Page 47 - BusinessWest May 30, 2022

Monson Savings Bank Elects New Corporators
MONSON — Monson Savings Bank announced the election of five new corporators. At the bank’s recent annual meeting, it was announced that Nikki Bur- nett, Cesar Ruiz, John Zienowicz, Ciara Speller, and Christian D’Amour had been elected by existing cor- porators. Burnett is the executive director of Educare Springfield. She also sits on national committees
for the Educare Learning Network, such as the Edu- care Policy Work Group, the Collaborative Fundrais- ing Advisory Board, and the Red Nose Day Advisory Board. Additionally, she is a trustee for the Commu- nity Foundation of Western Mass., and serves on the Distribution Committee as co‐chair; the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion subcommittee; and the Execu- tive Committee. She is also a member of the Baystate Community Benefits Advisory Council. Ruiz is the founder, president and CEO of Golden Years Home Services. He was the first Hispanic popularly elected official in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, serv- ing on the Springfield School Committee from 1980- 1986. Prior to founding Golden Years, he worked in banking at Region’s Bank. He was recently recognized as one of business’s most influential Latinos by His- panic Executive magazine. Zienowicz is the executive director of the Ware Council on Aging. Furthermore, he sits on the board of directors for the Quaboag Hills Community Coalition, the Ware Cable Access Televi- sion, and the Advisory Board for BHN Carson Cen- ter. He is a member of the Bay State Eastern Region Community Benefits Advisory Board, the Quaboag Region Coordinating Council, and the Quaboag Hills Substance Use Alliance. Speller is a weeknight news anchor for Channel 22 WWLP. She serves as a board member for local nonprofit I Found Light Against
All Odds, is a member of the National Association
of Black Journalists, volunteers for the Miss Western Massachusetts Scholarship Assoc., and is a panelist for Girls Inc. of the Valley. Additionally, she was the recipient of the “Leadership in Broadcasting Award” from Bay Path University in 2019 and a 2021 Boston/ New England Regional Emmy Winner. D’Amour is the director of E-Commerce at Big Y World Class Mar- ket and a third-generation member of Big Y Foods’ founding D’Amour family. Prior to working at Big Y, he worked at Delta Dental of Rhode Island as a sales and marketing representative. Additionally, he holds a B.A. from Saint Michael College.
HNE Offers $100,000 in Grants for DEIB in Maternal/Infant Health
SPRINGFIELD — Health New England is offering $100,000 in grants for non-profit organizations that address inequities to improve maternal and infant health. The company’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) grants will award up to $10,000 per organization. The DEIB grants will fund non- profits whose programs address health equity and focus on engaging at least one social determinant
of health (SDOH). SDOHs are conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age that affect health, quality of life, and life expectancy. These may include socioeconomic status, food insecurity, educa- tion, access to health care, safe housing, discrimina- tion, violence, and trauma, etc. Registered 501(c)(3) non-profits focused on communities in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester coun- ties are eligible. Eligible organizations can find out more and apply for the grant here. Submissions are due by midnight on May 30.
Mercy Medical Center Earns Fourth Consecutive ‘A’ Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade
SPRINGFIELD — Mercy Medical Center has received an “A” Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade for spring 2022. This national distinction recognizes Mercy Medical
Center’s achievements in protecting patients from preventable harm and error in the hospital. This lat- est recognition marks Mercy’s fourth consecutive “A” safety grade. The Leapfrog Group, an independent national watchdog organization, assigns an “A,” “B,” “C,” “D,” or “F” grade to general hospitals across the country based on over thirty national performance measures reflecting errors, accidents, injuries, and infections, as well as systems hospitals have in place to prevent harm. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is the only hospital ratings program based exclusively on hospital prevention of medical errors and harms to patients. The grading system is peer-reviewed, fully transparent and free to the public. Grades are updat- ed twice annually, in the fall and spring.
Lee Bank Foundation Distributes $83,750 in First Grant Funding Round of 2022
LEE — Lee Bank Foundation has awarded $83,750
to 12 Berkshire area organizations and an additional grant to Pittsfield Public Schools in its first-round of 2022 community funding. Recipients were awarded grants ranging from $1,000 to $16,000 to support their local programming. Included in the awards are a series of Arts Access Grants for arts and culture organizations to expand access to programming for underserved audiences.
The following organizations received funding:
• Berkshire Center for Justice;
• Berkshire Community Diaper Project;
• Berkshire Concert Choir;
• Berkshire County Arc;
• Berkshire Historical Society;
• Berkshire Family YMCA;
• Central Berkshire Habitat for Humanity;
• Community Access to the Arts;
• Great Barrington Public Theater;
• Greenagers;
• Roots Rising; and
• The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Arts Access Grants of $1,000 each were awarded to Berkshire Concert Choir, Berkshire Historical Society, and Great Barrington Public Theater. Additionally, Lee Bank Foundation announced a $16,000 grant to the Pittsfield Public Schools — $1,000 for each school serving children and adults in Pittsfield, to coincide with the groundbreaking of the new Lee Bank branch on South Street. The deadline for the next round of 2022 Foundation funding is June 1. The application and more information can be found on the Commu- nity Impact section of Lee Bank’s website (https:// www.leebank.com/community-impact/donations- sponsorships.html). To be considered for grant awards, applicants must be a (501)(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The Foundation is focused on funding programs that work to bridge income and opportuni- ty gaps in our region. Funding requests should reflect one or more of Lee Bank Foundation’s primary focus areas: education and literacy; food security and nutri- tion; economic growth and development; health and human services; mentorship, internship and “school to work” initiatives; and arts and culture
Marriott Brand Restored
on Downtown Springfield Hotel
SPRINGFIELD — The Marriott brand has been restored to a downtown Springfield hotel in prepara- tion for a planned September opening. The Marri- ott ‘M’ logo was attached to the Tower Square Hotel recently, a milestone in a nearly four-year-long effort to restore a brand name that was lost in 2017. Exten- sive renovations of the property, projected to cost $40 million, are ongoing, with a grand reopening planned for this fall. The new Marriott will have 266 rooms.
North Brookfield Savings Named
Among ‘Top Extraordinary Banks’
NORTH BROOKFIELD — North Brookfield Savings Bank, was recently named among the top extraor- dinary banks in the United States by The Institute
for Extraordinary Banking. This award comes on the heels of the Community Choice Central Mass. Best Bank Award it received for 2021. North Brookfield Savings Bank was recognized with the institute’s Banky Award for its commitment to strong commu- nity banking. This recognition is given to top commu- nity banks across the country to help people find the best banks in their communities.
Company Notebook
Massage Clinic to Open at Asnuntuck Community College
ENFIELD, Conn. — The public is invited to make a reservation for a massage through Asnuntuck Com- munity College’s massage clinic.
Massages can provide physical and mental benefits. Massage can loosen tight muscles, lower blood pres- sure, and assist in recovery from injuries and illness. Students enrolled in ACC’s Massage Therapy program provide the massages for the clinic. The appoint- ments begin May 23, and run until August 16 on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Appointment times are 9 a.m., 10:15 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 2:15 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Rates are $30 for 50 minutes, and $60 for 100 minutes. Gift certificates are available. Tipping is not allowed by state law.
Reservations are required. Visit https://asnuntuck.edu/ massage/ to learn more about the clinic.
Spectrum Home Health & Hospice Care Named to ‘Elite List’
LONGMEADOW — JGS Lifecare, a not-for-profit healthcare system serving seniors and their families in Western Mass. for more than 110 years, announced that Spectrum Home Health & Hospice Care, one of its subsidiary organizations, has made the 2022 Hos- pice Honors Elite list. Hospice Honors is a prestigious annual national program from HEALTHCAREfirst that recognized hospices that continuously provide the highest level of quality care as measured from the caregiver’s point of view. HEALTHCAREfirst is a lead- ing provider of billing and coding services, CAHPS surveys, and advanced analytics. It acknowledges the highest performing agencies by analyzing the perfor- mance of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) hospice survey satis- faction measures. Award criteria were based on Hos- pice CAHPS survey results for an evaluation period of October 2020 through September 2021. Award recipi- ents were identified by evaluating performance on
a set of 24 quality indicator measures. Performance scores were aggregated from all completed surveys and were compared on a question-by-question basis to a National Performance Score calculated from all hospices contained in the HEALTHCAREfirst’s Hos- pice CAHPS database. Hospice Honors recipients include those hospices scoring above the HEALTH- CAREfirst national performance score on 20 of the 24 evaluated questions. HEALTHCAREfirst holds a spe- cial recognition, Hospice Honors Elite, to honor hos- pices scoring above the HEALTHCAREfirst National
Notebook
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