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occupational health.
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Berkshire Health Systems is opening a new urgent care facility next week on the Pittsfield/Lenox Road in response to patient demand.
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The center will also offer telehealth services along with

Berkshire Health Opening New Urgent Care Facility in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
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Hospital officials were at the open house on Wednesday to tour the new urgent care facility. 

LENOX, Mass. — Berkshire Health Systems is gearing toward opening its new urgent care facility in The Center at Lenox.

On Wednesday night, BHS held an open house for people to come and tour the new facility before its opening on Monday. 

The health system opened an urgent care at 505 East St. in Pittsfield in 2015. But annual visits doubled from just over 17,000 patients in 2020 compared to more than 35,000 in 2023.

"At the end of the pandemic, we saw an increase in our usage, community usage, of our urgent care. We found it a little difficult about the demand. Wait times are long, we're seeing as many people as we can, upwards of 115 120 per day in Pittsfield, but we realize that that's not it's not enough." said Rob Shearer, administrative director of urgent care services.

This led to BHS to expand to be able to help more patients more efficiently.

"We did a ZIP code analysis to see what the utilization was and where people were coming from," Shearer said. "And there's a large population that comes from South County so this just worked out to be a really perfect location. Hopefully, we'll offload a little bit of our volume in Pittsfield, bring those wait times down, and then we'll be able to manage both a little bit more efficiently than we are," .

The urgent care center at 489 Pittsfield Road will be about the same as the one in Pittsfield but occupational health will be designated there as well as predominantly having a travel clinic at this location.

"There's going to be some 'occ' health that's designated, as this is the site, and one of the things that we talked about, the travel clinic, we'll do that predominantly here just because we will have all the vaccines that you might need in one of the fridges," said Dr. Michael McHugh, chair of the emergency departments at Berkshire Medical Center and North Adams Regional Hospital.

Many residents who came to the open house to take a tour and ask questions of staff were amazed at the new place and excited for the convenience it will bring them.

"This is right between where I live in Lee and where I hang out in Pittsfield so it's very convenient," said Clark Nicholls. "And it's a great facility. The exam rooms are quite sizable; it looks like they have a lot of equipment, more than [the urgent care at] St. Luke's Square, so I look forward to if I need it I'll be coming here."

"We are about three minutes away if we needed to come, otherwise we will have to go to the hospital or Great Barrington or St. Luke's," Joe Sloane of Pittsfield said.

"We're just so thrilled that something's closer for us to get to because we always either go to Pittsfield or Great Barrington or wherever you have to go so now it's right here," said Lenox resident Nancy Thompson. "So you're going to get a lot more people I think in this location especially in the summertime with Tanglewood people, 'cause we don't really have anything that they can get to quickly as this is the place so, yeah, very excited."

Like the current location in Pittsfield, this facility will offer X-rays, sports physicals, vaccinations, and more including telehealth services. Patients can book online or inside. 

Berkshire Health Urgent Care in Lenox will accept a wide variety of health insurance plans, including private commercial coverage, Medicare and MassHealth through the Berkshire Fallon Health Collaborative, all of which are also accepted at the Pittsfield Berkshire Health Urgent Care location.

The facility will open its doors at 8 a.m. Monday, March 17, and closes at 8 p.m. everyday; closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.


Tags: BHS,   urgent care,   

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Pittsfield Celebrates 'Twinning' With Irish Sister City

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Last week, the city celebrated St. Patrick's Day early with officials from Sister City Ballina, Ireland.

There was music, dancing, gift exchanges, and a lot of green.

"If you're wondering, what does a Sister City do?" Pittsfield Sister City Committee Chair Francis Curley said.

"We've had art exchanges, we had a female basketball team from Ballina come over and play here, we had a semi-pro basketball team from Ballina come here. So it's not just sports; it's like cultural exchanges. Every time I speak with someone from Ireland, I learn something new."

Pittsfield and Ballina have been "twinning" for 27 years, fostering cultural, educational, economic, and recreation exchanges.

"It's really special that we have that connection and I just feel that we have to keep it up," Ballina's Mayor Michael Loftus said.

Ballina is a community of about 10,000 people and, similar to Pittsfield, has a vibrant art scene and natural scenery. Even though the two cities are almost 3,000 miles away, Loftus displayed a photo of a local pothole to show that both places deal with the same everyday struggles.

"We also have potholes in Ireland and that's a diver, actually, in our potholes in Ireland," he said. "Whatever you do, please don't be criticizing. It's not just here that you have them."

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