CEO Message: On Track at Family Services

CEO Message: On Track at Family Services

Friends, This summer, we have some important reasons to celebrate, and to thank you for your ongoing financial support for CHP. CHP is on track for in-person services for some of our most important clientele: children and families. Our Family Services facility in...
Patient Appreciation: Emerging from Covid-19 with a CHP Tag Team

Patient Appreciation: Emerging from Covid-19 with a CHP Tag Team

The isolation of Covid-19 was hard on Isabelle Conlon. An engineering student at Northeastern University in Boston, she headed home in the spring as the pandemic set in, to live with her parents in Lenox. She was safe at home with family, but still, Covid tripped an...
CHP On the Road: The Essence of Community Health

CHP On the Road: The Essence of Community Health

CHP has been a rolling health care operation since 1975. We haven’t run out of gas yet. By Kathleen Floyd, FNP If our community had been faced with a Covid-19 crisis in the 1970s, local community health leaders would have been the first to mobilize. They would have...
CHP Names Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner to Berkshire Pediatrics

CHP Names Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner to Berkshire Pediatrics

CHP Berkshire Pediatrics has named a psychiatric nurse practitioner to the Pittsfield practice, reflecting an expansion of CHP’s behavioral health services for children. Kimberly Loring, PMHNP-BC, has worked most recently as a psychiatric nurse practitioner at the...
Psychotherapist Joins CHP Lee Family Practice

Psychotherapist Joins CHP Lee Family Practice

Rachel Duvall, LICSW, has been named to Community Health Programs’ behavioral health team. She will be based at CHP Lee Family Practice. Most recently employed as a psychotherapist/social worker with Counseling Center in the Berkshires in Pittsfield, Duvall provides...
Dr. Yaman Kana Named CHP Associate Dental Director

Dr. Yaman Kana Named CHP Associate Dental Director

Dr. Yaman Kana has been named associate dental director at Community Health Programs. Kana will continue to practice dentistry as he assists with oversight of CHP’s dental practices in Pittsfield, Great Barrington and North Adams. He earned his doctor of dental...
In the News: Boston Globe Features CHP Mobile Health Unit

In the News: Boston Globe Features CHP Mobile Health Unit

The Boston Globe prominently featured the outreach work of CHP Mobile Health Unit prominently in its June 12 edition, in a story covering vaccine incentives and efforts to get doses to those who need them, but have trouble getting them. With a Globe subscription, the...
Donor Spotlight: Rick Gregg

Donor Spotlight: Rick Gregg

Rick Gregg’s commitment to Community Health Programs stretches back 25 years, when he became a patient of Lee Family Practice. Back then, before the independent practice merged with CHP, its doctors were caring for patients and running the business. This type of...
CEO Message: There is power in numbers when we all step up.

CEO Message: There is power in numbers when we all step up.

What a year it has been! As we reconnect with family and friends, we are all humbled by how Covid-19 has changed our experience and response to serious, contagious disease, and how as a region, we truly support each other in time of need. At CHP, we are so grateful...

ParentChild+ Program: Strengthening Local Families

When Jackie Schultz and Jared Brunner and their kids moved to the area several years ago, they had no connections. They lived in an isolated town, cut off from neighbors and other parents. The couple worked opposite job shifts to care for the children, including an...

In the News: ‘Berkshire vaccines go mobile’

The following article and slideshow appear in The Berkshire Eagle. By Francesca Paris Photography by Stephanie Zollshan Four minutes before the start of a pop-up vaccine clinic in a Great Barrington parking lot, Community Health Programs staff huddle inside the bright...
Grants Help Area Residents Facing Economic Challenges

Grants Help Area Residents Facing Economic Challenges

  A series of new grants is bulking up CHP Family Services’ coffers to help area residents facing harsh financial challenges, including troubles caused by Covid-19. Awards from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts, the Food...
Nutrition News: Understanding Insulin

Nutrition News: Understanding Insulin

Do you understand insulin and what does it do to the body? If you don’t have diabetes, insulin helps regulate blood sugar levels.  After you eat, carbohydrates break down into glucose, a sugar that is the body’s primary source of energy, and glucose then...
ACA Open Enrollment Extended Through 5/23; CHP Can Help

ACA Open Enrollment Extended Through 5/23; CHP Can Help

With the state’s extension of the Open Enrollment period for health insurance sign-up until May 23, Community Health Programs’ insurance counselors remain in high gear to help with applications to the MA Health Connector program. Since the annual Open Enrollment...
Mission Moment: Helping a Family Stay Insured

Mission Moment: Helping a Family Stay Insured

Since relocating from North Carolina to Dalton 10 years ago, Mecca Brophy and her family have faced some challenges with job security and health insurance. Through a food bank referral, Mecca found her way to CHP, where health insurance experts assist people in...
Our 2021 Plan: Hope and Recovery

Our 2021 Plan: Hope and Recovery

Friends, On a February day, we can cut branches  from a forsythia bush, bring them indoors to a water vase, and watch them blossom into a spray of yellow and the promise of a new season. This month offers another reason for hope: the promise of a shot in the arm. It...
On the Air: Dr. Stephen Alsdorf on WAMC’s Medical Monday

On the Air: Dr. Stephen Alsdorf on WAMC’s Medical Monday

WAMC’s Medical Monday program featured CHP’s Dr. Stephen Alsdorf on Feb. 1. With program host Ray Graf, Dr. Alsdorf fielded call-in questions for about an hour, on topics ranging from healthy lifestyle habits to Covid-19 vaccines, Covid recovery and much...
Pediatrician Joins CHP Berkshire Pediatrics

Pediatrician Joins CHP Berkshire Pediatrics

Keturah Baker, M.D., has joined the pediatric team at CHP Berkshire Pediatrics in Pittsfield. She completed her pediatric residency in 2020 at Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin, where she was pediatric chief resident and earned distinction as Resident of the Year. She...
Dentist Joins CHP Family Dental Center in Great Barrington

Dentist Joins CHP Family Dental Center in Great Barrington

Lina El-Kashef, D.D.S, has joined the dental medicine team at CHP Family Dental Center in Great Barrington. A 2019 graduate of the Texas A & M College of Dentistry, she most recently worked in private dental practices in Texas before relocating to the Northeast...
CHP Now Leads Berkshire Baby Box Program

CHP Now Leads Berkshire Baby Box Program

The volunteer founder and president of the Berkshire Baby Box program has passed off her successful new-parent outreach program to Community Health Programs, as of Jan. 1. The transition comes after distribution of more than 1,000 baby boxes to Berkshire families over...
Open Enrollment Season: Tips for Staying Insured in 2021

Open Enrollment Season: Tips for Staying Insured in 2021

If you don’t have health insurance through your job, Open Enrollment season is just for you. If you need to renew an existing plan, Open Enrollment season applies to you as well. CHP can help. To help understand your 2021 ACA insurance options, listen to William...
Letter from Lia Fall 2020

Letter from Lia Fall 2020

Friends, Pandemic fatigue is upon us. Winter is coming and COVID-19 levels are rising in many areas. Many of us are hurting financially and emotionally. We are weary. But we can take care of one another, pull together, and stay the course. We can do the simple work of...

Fall 2020 Village Food Donation Pick-up

Housatonic Food Train: Village Food Donation Pick-up Helps Fill CHP Food Shelves On the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month, neighbors in Housatonic village leave groceries outside their doors for pick-up by a Housatonic Food Train volunteer. Vehicles are packed to the...

Gifts & Grants Fall 2020

Insurance Enrollment Program Expansion CHP has received a grant from the Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority (the “Health Connector”) for the Massachusetts Navigator Program. The grant provides $150,000 over two years, and expands CHP’s current...

Donor Spotlight Fall 2020: Jane Braus

Donor Builds a Giving Spirit in her Adopted Community Jane Braus has invested much of her life’s work in supporting and volunteering for causes that inspire her. The Planned Parenthood organization and the United Nations Association have been recipients of her...

2020 CHP Employee of the Year: Mary Feuer

Mary Feuer was recently named CHP Employee of the Year. For 29 years, the assistant director of CHP Family Services has rarely had a day on the job that matched any other. One day, Mary is crawling under CHP’s mobile health unit to adjust the jacks securing the...
On the Radio: Open Enrollment Talk with Rep. Smitty Pignatelli

On the Radio: Open Enrollment Talk with Rep. Smitty Pignatelli

For his weekly talk program on WSBS radio, State Rep. Smitty Pignatelli invited Octavio Hernandez of CHP to talk about the current Open Enrollment period for health insurance. LISTEN Massachusetts residents have until Jan. 23, 2021 to renew their annual health...

CHP Names Director of Behavioral Health

Community Health Programs (CHP) has named Mary A. Fierro, PhD, LICSW, as director of behavioral health for the countywide health care network. She divides her time between administrative duties and client appointments. Fierro has most recently worked in private...
ACA Open Enrollment Extended Through 5/23; CHP Can Help

Health Insurance Enrollment Staff Expands at CHP

‘Pre-enrollment’ service through Oct. 31, 2020,  helps consumers get prepared for health insurance Open Enrollment period  Community Health Programs has received a state grant to expand its insurance enrollment team to assist more area residents. The two-year,...

Now More Than Ever: Get Your Flu Shot

By Christopher Sprowl, MD, and Jacqueline Jones, MD With COVID-19 infections on the rise in many states, and with winter coming, we all need to roll up our sleeves for a flu shot. COVID-19 and the flu are both respiratory infections, with similar symptoms. Each, if...
FNP Rita Willey Joins CHP Lee Family Practice

FNP Rita Willey Joins CHP Lee Family Practice

Family Nurse Practitioner Rita Willey has joined the clinical care team at CHP Lee Family Practice. Willey has practiced since 2012 at Fairview Medical in Great Barrington. She previously worked at Northern Berkshire Family Medicine; earlier, as a registered nurse,...

Mary Feuer Named CHP Employee of the Year 

For 29 years, the assistant director of CHP Family Services has rarely had one day on the job that matched any other. One day, Mary Feuer is crawling under CHP’s mobile health van to adjust the jacks securing the van wheelchair lift. Another day she is working well...
Family Nurse Practitioner Joins CHP Lee Family Practice

Family Nurse Practitioner Joins CHP Lee Family Practice

CHP Lee Family Practice has added a new family nurse practitioner to its clinical team. Janell Hostetler, MSN, ARNP, FNP-BC, will see patients of all ages. She received both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing from Chamberlain University in...
Commentary: Community Health Centers Lead in Healing

Commentary: Community Health Centers Lead in Healing

By Lia Spiliotes In recent months our lives have been consumed by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has stressed our nation’s health care system to the brink. The tragic police-involved deaths of Black Americans have demanded a broad reckoning about racial injustice...
Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

This week, Aug. 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week, a global campaign to support, raise awareness and engage in conversations about breastfeeding. At Community Health Programs (CHP) and Barrington OB/GYN (BOG), we strive to help our patients feel informed and supported...

Medical Monday: COVID-19 and LGBTQ Health Care

Dr. Jeremy Stoepker was invited for a return visit to WAMC’s “Medical Monday” on Aug. 3, 2020 to talk about COVID-19 and LGBTQ health care. He spoke with program host Jackie Orchard and fielded calls from listeners. Dr. Stoepker is a family medicine...
Joe Kennedy, Congressman and Senate Candidate, Visits CHP

Joe Kennedy, Congressman and Senate Candidate, Visits CHP

Joe Kennedy, U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate visited Community Health Programs on Monday, Aug. 3 and met with CHP leadership to learn about the health center’s role in Berkshire County, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. “CHP...

Dr. Jill Samale Returns to CHP Barrington OB/GYN

Community Health Programs welcomes Dr. Jill Samale in her return to the staff of CHP Barrington OB/GYN. Dr. Samale provides comprehensive obstetrical and gynecology care to women of all ages. She is affiliated with Berkshire Medical Center and Fairview Hospital’s...

New Dentist Joins CHP

A New Dentist, Yaman M. Kana, D.D.S, has joined the CHP dental staff. He is seeing patients at both CHP Neighborhood Dental Center in Pittsfield and North Adams Family Medical & Dental. Dr. Kana received his dental education at Ovidius University of Constanta in...
Your Mental Health During COVID-19: When Should You Seek Help?

Your Mental Health During COVID-19: When Should You Seek Help?

By Linda Moro, LICSW Unusual stress or depression. Anxiety about leaving the house or getting sick. Increased use of alcohol or drugs while isolated at home. Obsessive-compulsive behaviors getting worse. Difficulty creating daily structure for self or family. Trouble...

On the Air: CHP Pediatrician on WAMC’s Medical Monday

Dr. Jackie Jones of CHP Berkshire Pediatrics appeared on WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s “Medical Monday” program on June 1. Dr. Jones and program host Ray Graf fielded phone calls about CHP’s work providing pediatric care during COVID-19, and...
Letter from Lia: COVID-19’s Silver Lining

Letter from Lia: COVID-19’s Silver Lining

Dear Friends, These last few months have upended our lives dramatically. Many of us have experienced direct impacts of COVID-19: job loss, illness, financial trouble, and food and housing insecurity. This crisis tests us, our families, friends and neighbors. Yet...
Certified Nurse Midwife Joins Barrington OB/GYN

Certified Nurse Midwife Joins Barrington OB/GYN

CHP Barrington OB/GYN welcomes a new certified nurse midwife to the Great Barrington women’s health care practice. Gretchen Chase-Rey, CNM, has worked since 2015 as a certified nurse midwife, practicing at a federally qualified health center in Flint, Michigan...
Parent or Caregiver? Support for Coping with COVID-19

Parent or Caregiver? Support for Coping with COVID-19

The COVID-19 virus has unsettled all of us, and children may be experiencing anxiety. If you are a parent or child caregiver, being prepared and communicating important age-appropriate information can reduce stress and help calm likely anxieties in yourself and those...

Social Worker Joins Great Barrington Healthcare Team

Linda Moro, LICSW, has joined the Community Health Programs behavioral health team. She is now seeing clients at CHP’s Great Barrington Health Center and Barrington OB/GYN. Moro earned her master’s degree from Fordham University School of Social Work in New York and...
CHP Expands Physical Therapy Staff in Great Barrington

CHP Expands Physical Therapy Staff in Great Barrington

Community Health Programs has expanded its physical therapy staff in Great Barrington with the addition of Jennifer Valente, PTA. A licensed physical therapist assistant, Valente worked most recently at Berkshire Rehabilitation Skilled Care Center and the Farmington...
New Physician Joins CHP Berkshire Pediatrics

New Physician Joins CHP Berkshire Pediatrics

Janice Pride-Boone, M.D., has joined CHP Berkshire Pediatrics in Pittsfield, with a special interest in pediatric obesity. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y. and a 1981 graduate of Harvard Medical School, Pride-Boone most recently worked as locum tenens physician with the...
In the News: Executive Spotlight on Lia Spiliotes

In the News: Executive Spotlight on Lia Spiliotes

By Tony Dobrowolski The Berkshire Eagle, Feb. 2, 2020 PITTSFIELD — Amelia “Lia” Spiliotes knows what it’s like to come in from the outside, on a temporary basis, to help restructure an entity that is struggling. As a senior advisor and partner at...
CHP Names Karen Johnson as HR  Director

CHP Names Karen Johnson as HR  Director

Community Health Programs welcomes Karen Johnson as director of human resources. Johnson has more than 20 years of leadership experience in human resources, primarily in the healthcare sector, most recently at First Choice Health Centers in East Hartford, Conn. She...
CHP Names Christa Gariepy as Director of Operations

CHP Names Christa Gariepy as Director of Operations

Community Health Programs has named Christa Gariepy to the position of director of operations. Most recently the director of patient relations at Berkshire Medical Center, Gariepy has also worked as program director at Childcare of the Berkshires and at The Brien...
Get Covered. Stay Covered. Open Enrollment Through Jan. 23

Get Covered. Stay Covered. Open Enrollment Through Jan. 23

The Open Enrollment period in Massachusetts for getting (and keeping) ACA insurance coverage runs through Jan. 23, and CHP can help. Making an in-person appointment with a CHP application counselor is the easiest way to get–and keep–your health insurance...

Medical Monday Radio: Dr. Jeremy Stoepker on LGBTQ Health

Dr. Jeremy Stoepker recently appeared on WAMC’s “Medical Monday” program, to field questions from callers about LGBTQ health issues. His talk with Ray Graf covered a wide range of topics, and you can listen here. Dr. Stoepker is a family medicine...

Open Wide: A Special Family Finds Great Dental Care

When Tim Hathaway’s dental appointment shows up on her calendar, CHP dental hygienist Kristabel Vargas lights up. He is a longtime patient, and Kristabel has a special fondness for him and for other dental patients who have special needs. Tim has Down syndrome. People...

Crowd Sourcing for Good – and For CHP

“We give annually to causes that mean something to our personal network of connections.” Leisl and Kevin Moriarty of Lenox have taken a more personalized approach to their annual giving. Each year, via social media, they query friends and family from all over the...

Why Giving is Good for Us — and You

While CHP depends your financial gifts to support our programs and services not covered by our main income sources, what we welcome most is the spirit behind the giving. The donor who gives $25 every single year, without fail, is as important to us as the donor who...

Haunted Hike: 10/18 at Fountain Pond. If You Dare.

The annual “Haunting in the Hills” haunted hike, inspired by horrifying Hollywood films, takes place Friday, Oct. 18, 6:30-9:00 p.m. at Fountain Pond State Park. Several departure groups will venture into the hills if they dare during the evening, though they may not...
Flu Shot: It’s That Time Again!

Flu Shot: It’s That Time Again!

Get the vaccine to protect you — and those around you. By Everett Lamm, MD With flu season around the corner, your health care Clinicians, employers, pharmacists and others are sounding the annual reminder: “Get your annual flu shot.” We encourage this for you...
Berkshire Fallon Health Collaborative Unveils Mobile Health Unit

Berkshire Fallon Health Collaborative Unveils Mobile Health Unit

Clinic on wheels, staffed by CHP medical and outreach staff, seeks to improve access to care, patient health The Berkshire Fallon Health Collaborative (BFHC), a MassHealth Accountable Care Organization (ACO) Partnership Plan, today announced the launch of a new...

Together, We Are Making A Difference

A Message of Gratitude: Summer 2019 Greetings, After many busy months deepening the reach of our services, I am grateful to see concrete evidence that we are making a difference. Within a few short weeks of opening our dental center in North Adams, our waiting list...

Mission Moment: Breathe Easier with Childhood Asthma

Education is the key to childhood asthma. “I love working with patients and families together, we have such a broad scope of people here, patients that come from every socioeconomic background. I especially like working with families that need more education and...

Donor Spotlight: Lynne Carlotto

Supporting CHP throughout the years “I stay connected to CHP because it is so important to our community. Ultimately, I am grateful that all of these people have carried on Dr. Whitfield’s vision. Our neighbors need CHP and we are there. I want to do my part in making...
Berkshire Business Intern Program Recognizes CHP Team

Berkshire Business Intern Program Recognizes CHP Team

Several summer interns at Community Health Programs were recognized for outstanding service by the Berkshire Business Interns (BBI) program. A special event was held Wednesday, Aug. 7 at Norad Mill in North Adams, sponsored by BBI. CHP interns honored for their work...
National Health Center Week is Aug. 4-10. CHP is All In.

National Health Center Week is Aug. 4-10. CHP is All In.

Community Health Programs (CHP) is proud to mark National Health Center Week, Aug. 4-10, by highlighting the vital impact of 1,400 community health centers in our nation’s healthcare system and our community. National Health Center Week is part of a national...
Navigating the Farmers Market: Best Food, Best Deals

Navigating the Farmers Market: Best Food, Best Deals

By Ashli Minor, MS, RDN, LDN Nutritionist, Community Health Programs As summer marches on and the harvests come in, we are surrounded by a growing bounty at farmer’s markets and local produce stands. What’s the best way to shop at a farmer’s market? How do you get the...

Letter to the Editor: CHP is Addressing Physician Shortage

Posted in The Berkshire Eagle, Friday, July 19, 2019 5:15 pm To the editor: Like Berkshire Health Systems, Community Health Programs shares the physician recruitment issues that pose a challenge to medical care in our rural community. However, we are concerned that...
Let’s Reverse the Rural Physician Shortage

Let’s Reverse the Rural Physician Shortage

By Lia Spiliotes ACROSS THE NATION, unequal access to health care raises urgent, pressing problems for individual and community health. For rural and underserved communities, the most urgent challenge for patients is our shrinking supply of primary care physicians....
CHP Annual Meeting is June 13, 2019

CHP Annual Meeting is June 13, 2019

The CHP Annual Meeting and Stakeholders Breakfast takes place Thursday, June 13, 7:30-9:00 a.m., at Berkshire Hills Country Club in Pittsfield. CHP will honor Kristine Hazzard, outgoing president and CEO of Berkshire United Way, will be honored at The event is open to...
CHP Names Celia Clancy to Board

CHP Names Celia Clancy to Board

The CHP Board of Directors of Community Health Programs has named Celia Clancy of Lenox as a new member. Celia Clancy Ms. Clancy is CEO of Celia Clancy Consulting and past CEO/president of The Fitzpatrick Companies. She brings to the board her background in retail and...
Physician Joins CHP North Adams Family Medical and Dental Center

Physician Joins CHP North Adams Family Medical and Dental Center

Leigh LoPresti, MD, family medicine physician, has joined the primary care team at CHP North Adams Family Medical and Dental Center. Dr. Leigh LoPresti Dr. LoPresti is a former chief medical officer at Battenkill Valley Health Center in Arlington, Vermont. He has...
Donor Spotlight: Nick Boraski

Donor Spotlight: Nick Boraski

With their three children, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren launched and making big marks in the world, Nicholas Boraski and his late wife Ruth were always mindful of other people’s children, those less fortunate, those with limited access to...
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