PITTSFIELD - The bariatric surgery program at Berkshire Medical Center has achieved national accreditation by the Bariatric Surgery Center Network of the American College of Surgeons.
Established in 2005 by the ACS in an effort to extend established quality improvement practices to all disciplines of surgical care, the ACS BSCN Accreditation Program provides confirmation that a bariatric surgery program like BMC's has demonstrated its commitment to providing the highest quality care for its bariatric surgery patients.
Accredited programs provide not only the hospital resources necessary for optimal care of morbidly obese patients, but also the support and resources that are necessary to address the entire spectrum of care and needs of bariatric patients, from the pre-hospital phase through the post operative care and treatment process.
"This is a tremendous achievement for the medical center's weight loss surgery program," said Helen Downey, a registered nurse and chief operating officer of BMC. "The physicians, nurses and staff of our bariatric program have worked very hard to provide a program of the highest quality for our patients in the community who require bariatric surgery to greatly improve their health. Many of those who have had this procedure no longer require medications for the control of diabetes and hypertension."
Dr. Andrew Lederman is the medical director of bariatric surgery. The program is coordinated by Lederman and Dr. Robert Fanelli of Surgical Specialists of Western New England, and Jodi Szczepaniak, a registered nurse and clinical nurse specialist and coordinator for bariatric surgical services at BMC. The comprehensive bariatric program at BMC provides gastric bypass and lap-band procedures.
Each hospital surveyed by the American College of Surgeons undergoes an on-site verification by experienced bariatric surgeons, who review the hospital's structure, process and quality of data. Because high-quality surgical care requires documentation using reliable measurements of outcomes, accredited bariatric surgery programs are required to report their outcomes data either to the ACS National Surgical Quality Improvement Program or the college's BSCN database.
In the United States, more than 11 million people suffer from severe obesity, and the numbers continue to increase. Obesity increases the risks of morbidity and mortality because of the diseases and conditions that are commonly associated with it, such as type II diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease, among other health risks. Currently, weight loss surgery provides the only effective, lasting relief from severe obesity.
According to the ACS, it is "of utmost importance to extend our quality initiatives to accrediting bariatric surgery programs so that we can assist the public in identifying those facilities that provide optimal surgical care for patients who undergo this surgical procedure."
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Pittsfield to Conduct Phase Two of Water System Flushing
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City of Pittsfield will begin phase two of its spring water system flushing on Monday, April 28, following the completion of phase one. Water mains citywide will be flushed through hydrants to remove pipeline corrosion products. Flushing will occur Monday through Friday each week, excluding holidays, between 7:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Phase two is scheduled from April 28 to May 2.
The flushing is expected to affect the following areas:
Starting at Unkamet Park Drive heading west to North Street, working north to the Broadway and Lakeview streets neighborhood.
Starting at Plastics Avenue moving west on Dalton Avenue, including the Allendale and Allengate neighborhoods, then moving west onto Tyler Street into the Morningside neighborhood, including Springside Avenue, pushing west to North Street.
Lincoln and Fenn streets, Silver Lake, Wendell Avenue, and the surrounding vicinity, pushing west to North Street.
South Mountain and Tamarack roads, Dan Fox Drive, and south to the Pittsfield-Lenox line.
Flushing may cause temporary localized discolored water and reduced service pressure in the immediate vicinity. The city states that treatment and disinfection levels in the system will be maintained. Residents experiencing discolored water are advised to run their water for a short period to clear it before use. Persistent discolored water or low pressure should be reported to the Water Department at (413) 499-9339.
The city indicates that flushing is a standard procedure for maintaining water quality in the distribution system.
On Tuesday, Mayor Peter Marchetti gathered with the Berkshire Running Foundation, MountainOne Insurance Agency, and Downtown Pittsfield Inc. to push the upcoming Steel Rail races on May 18, now in its 13th year.
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The site assessment by Brian Humes, owner of Jacunski Humes Architects LLC of Berlin, Conn., showed that the lot had the highest ranking of the four submitted for study.
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