at iBerkshires? Here's how.
Mammography Dispute The government's issued controversial new guidelines stating that women shouldn't get annual mammograms until age 50, rather than age 40.
iBerkshires will be meeting with local medical experts Monday. Have a question you'd like answered on this issue? Send it info@iberkshires.com with "mammogram" in the subject line.
By Monique Coppola Commonwealth News Service 01:04PM / Friday, May 15, 2009
BOSTON — Transparency is coming to a hospital near you. This week, the Massachusetts Public Health Council approved four new regulations pertaining to consumer access to hospital information.
Hospitals and emergency centers are now required to make reports available to the public regarding a host of issues and events, including some that never should have happened, says Deb Wachenheim, quality coalition manager of Health Care for All in Boston.
"Things that are very serious, like wrong-site surgery, wrong-person surgery, very serious medication errors and very serious falls — a whole list of events now will be publicly reported."
In addition to releasing such reports, hospitals will be financially responsible in the event of serious medical errors — meaning they will no longer be able to bill patients or insurance companies if continued care is needed as a result of an error on the hospital's part. The new regulations will be phased in over the next year and a half. During that time, the Department of Health and Human Services will help hospital administrators with implementation.
Massachusetts hospitals also will be required to establish what are called "patient and family advisory councils." They will give patients and families a "seat at the table" in terms of the work the hospital does, according to James Conway, senior vice president at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.
"Councils provide an extraordinary opportunity for patients and families to really work very closely with organizations, allowing them to participate in care and making them a collaborator in what we're doing."
