Log Cabin, Delaney House, D. Hotel & Spa Announce New Ownership

By BusinessWest Staff September 15, 2023

Daily News

HOLYOKE — Michael “Mick” Corduff announced that he is stepping into the role of chief operator and executive chef of the Log Cabin, Delaney House, and D. Hotel & Spa, all in Holyoke. He is replacing Peter Rosskothen, who has sold all his shares in the company to Corduff and his new business partner, Frank DeMarinis.

“I am very excited to lead our amazing team, a team that has the best proven hospitality track record in the market,” said Corduff, who is also excited about the opportunity to work with his wife, Dana Corduff, who is joining the D. Hotel management.

Both Peter and Linda Rosskothen will step down from their day-to-day activities within the company. The business focus for Peter will be Delaney’s Market, an independent company with stores in South Hadley, Westfield, Longmeadow, and Wilbraham.

“Both Linda and I have lived an unbelievable dream with this great group of employees and this amazing business, but the time has come to let it flourish further without us,” Rosskothen said. “We consider Mick a brother, and we know that, under his management, the business will only get better.”

Linda and Peter Rosskothen will stay involved in supporting Mick and Dana Corduff, as well as their new partner, in any way needed.

DeMarinis is the president of Sage Engineering & Contracting Inc. in Westfield, and is a local developer, builder, owner, and manager of more than 25 commercial real-estate properties in Massachusetts and Connecticut. He is also the founder and owner of Roots Sports complexes in Westfield and East Longmeadow and Roots Learning Centers.

Corduff and DeMarinis plan to combine their skills to develop and grow the business to new locations.

“Our hotel and spa, restaurant, and event venue are uniquely positioned to continue benefiting from each other, synergies that no other locally owned and run company has in the area,” Corduff said. “I am proud of our brilliant team and look forward to further growing with them.”

Forest Park Zoo to Host Wine Safari on Oct. 5

By BusinessWest Staff September 15, 2023

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Zoo in Forest Park invites guests on a trip around the world at Wine Safari on Thursday, Oct. 5 from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m.

The fundraiser, which supports the care of the 225-plus animals that live at the zoo, pairs wines from around the world with animals from the same region, allowing guests to ‘travel’ from country to country, sampling the wine and meeting the animals that hail from that area.

While the Zoo is known as a family-friendly institution, this one is just for the adults.

“Wine Safari provides a unique experience for adults and allows them to explore the zoo in a different way than when they visit with their family,” said Gabry Tyson, Development manager at the Zoo in Forest Park. “It’s the perfect excuse to hire a babysitter and enjoy a Thursday night out.”

Guests must be age 21 or older to attend. The $50 ticket includes wine samples from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. (while supplies last), hors d’oeuvres, and coffee; animal encounters; and keeper talks from members of the zoo’s animal care and education teams. There will also be a raffle with prizes from the Boston Bruins, Spirit of Springfield, Max Hospitality, and other local businesses and organizations.

“Wine Safari is always so much fun, and is a great way to spend time with your favorite animals while drinking some phenomenal wines from around the world,” said Sarah Tsitso, executive director of the Zoo in Forest Park. “All of the money we raise at Wine Safari supports our animal residents over the winter months, helping us provide food, bedding, heat, vet care, and everything else our animals need while our gates are closed to the public.”

Advance tickets are required to attend, and IDs will be checked at the door. Tickets are limited and are on sale now at www.forestparkzoo.org/winesafari.

The Wealth Transition Collective Welcomes Ashley Hopkins, Jennifer Cooke

By BusinessWest Staff September 15, 2023

Daily News

HOLYOKE — The Wealth Transition Collective (TWTC) recently announced two additions to its firm. Ashley Hopkins has joined the firm as director of Client Services & Operations. In her role, she will be responsible for new business implementation and five-star concierge service to firm clients. She has more than six years of experience in the financial-services industry.

“Ashley has already had a profound impact on the firm and our clients,” TWTC CEO Greg Sheehan said.

Jennifer Cooke joined the Wealth Transition Collective as a retirement-plan advisor. In her role, she is responsible for all 401(k), 403(b), cash-balance and defined-benefit plan business, including employee education. She helps her clients stay in compliance with ERISA standards for employer-sponsored retirement plans. With more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of the retirement-plan business, she acts as a co-fiduciary on retirement plans for business owners throughout New England.

Cooke is a certified retirement-plan specialist, a certified plan fiduciary advisor, and an accredited investment fiduciary.

“The depth of knowledge and experience that Jennifer brings with her to the firm in this niche market is unparalleled,” Sheehan said. “To add this suite of services to the firm offerings certainly gives us a differential advantage in the marketplace.”

The Puzzle Pieces Come Together at Ludlow Mills

By George O'Brien September 15, 2023

Community Spotlight

A.J. Crane acquired the ‘carpentry’ building at Ludlow Mills with the goal of having it redeveloped, with a restaurant being the preferred use.
Staff Photo

As he led BusinessWest on a tour of what’s known as the ‘carpentry building’ at the Ludlow Mills complex, A.J. Crane walked up a deteriorated but still solid set of stairs to the second floor, and then to the row of new windows looking out on the Chicopee River, maybe 150 feet away, the riverwalk in front of it, and a stretch of land before the walk on which a patio could be built.

“Imagine the possibilities,” he said, adding that he certainly has, and that’s why he acquired the property from Westmass Area Development Corp., which purchased the mill in 2011, with the intention of renovating it and then leasing it out, perhaps to a restaurateur — the master plan for the mill complex calls for one at this location — although he doesn’t really know what the market will bear at this point.

What Crane, president of Chicopee-based A. Crane Construction Co. (and a Westmass board member) does know is that nothing can be built that close to the river today. Well, almost nothing; this property is grandfathered, so it can be developed. And that’s a big reason why he took on this risk — the property has been vacant for decades and needs a considerable amount of work for any reuse — and has invested heavily in its renovation.

But there’s another reason as well.

“I just wanted to be a part of this,” he said, waving his hand in a sweeping motion to encompass the sprawling mill in front of him.

‘This’ is the transformation of the mill complex, once home to a jute-manufacturing facility that employed thousands and played a huge role in the town’s development, into, well, a community within a community, one that is already home to residents and businesses of various kinds, and, perhaps someday, in the former carpentry shop, a restaurant.

This transformation is an ongoing process, one that was projected to take 20 years when Westmass acquired the property 12 years ago, and may take another 20 still, said Jeff Daley, president and CEO of Westmass, noting, as Crane did, that the pieces to the puzzle are coming together.

And as Daley and Jeff LeSiege, vice president of Facilities and Construction at Westmass, conducted a walking tour, they pointed to several of these pieces — from the ongoing renovation of the landmark ‘clocktower building’ (Building 8) into 95 apartments to the construction of two new parking lots; from extensive water, sewer, and electrical work to new businesses such as Movement Terrain, which boasts an obstacle course and an Astroturf arena (more on all this later).

Jeff LeSiege, left, and Jeff Daley stop by one of two large parking lots being created at Ludlow Mills.

Then there’s the clocktower itself, which is slated for renovation, said Daley, adding that he’s not sure when the last time the clock — which is on the town seal and the masthead of the local newspaper — worked, but “it’s been a very long time.”

Transformation of the mill, which has been well-chronicled by BusinessWest over the past dozen years, is the story in Ludlow. But not the only story.

Another is a possible charter change making the community a city and changing its form of government from the present Board of Selectmen to one of several options, including a town manager/Town Council format, a mayor/City Council alignment, or perhaps a mayor/manager/council arrangement.

“I do know there is a great shortage of available land and available buildings at this time, and I think we’re going to have some good interest in the property.”

The town has hired the Edward J. Collins Center for Public Management to guide it through this process, said Town Administrator Marc Strange, adding that a charter-review committee will gather in the coming weeks and meet consistently for roughly a year, with a charter to be presented to town-meeting voters in October 2024, with a new form of government possible by the middle of 2025.

Meanwhile, there are some infrastructure projects moving forward, especially an ambitious streetscape-improvement plan for the East Street corridor, which leads into Ludlow Mills.

For this, the latest installment of its Community Spotlight series, BusinessWest takes an in-depth look at Ludlow and its many developing stories.

No Run-of-the-mill Project

Hanging on a wall on the ground floor of Ludlow’s Town Hall is a large aerial photograph of the section of town beside the Chicopee River, circa the 1920s.

Glancing at the image, the enormity of the mill complex — then even larger than it is today — comes clearly into focus, literally and figuratively.

The mills were, the many respects, the heartbeat of the community and an economic force, a supplier of jobs and vibrancy. And over the past several years, they have become that again, with new developments seemingly every year.

The latest, and most visible, of the latest developments is the ongoing renovation of the L-shaped clocktower building, including replacement of the hundreds of large windows that provided needed light for the mill workers.

Town Administrator Marc Strange says a change of government is needed in Ludlow.

The upper floors will be converted into nearly 100 apartments on the upper floors, with 48,000 square feet of space on the ground floor set aside for commercial development, Daley said, noting that this commercial space, to be built out to suit the needs of tenants, would be appropriate for a number of uses, including as home to support businesses for the growing number of people living in the mill as well as the surrounding area.

The apartments will be available for lease next July, he added, noting that there should be considerable demand for the units given both a regionwide housing crunch and a six-year waiting list for units in nearby Building 10, the first of the mill buildings to be redeveloped into housing.

Other developments at the mills include $2.1 million to replace water and sewer piping to connect to the two dozen old stockhouses on the property, all of which are sporting new roofs, he said, as well as construction of two new, and sorely needed, parking lots.

One of these lots, with 150 spaces, is nearing completion, with landscaping and other finishing touches to be completed, while the other, located across Riverside Drive from the carpentry building and expected to feature another 75 spaces, is in the early stages of construction.

Ludlow at a glance

Year Incorporated: 1774
Population: 21,002
Area: 28.2 square miles
County: Hampden
Residential Tax Rate: $19.51
Commercial Tax Rate: $19.51
Median Household Income: $53,244
Median Family Income: $67,797
Type of Government: Town Council, Representative Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Hampden County Jail and House of Correction; Encompass Rehabilitation Hospital; Massachusetts Air National Guard; Kleeberg Sheet Metal Inc.
*Latest information available

“These parking facilities are for tenants and visitors alike,” Daley said, adding that parking is a critical need as more of the spaces within the complex are developed.

Meanwhile, work continues on the carpentry building, a 13,200-square-foot brick structure between Riverside Drive and the Chicopee River. Crane told BusinessWest it had probably been on the market for 20 years, and really came onto his radar screen four years ago.

He described it as a solid investment opportunity — albeit one requiring a large investment on his part — but also a chance, as he said, to be part of the larger story of the mill’s transformation into a community, and a destination.

“I couldn’t afford any of the larger buildings, so I bought a smaller building that I thought could be an important part of what we’re doing here,” he said. “It’s exciting to be part of this.”

Every day, he said, dozens of walkers, joggers, and runners on the riverwalk will stop and ask him about the building’s next life. He tells them he’s not sure, but he’s anxious to find out.

Crane said he has replaced the roof and is currently putting new windows in. When that work is completed, he will begin entertaining options to lease the property, with a restaurant certainly among those options.

“I’m open to … whatever,” he told BusinessWest. “I bought the building knowing you could never build that building again so close to the water.”

There are many spaces still to be developed, Daley said, including the massive (500,000 square feet) Mill 11, the largest building on the property, as well as the greenspace at the eastern end of the property given the informal name ‘the back 40’ (acres) and the formal name Millside Commercial Park. A MassWorks grant has been received to build a road and cul-de-sac through that property, and the project recently went to bid.

“That will open that back acreage for development, and we’re excited that this is moving forward as well,” he said, adding that he expects the road to be ready by June of next year.

Officially, there will be roughly 38 acres of land available to sell or lease, he went on, adding that there should be considerable demand.

“I think that, once it gets out on the street to bid, we’re going to get a lot of inquiries,” he said, noting that there will six different lots of varying sizes, including one large lot that can accommodate a 250,000-square-foot building. “I do know there is a great shortage of available land and available buildings at this time, and I think we’re going to have some good interest in the property.”

As for the preferred uses, Daley said manufacturing is at the top of that list due to the job-creation potential, but the market will ultimately determine what happens with that acreage.

“We’re focused on maximizing our downtown area, through development, through infrastructure improvements, through aesthetic improvements — however we can do it.”

“We’re certainly going to work to make sure it’s a good fit, not only to the mills, but to Ludlow,” he told BusinessWest. “We’re not just going to take anyone willing to buy it; it’s got to be a business development that fits the makeup of what we’re trying to accomplish at the mills.”

Progress Report

Strange came to Ludlow as town administrator in the spring of 2022, marking a course change for the former director of Planning and Development for Agawam and selectman in Longmeadow.

He told BusinessWest that he saw the position in Ludlow as an opportunity to take a leadership position in a community and use his various skill sets to effect change in this community of roughly 21,000 people.

“I love municipal government,” he said. “I know it sounds cliché, but it gives you a chance to impact people’s lives every day in a way that you can’t at the state level or the federal level. I just fell in love with that.

“I started thinking about opportunities to become a town manager or town administrator,” he went on, adding that he was a finalist for the same position in East Longmeadow when he was chosen as a finalist in Ludlow, and ultimately chose the latter.

“Ludow is a great fit for my personality and a great opportunity for growth, both for me and the town,” he went on, acknowledging that these are certainly intriguing times for the community, especially when it comes to a potential, and likely, change in the charter, something he believes is necessary, as well as the Ludlow Mills project and the many developments there.

“A change in government is much needed,” he said. “We’re no longer a town; we’re a 21,000-person city.”

And a growing one, he noted, adding that the mill project will continue to bring more new businesses and residents to the city, and vibrancy to that section in particular.

With that in mind, the town is blueprinting extensive infrastructure improvements to the East Street corridor, from the mills to Ludlow Country Club, Strange noted, and expanding its District Improvement Financing area, which is currently just the footprint of the mills, to East Street.

Conceptual plans are being prepared for the East Street area, he said, noting that one calls for a “modern, loud-colored concept,” one has a “more urban feel,” while another has more green infrastructure, with planters and a “more earthy feel.”

The various options will be presented to the Board of Selectmen, who will make the final decision, he said.

Overall, Ludlow is largely built out, with the notable exception of the mill complex, Strange said, adding that, moving forward, considerable energy is focused on improving what would be considered the downtown area — that section just over the Route 21 bridge connecting Ludlow with Indian Orchard — so it may better serve the growing number of residents in that area, and also perhaps serve as a destination.

“We’re focused on maximizing our downtown area, through development, through infrastructure improvements, through aesthetic improvements — however we can do it,” he said. “We do have a budding, or increasing, population of residents down at the mills; they have their condos and the riverwalk, but what kind of other amenities can we provide for them? That’s our focus and our goal right now.”

Bottom Line

As Daley noted, the clock in the famed tower hasn’t worked in a very long time.

Getting those hands to move again is one of many intriguing developments in this community, one, in many respects, whose time has come.

Further Softening Expected in Home-remodeling Market

By Contributor September 15, 2023

Home Improvement

Tracking a Turnaround

Annual expenditures for improvements and repairs to owner-occupied homes are expected to decline at an accelerating rate through the first half of 2024, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) released by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

The LIRA projects that year-over-year spending on homeowner improvements and maintenance will shrink by 2.7% through the first quarter of next year and by 5.9% through the second quarter, following a slowdown in growth that began in the final quarter of 2022.

“Home-remodeling activity continues to face strong headwinds from high interest rates, softening house price appreciation, and sluggish home sales,” said Abbe Will, associate project director of the Remodeling Futures Program. “Annual spending on homeowner improvements and repairs is expected to decrease from $486 billion through the second quarter of this year to $457 billion over the coming four quarters.”

Carlos Martín, project director of the Remodeling Futures Program, added that “ongoing reductions in household moves will cause a decline in the remodeling and repair activity that typically occurs around the time of a home sale. The magnitude of the impact may be offset if owners who are locked into their current homes with ultra-low mortgage rates continue to renovate to meet changing needs or take advantage of new federal incentives for energy-efficiency retrofits.”

The Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) provides a short-term outlook of national home-improvement and repair spending to owner-occupied homes. The indicator is designed to project the annual rate of change in spending for the current quarter and subsequent four quarters, and is intended to help identify future turning points in the business cycle of the home-improvement and repair industry. Originally developed in 2007, the LIRA was re-benchmarked in April 2016 to a broader market measure based on the biennial American Housing Survey.

The Remodeling Futures Program, initiated by the Joint Center for Housing Studies in 1995, is a comprehensive study of the factors influencing the growth and changing characteristics of housing renovation and repair activity in the U.S. The program seeks to produce a better understanding of the home-improvement industry and its relationship to the broader residential construction industry.

The “Improving America’s Housing 2023” report, also issued by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, noted that the pandemic spurred home-improvement spending that dropped once infection rates decreased and individuals were able to leave their homes and return regularly to public spaces.

“The widespread adoption of working from home, spectacular growth in home equity and saving rates, and the continued aging of the housing stock lifted the home-remodeling market to an unprecedented height of nearly $500 billion in 2021,” the report noted.

“Growth in market spending involved households at all income levels and projects of all sizes, but with disproportionate surges in home improvement among middle-income homeowners doing moderately priced projects, many of which involved their own labor.

That trend has shifted. Deane Biermeier, a housing-market expert and general contractor, recently told Forbes that the softening trend will be with us for some time.

“Homeowners spent a great deal in the past couple of years on home renovations,” he noted. “The wave didn’t have much of a chance of lasting very long. It’s not surprising … that the combination of higher borrowing costs and economic uncertainty will continue to have a negative effect on the renovation market.”

Biermeier explained that the steep increase in home renovation spending during COVID-19 was a direct result of forced time spent at home and was not an increase that would have been seen otherwise, so the slowing over the last few years is more of a leveling back to normal than a true decrease. But he is hopeful that home-renovation spending will eventually increase again.

“I don’t see home-improvement spending increasing any time soon,” he told Forbes. “My hope is that home-renovation spending will level off and stop falling by the end of 2024.”

PVPC Secures $750,000 Grant for Preservation Projects

By Contributor September 15, 2023

Home Improvement

Restoring History

The National Park Service named the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission’s (PVPC) 501(c)(3) subsidiary, the Pioneer Valley Regional Ventures Center Inc., as one of only 13 awardees nationally to receive a Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant.

The $750,000 grant will allow the state-designated regional planning agency to work with the Ventures Center to develop a subgrant program and select individual projects in rural communities for physical preservation projects that will contribute to economic vitality. It is the first time a Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant has been awarded to a Massachusetts organization.

“From our cities to our rural towns, we know economic development is often spurred when we reinvest in places that reflect the history of community and pay tribute to the people who came before us,” PVPC Executive Director Kimberly Robinson said. “We are grateful to the National Park Service and its Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant program for providing the resources necessary to reactivate historic buildings in rural towns that will create 21st-century opportunities for growth.”

Through the Pioneer Valley Regional Ventures Center, PVPC staff will provide subgrants to competitively selected preservation and rehabilitation projects on National Register-listed anchor historic buildings in 40 communities with fewer than 12,500 residents in Hampden and Hampshire counties and parts of Worcester County. The focus is on properties that are significant to the community and, when rehabilitated, will contribute to local economic development.

Subgrant awards of up to $100,000 will be given to work in compliance with the secretary of the Interior’s standards for the rehabilitation of historic properties to conduct pre-planning; roof repair or replacement; exterior rehabilitation, such as painting, repointing, or historic siding restoration; structural repairs; window and door restoration; and life and safety improvements, including fire suppression and ADA compliance.

Eligible owner-applicants may be private, public, or nonprofit. There will be no match required. Applications will be evaluated based on population, regional distribution, variety of project type, community and economic-development potential, pre-planning to determine project needs, and the capacity of the active, local working group. A preservation restriction will be required on a property that receives funding.

These grants mark the fifth year of funding for the program honoring the late Paul Bruhn, executive director of the Preservation Trust of Vermont for nearly 40 years. The Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is the state-designated regional planning agency for the 43 cities and towns of Hampden and Hampshire counties.

Cooley Dickinson Receives $100,000 from Greenfield Co-op

By Contributor September 15, 2023

Banking and Financial Services

Kicking Off a Campaign

Cooley Dickinson Hospital announced last week that it has received a $100,000 gift from Greenfield Cooperative Bank to support the expansion and renovation of its 50-year-old Emergency Department. The bank’s donation also serves as the kickoff gift for a $1,000,000 challenge opportunity.

“This incredibly generous gift in support of the Emergency Department is an investment in our shared commitment to a healthy Pioneer Valley,” said Dr. Lynnette Watkins, president and chief operating officer of Cooley Dickinson Health Care. “We are honored and grateful to Greenfield Cooperative Bank for this gift of support, which will benefit their customers, our patients, and our collective communities by providing access to the region’s top providers and leading healthcare services in a newly renovated and expanded Emergency Department.”

The gift will support the $26 million expansion, reconfiguration, and renovation effort to allow Cooley Dickinson to meet the ever-evolving emergency-medicine needs of the community it serves. To accomplish this goal, the hospital has embarked on an ambitious and comprehensive fundraising campaign, with nearly $7.2 million has been raised to date.

“Cooley Dickinson Hospital is a vital part of the health of our neighbors in the Valley,” said Tony Worden, president and CEO of Greenfield Cooperative Bank. “This donation is a way for us to show our support for the hospital and the people it serves. Many of our staff, family, and friends have needed to receive care at the Emergency Department. We are grateful for the work that the hospital does, and we are thrilled to help them continue their mission.”

Worden added that “Greenfield Cooperative Bank is committed to giving back to the community, and we believe that supporting our local hospital is one of the best ways to do that. We are proud to be a part of this community, and we want to do our part to make it a healthier place.”

Diane Dukette, Cooley Dickinson’s chief Development officer, noted that the generosity of Greenfield Cooperative Bank will have a transformational impact as the kickoff gift for the $1 million Harold Grinspoon Foundation Challenge, which launched on Sept. 1.

Through Aug. 31, 2024, she noted, every new cash donation to Transforming Emergency Care: The Campaign for the Cooley Dickinson Emergency Department will be matched 50%, up to $1 million, by the Harold Grinspoon Charitable Foundation. “When successful, that means that we will raise up to an additional $2 million for this campaign.”

Cooley Dickinson is expected to serve 40,000 Emergency Department patients this year. That care will be provided in a 1970s-era building that was designed for 17,000 patients annually and is currently 40% undersized. A shortage of space means some patients are treated in hallways. The Emergency Department also needs to expand its services to care for an aging population (triple what it was just 10 years ago). In addition, the expansion will provide additional beds for people experiencing mental-health emergencies.

The two-year project calls for adding 6,600 square feet of space, including nine new patient rooms; eight behavioral-health beds, which can ‘flex’ as patient needs arise; and a family waiting area. In addition, a computerized tomography (CT) scanning machine, which provides timely access to diagnostic imaging, will be added to the Emergency Department.

“This campaign is critical to the health of our community,” Dukette said. “In the newly renovated Emergency Department, patients will see a nurse when they arrive, they will be treated in single patient rooms that allow for privacy, and a central nurses’ station means our clinicians can respond better to patient needs. Overall, this is about making the Emergency Department as efficient and up-to-date as possible to enable our talented providers to take the best possible care of their patients. We are so truly grateful for Greenfield Cooperative Bank for stepping forward and supporting Cooley Dickinson Hospital so generously.”

HCC Helps Individuals, Businesses Reach Higher

By George O'Brien September 15, 2023

Features

Courses of Action

This is the third article in a monthly series examining how area colleges and universities are partnering with local businesses, workforce-development bodies, and other organizations to address professional-development needs in the region. One college will be featured each month.

Jeff Hayden says professional-development initiatives have become an important part of the mission at HCC.

Communication. Teamwork. Networking. Listening.

Jeff Hayden acknowledged that, to many, these sound like buzzwords in discussions about the workplace and how to succeed within it — or about how companies can become more productive and achieve continuous improvement.

But in reality, these are just some the skills that individuals must possess if they want to thrive in their chosen career and move up the ladder within it. And they are the qualities that businesses large and small must stress if they want to prosper in an increasingly global, intensely competitive business climate — and if they want to successfully compete for talent and retain it.

And these are just some of the skill sets — some broad, some very specific — that help define a full roster of professional-development programs at Holyoke Community College (HCC), which Hayden serves as vice president of Business and Community Services.

“Those words, like teamwork and communication, feel like buzzwords, but in reality, those are the places where employee satisfaction and productivity find their nexus,” he said. “It’s really a unique spot where one can see the gain for the company, but also the gain for themselves.”

These touchpoints run through the portfolio of programs at HCC, the Commonwealth’s oldest community college, which include everything from a non-credit “Introduction to Bookkeeping” course to a women’s leadership lunch series; from certificate programs in residential interior design and medical interpreting to two new HR workshops on “Leveraging Assessments with the New World of Work” (more on these later).

In each case, the motivation is the same, Hayden said — to help individuals advance and enable companies to be efficient and productive, and also recruit and retain employees when businesses in all sectors are still struggling to do so.

“We put an emphasis on trying to find those occupational skills that managers, business owners, and professionals need to successfully grow their company, grow their employees, increase productivity, or increase employee satisfaction.”

“We take a broad approach to professional development at HCC,” he explained. “We do certificate and training programs in management, leadership, and IT, and then we have a number of programs aimed specifically at careers, like our introduction to bookkeeping or, in the IT field, an introduction to networks.

“We have a certificate in business communication, which is online, and also one in innovation and critical thinking,” he went on. “There are a number of areas, and depending on the needs and interests of the individual, we can accommodate many other things they may be looking for.”

Getting Down to Business

Hayden, who came to the college after many years working for the city of Holyoke in economic-development roles, said HCC — like all the region’s community colleges — plays a critical role in workforce development in the region. And that role extends well beyond providing the traditional two-year degree programs which, in the case of HCC, often lead to transfer to four-year programs.

Indeed, it extends to continuing education, non-credit programs, and initiatives that, as he said earlier, involve professional development for the individual and initiatives aimed at helping businesses of all sizes become more competitive and productive.

“Oftentimes, when we think of workforce training, especially at community colleges, we tend to focus on occupational skills,” he explained. “And although those are necessary, they’re often related to specific tasks. So we put an emphasis on trying to find those occupational skills that managers, business owners, and professionals need to successfully grow their company, grow their employees, increase productivity, or increase employee satisfaction.

“And in some sense, increasing productivity and increasing employee satisfaction are companions in that same effort,” he went on. “Sometimes we think of them as separate; when we think about how to make sure our employees are happy and satisfied, we go to the issue of compensation, instead of focusing on the issue of job satisfaction, having pride in one’s work, and ownership of the project or service they provide. So we try look at professional development as a way to broaden the scope or mindset of the employee and have them look at the picture in terms of just not making something or doing a service, but having that be part of their own career goals and pathway.”

With these goals in mind, the college has offered a women’s leadership lunch series featuring area women business leaders talking about their success formulas, Hayden said, adding that this series, staged over six lunches, will likely return in the spring of 2024.

Overall, the college is continuously monitoring the business community and the workplace, he explained, with an eye toward creating programs to address emerging needs and challenges.

Such is the case with the new HR workshops on assessments, which will be led by Lynn Turner, president of CORE XP Business Solutions Inc.

“These are designed to help organizations understand how to leverage assessments within the future of work — how to assess and evaluate employees in a way that increases productivity and increases teamwork, communication, and employee satisfaction,” Hayden said, noting that there will be two workshops, with participants having the option of signing up for one or both. They are designed for entrepreneurs, HR personnel, and managers at small companies that don’t have their own HR departments,

The first will focus on the changing dynamics of the future of work, understanding the value of assessments within a talent strategy, and gaining exposure to different assessment tools. The second will focus on best practices for assessment implementation, leveraging assessments for talent acquisition and development, driving engagement and retention through assessments, and creating a customized roadmap for leveraging assessments.

Overall, the professional-development programs at HCC are blueprinted to assist individuals as they look to enter or advance within the workforce, but also meet identified needs within the business community for specific skills, Hayden said, noting that these twin ambitions are the motivation behind such programs as a 12-hour educational cannabis core program that provides an overview of the cannabis industry in Massachusetts and is designed for individuals looking for general knowledge as they consider a career in that sector, and the non-credit “Introduction to Bookkeeping” course, the need for which has become increasingly apparent given recent trends.

“There is growing need for bookkeepers in the region, especially at smaller companies; many nonprofits, for example, are looking for people who can help on that end,” he said, adding that the program is geared toward individuals looking to enter that field, but also incumbent workers looking to acquire more skills in that realm.

There are many such programs being offered the school, he said, noting that HCC offers a number of online certificate programs, most of them focused on business management and administration, such as an offering in nonprofit management featuring a simulation component, another in business communication, and others in innovation and critical thinking, data analytics, and project management.

Work in Progress

Summing it all up, Hayden said professional development at HCC is a huge part of the school’s mission and its evolving role when it comes to both workforce development and economic development.

The portfolio of programs and initiatives is, like the business community and the workforce itself, ever-changing. But the goal remains the same: it’s about helping area employees, job seekers, business leaders, and companies get where they want to go.

Renaissance Development Breaking Ground on State Street Revitalization Project

By BusinessWest Staff September 14, 2023

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — On Friday, Sept. 15 at 10 a.m., Springfield-based Renaissance Development LLC will commence redevelopment of the Kavanagh Building at 443 State St. across from Springfield Technical Community College (STCC). The 28,000-square-foot building, vacant for 15 years, will be the future home of 35 one- and two-bedroom apartment units and approximately 10,000 square feet of rentable office and retail space.

Redevelopment will take place in two phases, with the first involving the demolition of the unstable rear portion of the building and renovation of the façade and front lower and street levels. Once completed (slated for summer 2024), phase one will comprise 10,000 square feet of retail space for several commercial tenants ranging in size and use, coupled with 15 units of housing and 43 parking spaces.

Phase two (slated to commence in winter 2024) will complete 20 additional one- and two-bedroom units throughout the entire second floor. These units will be set aside as permanent supportive housing units for people who have experienced homelessness. Through partnership with the nonprofit Mental Health Assoc., tenants who qualify will receive a variety of support and wraparound services.

Donald Mitchell of Renaissance Development expressed his excitement for this revitalization of a now-vacant, historic commercial property. “We’re moving beyond the successes of the downtown area and are bringing exciting new opportunities to another underserved Springfield neighborhood,” he said, also highlighting job creation, both temporary during construction and longer-term; development of quality housing and support services; and the establishment of an incubator for small business, particularly women- and minority-owned.

Funding for this project was made possible by the financial support of the city of Springfield (ARPA), the Massachusetts Alliance for Supportive Housing (ARPA), the Springfield Community Preservation Committee, MassHousing, the Life Initiative Inc., and New Valley Bank & Trust.

Elms College Receives Work-based Learning Grant from Council of Independent Colleges

By BusinessWest Staff September 14, 2023

Daily News

CHICOPEE — The Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) selected Elms College to participate in the inaugural cohort of the CIC’s Work-based Learning (WBL) Consortium.

Elms College is one of 25 member colleges from across the country to participate in the first-ever WBL Consortium. For its participation, Elms has been awarded a three-year grant of approximately $65,000 from CIC, effective starting in the spring of 2024.

The WBL Consortium will provide a national community of practice to support institutions in easing student barriers to internship access and job-market preparation, particularly for students from underrepresented groups. This experiential learning platform, in partnership with Riipen, will integrate real-world, employer-designed projects into existing courses to equip students with skills, real-world experiences, and professional connections to support their future careers.

“Elms is honored to be a part of CIC’s WBL Consortium, which will provide our students an enhanced learning experience since the internships will be integrated within their course curricula,” said Jennifer Granger Sullivan, director of Experiential Learning at Elms.

CIC and Riipen will work with a team of seven faculty and staff members at Elms to update curricula and integrate experiential learning into course materials starting with the spring 2024 semester.

This CIC initiative is made possible thanks to funding from Ascendium Education Group and Strada Education Foundation.

UMass Amherst, Embr Labs Develop ‘Digital Drug’ to Predict Hot Flashes

By BusinessWest Staff September 14, 2023

Daily News

AMHERST — Researchers at UMass Amherst’s Institute for Applied Life Sciences (IALS) and Embr Labs have created a machine-learning algorithm to predict a hot flash before a person perceives it. When combined with Embr Labs’ patented wearable device, Embr Wave, immediate cooling is delivered to mitigate or fully alleviate the event.

This first-of-its-kind predictive algorithm is the result of machine learning being applied to the largest data set of digital biomarkers for hot flashes ever collected, which was generated by researchers at UMass Amherst’s Center for Human Health and Performance.

“Hot flashes occur in 75% of women and can persist for up to a decade,” said Matt Smith, co-founder and chief technology officer of Embr Labs. “We are proud to be developing effective tools for menopause, which has lacked new solutions for too long. By delivering automatic cooling for hot-flash relief, we are realizing the holy grail for natural hot-flash management.”

Unlike previous attempts to combat hot flashes, this is a non-pharmaceutical approach. The current generation of the Embr Wave is worn on the inside of the wearer’s wrist and heats or cools at the touch of a button to elicit a brain and body response that can help with resolving hot flashes, improving sleep, and relieving stress. The new predictive sensor technology will be commercialized in an upcoming generation of Embr Wave.

“Seeking immediate cooling relief is a person’s natural reaction when they are having a hot flash,” Smith said. “We now have the know-how and technology to bring this solution into the 21st century: personalized and automatic hot-flash management from a small, AI-powered, wearable device.”

The technology is fundamentally different from most other wearable health technologies, such as activity trackers, added Mike Busa, director of the IALS Center for Human Health and Performance. “This concept of automatic intervention based on real-time physiological symptoms is relatively unexplored. What has dominated the landscape up to this point is only tracking — letting you know the status of something or letting a care team know that a certain phenomenon has occurred. That technology most certainly has its strengths, but a major limitation is that it does not provide real-time, automated intervention to the person who is dealing with impactful symptoms.”

Instead, Busa describes the new system as a “reactive digital drug” for hot-flash symptoms. “The solution is not quite so simple as hot plus cold equals neutral. In this case, we leverage early physiological changes that precede a person’s perception of an oncoming hot flash and provide early relief that aims to automatically deploy an intervention tailored to minimize the disturbance of the hot-flash symptoms.”

It all happens in real time, he noted. “The device is communicating the data to servers and back to the device in a fraction of a second. That’s the power of data and cloud computing combined with the immediate cooling made possible by Embr Labs’ thermal technology.”

The technology was made possible by grants from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and the National Science Foundation.

Embr Labs was recently awarded a patent for the utilization of biomarkers to activate cooling for hot flashes, and an additional patent has been filed for features powering the corresponding predictive algorithms. A manuscript is in preparation that will benchmark the performance of the predictive algorithms and reveal the science behind hot-flash prediction. Embr Labs recently announced a $35 million financing round to support market expansion and new product development.

This is the second collaboration between Embr Labs and UMass Amherst. Previously, Rebecca Spencer from the Sleep Monitoring Core at IALS and Department of Psychology conducted a pilot study, and the results were presented at the 2022 North American Menopause Society. That study found that use of the Embr Wave was associated with improved sleep, reduction in self-reported frequency and intensity of hot flashes, and improvement in the impact of stress.

Local Veterans Compete for Chance to Attend National Veterans Creative Arts Festival

By BusinessWest Staff September 14, 2023

Daily News

LEEDS — On Friday, Sept. 22, artwork by local veterans will be on display to the public at the VA Central Western Massachusetts Recreation Auditorium from 1 to 4 p.m. More than 70 pieces of art from among 14 different categories will be exhibited.

VA medical facilities incorporate creative arts into their therapy programs to further rehabilitation for both inpatients and outpatients. This annual competition recognizes the progress and recovery made through that therapy and raises the visibility of the creative achievements of U.S. veterans.

Finalists will advance to the national level, where they will compete with entries submitted by veterans from other VA facilities from across the country. The competition is an annual event that provides veterans receiving treatment at VA facilities the opportunity to participate in creative self-expression in art, creative writing, dance, drama, and music as part of their therapy, and to gain recognition for these artistic accomplishments.

First-place winners from the national competition will be invited to attend the 43rd National Veterans Creative Arts Festival held in the spring of 2024 in Denver.

Announcing the 2023 Healthcare Heroes

By BusinessWest Staff September 14, 2023

Cover Story Healthcare Heroes

Since BusinessWest and its sister publication, the Healthcare News, launched the recognition program known as Healthcare Heroes in 2017, the initiative has more than succeeded in its quest to identify true leaders — not to mention inspiring stories — within this region’s large and vitally important healthcare sector.
The award was created to recognize those whose contributions to the health and well-being of this region, while known to some, needed to become known to all. And that is certainly true this year.
These nine individuals are leaders, and also innovators, collaborators, and, perhaps most important, inspirations. They have devoted their careers to improving the quality of individual lives and the health of entire communities. We find these stories to be compelling and inspirational, and we’re sure you will as well.

Overall, everyone who was nominated this year is a hero, but in the minds of our judges — the editors and management at BusinessWest — eight of these stories stood out among the others. The Healthcare Heroes for 2023 are

(click on each name to read their story):

Lifetime Achievement:

Jody O’Brien,
Urology Group of
Western New England

Health Education:

Kristina Hallett,
Bay Path University

Healthcare Administration:

Dr. Mark Kenton,
Mercy Medical Center

Emerging Leader:

Ashley LeBlanc,
Mercy Medical Center

Emerging Leader:

Ellen Ingraham-Shaw,
Baystate Medical Center

Patient Care Provider:

Julie Lefer Quick,
VA of Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System

Innovation in
Health/Wellness:

Gabriel Mokwuah
and Joel Brito,
Holyoke Medical Center

Community Health:

Cindy Senk,

Movement for All

See the BusinessWest 2023 Healthcare Heroes Special Section HERE.

Tickets on Sale Now!

Healthcare Heroes Awards:

Thursday, October 26, 2023, 5:30 P.M.

Marriott Springfield Downtown,

2 Boland Way, Springfield MA 01115

Tickets $90 per person, reserved tables of 10 are available.

Presenting Sponsors

Partner Sponsors

At Mike’s Maze, Visitors Can Take In the Big Picture

By George O'Brien September 14, 2023

Features Special Coverage

We’re All Ears

Dave Wisseman says this year’s maze is designed to get people thinking about AI and all its implications.

“Where art and agriculture come together.”

That’s how Dave Wisseman, the soon-to-be 10th-generation owner of Warner Farm in Sunderland, described the famous corn maze that has put this operation on the map.

And he’s right. The designs that are cut by a Bobcat into the 10 acres of feed corn growing on one field at this gorgeous piece of land in the shadow of Mt. Sugarloaf certainly constitute art — whether the resulting image is of Babe Ruth, the Mona Lisa, an homage to the country’s national parks, or this year’s creation: a nod, if one can call it that, to artificial intelligence.

Or at least the discussion about AI.

But there is more coming together with agriculture than art at what has become an institution in Western Mass. and a destination that draws people from the 413 and well beyond. Indeed, there are also large doses of tourism, entertainment, innovation, inspiration, culture, and education.

And a whole lot of entrepreneurship.

They all collide at the maze, which started its annual run on Sept. 8, but has been in the planning stages for several months now, said Wisseman, who acknowledged that farms are not big on titles, but if he had one, it would be ‘business manager.’

In that role, he noted that the maze has become more than a revenue stream, although it is certainly that. It has become a huge part of the business plan at the 150-acre farm, which grows a variety of fruits and vegetables and operates CSA (community-supported agriculture) programs in Sunderland with five pick-up areas in the Greater Boston area — so much so that many other traditional fall initiatives, and the feed-corn crop itself, now take a back seat to the maze.

“For us, the corn maze is such a huge part of our business that it made sense to slow down the other things in the fall and focus on making sure the maze is the best it can be.”

“For us, the corn maze is such a huge part of our business that it made sense to slow down the other things in the fall and focus on making sure the maze is the best it can be,” he said, noting that the attraction draws more than 20,000 visitors each year, most from Hampden and Hampshire counties, but neighboring states as well. Many leaf peepers have made it part of their annual visit.

As for the images chosen each year, they are part of the evolving story of the maze, said Wisseman, noting that his father, Mike Wisseman, and local artist Will Sillin originally decided to combine talents and create what they called ‘corn art.’ The inaugural image was of the ‘Amazing Minuteman,’ as seen on the 2000 Massachusetts quarter, with subsequent designs featuring the Mona Lisa, Babe Ruth, King Tut, George Bush and John Kerry (who squared off in the presidential election of 2004), Charles Darwin, Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup can, and Julia Child — images seen by the world through photos taken by passing airplanes.

In 2015, Sillin essentially retired from corn art to focus on his personal artwork, and the creative development torch at what became known as Mike’s Maze was picked up by Dave Wisseman and his wife, Jess Marsh Wisseman, also an artist.

Her creations have included ‘Alice in Sunderland,’ a tribute to Alice in Wonderland; ‘Greetings from Earth,’ a celebration of the Voyager missions to explore the outer reaches of our solar system; and ‘Cornstock,’ a celebration of Woodstock a half-century after the generation-defining music event — images captured by drone and then sent to the world.

‘Greetings from Earth’ is one the many works of art etched into cornfields at Warner Farm over the past two decades.
Photo courtesy of Mikes Maze

Getting back to this year’s theme of artificial intelligence, it exemplifies the farm’s efforts to be topical and relevant, but also go well beyond creating art in the rows of now-10-foot-high corn stalks. The larger mission is to get people to think, while also being entertained, Dave said.

Etched around the outside of the maze is the question ‘In the Age of Artificial Intelligence, What Makes Us Human?’ In the middle is the word ‘Thinking.’ The letters take on a high-tech look.

“We’re posing that question out in the maze and inviting people to answer it,” he said. “There’s a trivia game all about the different elements of artificial intelligence and robotics, and we’ll have a kids’ game, where they’ll use binary language to decode a secret message. And there will be a few stations out there where we pose some more of the deeper ethical questions about AI and ask people to consider them.

“‘Can computers think?’ That’s one of the questions we ask,” he went on, adding that the maze is designed to prompt visitors to think about technology and its place in the world.

For this issue, BusinessWest visited Warner Farm and this year’s maze to learn about how this has become much more than a place where art and agriculture come together.

Kernels of Wisdom

Tracing the history of the farm, Wisseman said it dates back to the early 1700s, when Eleaser Warner — a descendent of the family who arrived not long after the Mayflower and eventually settled in what was then called Swampfield, now Sunderland — started tilling land near what is now the center of town. (Indeed, the farm’s mailing address is South Main Street).

This is his mother’s family and and one of the founding families of Sunderland, he said, adding that, in the beginning, it was subsistence farming, and it remained that way for several generations. Over time, the farm started growing and selling potatoes, onions, and, later, strawberries.

“In the ’60s, my grandfather was introduced to the concept of pick-your-own strawberries, and we were one of the first people to do pick-your-own strawberries in the Valley, and it really took off,” Wisseman noted. “That was the first venture into the agri-tourism world and inviting people down to the farm to have that farm experience.”

Today, the farm’s main crops are strawberries and sweet corn, but it also grows tomatoes, melons, peas, green beans, peaches, and “a few apples,” he said. It sells wholesale to local stores, other farms, and other CSAs, while operating its own CSAs, including the Millstown Farm Market.

Wisseman said he grew up on the farm until he was 10, when he and his mother relocated to the Cincinnati area, and he would return to the area to work on the farm while in high school and college. He graduated from the College of Worcester in Ohio with no real intention of making the farm his career, but … his commencement coincided with the start of the Great Recession in 2008.

“In the ’60s, my grandfather was introduced to the concept of pick-your-own strawberries, and we were one of the first people to do pick-your-own strawberries in the Valley, and it really took off. That was the first venture into the agri-tourism world and inviting people down to the farm to have that farm experience.”

With few other opportunities available, he came back to the farm to work beside his father in 2010, and together they have continued and refined the many aspects of the operation, including the corn maze, which represents a dramatic (in every sense of that word) and evolving leap forward in agri-tourism.

The concept was born at a Christmas party, he said, when his father and his friend, Sillin, decided to combine their talents. The rest is history in the making.

As noted earlier, the maze has evolved over the years and in a number of ways, from the addition of elements within the maze designed to make people laugh and learn to the diversification several years ago into a separate ‘haunted’ cornfield, featuring a number of attractions, such as an ‘executioner’s chamber,’ designed to entertain and frighten those who enter.

The corn maze at Warner Farm has become a fall institution, where visitors can see art and agriculture come together in a powerful way.
Photo courtesy of Mikes Maze

The haunted maze and an accompanying Zombie Night Patrol, while both solid additions, were also heavy with overhead, said Wisseman, adding that they were eventually discontinued, with efforts focused on the corn maze and creating an experience for those who visit it.

That experience includes a large playground featuring a drain-tube slide, a tractor-tire jungle gym, and more, as well as horse-drawn wagons, potato cannons, picking out a Halloween pumpkin, and other activities.

Meanwhile, the farm has created what it calls ‘beer mazes’ in a separate cornfield; six brewers — different ones each week — will set up stations in the maze, Wisseman explained. “It’s a brewfest in a cornfield.”

Art and Soul

The corn maze and related activities have become so popular, and such a large part of the business plan, that the farm essentially puts its full focus on that operation in the fall, Wisseman said, adding quickly that planning and execution begin months earlier.

It starts with the concept, he said, and much discussion about what the theme will be. Current events often play a role, as do round-number anniversaries, as was the case with the Woodstock theme. While other options were considered, the overwhelming amount of attention focused on AI eventually made it the logical choice for this year’s theme.

With the theme finalized, the next step is the design — in this case, the words, the font, and more — which was created by Jess Marsh Wisseman.

An Adobe file is then sent to Rob Stouffer, owner of Precision Mazes, a Missouri-based outfit that specializes in creating corn mazes. It has been handling the cutting at Warner Farm for several years now, and has a large image of the ‘Greetings from Earth’ design prominent on its website under ‘featured projects.’

Blending accurate GPS technology with advanced cornfield-cutting techniques, the company will transform a field into a message in just a few days, Wisseman said, adding that the work on this year’s maze was completed several weeks ago.

Walking through the maze, one will encounter some vast, wide-open spaces, especially where the word ‘Thinking’ has been etched, but the maze is a far more valuable revenue stream than the corn that was growing there, he said, adding that this acreage is set aside for feed corn, which is sold to other farms and also a few restaurants for the making of corn tortillas.

“We put a lot of thought into this. You want to dive into a topic, you want to make it fun and interesting, but we also like to challenge our visitors and prompt them to think about it a little bit.”

While not quite a year-round undertaking, the maze has become a huge part of this 300-year-old operation, Wisseman noted, adding that months are spent not only on the concept and design, but also the creation of learning opportunities within the maze — for children, but also people of all ages.

“We put a lot of thought into this,” he told BusinessWest. “You want to dive into a topic, you want to make it fun and interesting, but we also like to challenge our visitors and prompt them to think about it a little bit.”

Getting back to this year’s maze and the broad and now-controversial topic of AI, he said the farm isn’t making any kind of statement or forcing any opinions on visitors. Instead, it is inspiring them to think and create their own opinions.

“We’re saying, ‘hey, this is an issue that requires a little bit of thought,’” he said. “It’s easy to be like, ‘the robots are coming for us,’ but we want people to think about what computers can actually do for us; what is their greatest hope for the invention of AI and this technology? And what is their greatest fear?”

These sentiments explain what the maze has evolved into over the years. It is certainly art — the designs as seen from above are exquisite and captivating — but is so much more than that. It is now a destination and a tradition, as well as a huge part of a business that has survived for multiple generations through perseverance and entrepreneurship.

“It’s a big part of what we do,” Wisseman said in conclusion. “And it’s also just a lot of fun — it works a different part of the brain than the farming.”

The creative side.

As It Marks 175 Years, MountainOne Strives to Be the Berkshires’ ‘Go-to Bank’

By George O'Brien September 14, 2023

Banking and Financial Services Special Coverage

Peaking Their Interest

Bob Fraser (left) and Matt Lauro

Bob Fraser acknowledged there’s a good deal of real estate between the Berkshires and the Bay State’s South Shore. He knows because he traverses that distance regularly.

But for the somewhat unique financial-services institution known as MountainOne, which can trace its roots back to 1848, having bank branches and other facilities on opposite ends of the state, with nothing in between, really … works.

“It has worked out well for us,” said Fraser, MountainOne’s president and CEO. “In the Berkshires, we have tended to be more of a traditional retail, community-based bank, and on the South Shore, we are much more commercially oriented. We do a lot of construction lending in and around the Greater Boston markets, and we also do commercial lending; we have a pretty strong group of commercial lenders.

“In the Berkshires, we see ourselves being able to fill a void, with a high level of expertise in commercial lending within Berkshire County and surrounding areas,” he went on, adding that this void has been created through large regionals either moving their headquarters from the Berkshires (as Berkshire Bank did) or expanding in other areas — leaving what Fraser considers opportunity for his bank in their wake.

Actually, there are many things that work for MountainOne, besides these differing focal points on either end of the state, including that aforementioned strong focus on commercial lending; the diversity of the business (there is an insurance division and an investment arm); its size — large enough to handle the needs of most businesses but small enough to provide a brand of personalized service — a strong focus on technology and how to use it to better serve customers, including a new digital platform for commercial customers to go live this month; and even the name, which doesn’t tie it to one community or one region and now has strong brand recognition in the Western Mass. region, with a mascot — actually, a ‘spokesgoat’ — named Mo.

“Being headquartered in the Berkshires, we want to be seen as the go-to bank for commercial accounts and borrowers throughout Berkshire County and the surrounding areas in Western Mass.”

MountainOne, now with roughly $1 billion in assets, will continue to maximize these various strengths and qualities and work to attain greater market share in both regions it serves, especially in the Berkshires, said Matt Lauro, senior vice president of Commercial Lending, noting that, like the rest of Western Mass. — and the state, for that matter — the region is overbanked.

But it is also, in his view, underserved to some degree.

“There aren’t enough banks that are servicing large commercial clients, or commercial clients as a whole, that are really focused in Western Massachusetts,” he said. “You do have players that are primarily focused here, but there is a void resulting from the larger regionals that have tended to pull back on lending capabilities in Western Mass., and it has left C&I clients, and larger commercial-development clients, with less service than they’ve had historically.”

Added Fraser, “being headquartered in the Berkshires, we want to be seen as the go-to bank for commercial accounts and borrowers throughout Berkshire County and the surrounding areas in Western Mass.”

Both Fraser and Lauro noted that the bank’s strong roots, diversity of services, and strong track record in the Berkshires will serve it well during what can only be described as a time of challenge and uncertainty — when it comes to the economy, banks, and the foreseeable future.

Bob Fraser says MountainOne can grow as effectively through online banking as it can through geographic expansion.

“This environment we’re in … I’ve never experienced so much uncertainty as to where we’re headed,” Fraser said. “And an environment of uncertainty makes decision making so difficult, whether it’s running a bank or running your company; it’s incredibly challenging to feel confident about what the next few years are going to look like.”

For this issue and its focus on banking and financial services, BusinessWest talked with Fraser and Lauro about MountainOne and what can and should come next for this bank as its marks an important milestone.

Scaling the Heights

Team members at this institution are known as colloquially as ‘mountaineers.’

And on Sept. 19, all of the MountainOne offices will close at 1 p.m. so that the mountaineers can attend a celebration for all employees marking the bank’s 175th anniversary.

There will be much to celebrate, said Fraser, listing a rich past, and a potential-laden future, for the reasons cited earlier.

The institution can trace its roots to 1848 in North Adams, when it was known as Hoosac Bank. Fast-forwarding considerably, Fraser noted that, in 2000, Hoosac Bank and Williamstown Savings Bank came together to create the holding company to be called MountainOne Financial, which became the mutual holding company for those two banks.

“If you’re a sophisticated business owner, you understand that you don’t need a branch at the end of your street; you need a relationship manager, a loan officer who is going to be at your business when you need him, to speak with him, to work with him.”

And in 2007, South Coastal Bank, headquartered on the South Shore, merged its holding company into MountainOne’s holding company, creating what Fraser, formerly president and CEO of South Coastal, believes is the first three-bank mutual holding company.

“We’ve seen a lot more of that now, but MountainOne was the first to actually do it,” he said, adding that, over time, the three banks have been merged into one entity under the Hoosac charter and rebranded as MountainOne. Additionally, Hoosac Bank had owned two insurance agencies, which were merged under the name MountainOne Insurance Agency, while the investment division was rebranded MountainOne Investments in 2013.

Today, MountainOne has some combination of bank branches, ATMs, insurance offices, and investment offices in six communities, three on each end of the state: Quincy, Rockland, and Scituate on or near the South Shore, and North Adams, Pittsfield, and Williamstown in the Berkshires.

When asked if there was future expansion under consideration in the Berkshires region — and, if so, where — Fraser said it’s possible, but what is more likely is continued commitment to advancing internet banking capabilities that allow banks to serve customers more efficiently, with less reliance on brick-and-mortar facilities.

“The world is changing,” he explained. “You don’t need as much of a physical presence in a specific geography as you did before to manage and serve a business customer’s banking needs.”

Lauro agreed.

“If the client is in the surrounding area, we are wherever the client is,” he explained. “Wherever the client is, we are happy to be there, to work with them; that has been our opportunity, and it’s a big thing for us. If you’re a sophisticated business owner, you understand that you don’t need a branch at the end of your street; you need a relationship manager, a loan officer who is going to be at your business when you need him, to speak with him, to work with him.”

Matt Lauro says the considers the Berkshires to be overbanked but its commercial customers underserved, leaving opportunity for MountainOne.
Staff Photo

And this is what MountainOne brings to the table, Fraser said, noting that, despite the ability to serve clients through the use of technology, commercial banking is a “personal relationship-oriented service,” said Fraser, noting that MountainOne boasts lending professionals like Lauro and Richard Kelly, also a senior vice president of Commercial Lending based in Pittsfield, who are focused on the region and its economic health and well-being.

“Our vision, at the end of the day, is to help ensure the economic vibrancy of the community,” he said. “And by doing that — by supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs — we’re helping to fulfill that mission.”

Economies of Scale

As he talked physical expansion — new branches — in other communities within the Berkshires, Fraser told BusinessWest that it would be “challenging to invest in a branch location in a market that has a declining population base and is already overbanked,” and that the bank’s strategy is, as he said, geared more toward technology.

But he noted quickly that the Berkshires has seen an uptick in population in the wake of the pandemic, with some choosing more rural areas over larger cities, as well as some demographic shifts, with more young people moving to the area, and a surge in entrepreneurship, in part because of COVID and how it prompted many to pursue long-held dreams of working for themselves.

And all of these trends are certainly positive signs for the Berkshire County market and its business community.

Indeed, as they talked about the next chapters in MountainOne’s history, Fraser and Lauro noted that, independent of what is happening with the economy, interest rates, and other factors, there are many reasons for optimism when it comes to broadening the book of business and gaining additional market share.

Some of this has to do with COVID-related population surges, demographic shifts, and that aforementioned surge in entrepreneurship, the size and scope of which are still to be determined. But much of it comes down to what the bank can bring to the table beyond what all banks can provide — money.

“Hospitality is the number-one industry, and we’ve been involved in a number of projects involving hospitality-related businesses, but we also have a number of commercial accounts that involve meaningful employers and well-known companies in the Berkshires,” Fraser said. “And I think there’s a greater opportunity for us over time to continue to expand in that market as we see younger entrepreneurs establishing roots in the Berkshires. Businesses may be looking for an entity that is based in the Berkshires, is local, and obviously has a commitment to the region; we’ve been here since 1848.

“Being a mutual organization, we can look a little bit longer-term strategically than if we were a stock-owned company,” he went on. “It’s just a different business; we can be patient and look beyond the next quarter or two quarters — we have that luxury.”

Elaborating, he said MountainOne has experienced lenders who understand business and what it takes to succeed and can step into the role of adviser as well as banker.

“We’re not just a vendor that is providing you a product, which is the loan,” he told BusinessWest. “We’re also a resource. It’s a relationship, and it’s probably the most unique relationship a business will have. Anyone can sell you something — we’re the only relationship where we have to get what we sold you back.

“Another aspect of it is that we really enjoy this part of the business — it’s in our DNA,” he went on. “We love being with our customers, and we love understanding their businesses. We love talking about what we know, what we’re thinking about, and sharing those ideas.”

Mo-mentum

As for Mo the mountain goat, he’s the perfect spokesperson for the bank, as detailed in a bio on its website. “Goats are tough,” it reads. “They turn challenges into opportunities every day, and even in the most demanding, unforgiving environments, goats know how to adapt and thrive.”

MountainOne has done a lot of that over the past 175 years, and that collective work has put it in a position where it can turn challenge into opportunity and scale new heights — in all kinds of ways.

Habitat for Humanity Helps Veterans with Needed Renovation Projects

By Joseph Bednar September 14, 2023

Home Improvement Special Coverage

Serving Those Who Have Served

Habitat for Humanity’s Veterans Build initiative has helped many veterans stay in their homes through repair and renovation projects.

Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity (GSHFH) homeowner and local veteran Max needed help. The colonial home he purchased in the McKnight neighborhood in 2002 had become a hindrance.

Max suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and rheumatoid arthritis, which makes climbing stairs to the second-floor bedrooms challenging. He expressed his concerns to Habitat, and together, they discovered a solution. Habitat, through its Veterans Build Home Preservation program, is building a downstairs bedroom and bathroom for the veteran and his wife, Gloria.

Veterans Build is a national Habitat for Humanity initiative that provides housing solutions and volunteer and employment opportunities for U.S. veterans, military service members, and their families. The program serves limited-income homeowners who are affected by age, disability, or family circumstances and struggle to maintain the condition and utility of their homes.

The home-preservation program provides affordable micro-loans to qualifying homeowners who need help with accessibility modifications, home weatherization, general home repairs, yard cleanup, and landscaping. GSHFH works alongside volunteers and homeowners to make repairs.

“Massachusetts has some of the oldest housing stock in the country, and many aging homeowners are unable to make needed repairs on their own,” said Aimee Giroux, GSHFH’s executive director. “We are happy to be able to help them through the repair process so they can continue to stay in their homes.”

Max, a former Marines corporal, qualified for the Veterans Build Home Preservation program and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Veterans Housing Rehabilitation and Modification Pilot Program. The pilot project gives competitive grants to nonprofits that serve veterans or low-income individuals. The grants can be used to rehabilitate eligible veterans’ primary residences. Purple Heart Homes is donating $15,000 while raising additional funds toward the project. Purple Heart Homes, a nonprofit charity, provides housing solutions for former military members who are disabled and/or have decided to age in place.

“Massachusetts has some of the oldest housing stock in the country, and many aging homeowners are unable to make needed repairs on their own. We are happy to be able to help them through the repair process so they can continue to stay in their homes.”

“Every act of generosity toward our veterans echoes a resounding commitment to honor their service and sacrifice. With deep gratitude, Purple Heart Homes is proud to contribute $15,000 to the Greater Springfield Habitat Humanity home-preservation project, ensuring veteran Maxwell finds solace and security in a place he can call home,” said John Gallina, CEO and co-founder of PHH. “Our mission extends beyond this gift, as we embark on a dedicated fundraising campaign to reach a goal of an additional $10,000. We believe we’re better together. In collaboration with Habitat for Humanity, we hope to build a legacy of compassion and support for those who have bravely defended our freedom.”

GSHFH is dedicated to strengthening communities by empowering low-income families to change their lives and the lives of future generations through home ownership and home-preservation opportunities. Since 1987, Greater Springfield Habitat has built or repaired 120 homes in 23 towns. This project represents the first home to utilize ICFs, which will further reduce long-term costs for the future homeowners.

Helping Other Veterans

Last month, Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity, in association with Window World Military Initiative, Home Depot Repair Corps, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Veterans Housing Rehabilitation and Modification Pilot Program, performed exterior work for former Army Specialist fourth grade Roland and his wife Jo-Ann.

The pilot project gives competitive grants to nonprofits that serve veterans or low-income individuals. Grants can be used to rehabilitate eligible veterans’ primary residences.

The one-story Monson house, which the couple purchased in 1992, had fallen into disrepair, and Roland said his insurance company didn’t want to insure it because of the state of the siding. He knew of Habitat for Humanity from reading articles about well-known volunteer and former President Jimmy Carter and thought there might be an affiliate in Springfield. When he reached out, Giroux visited his home to help the couple complete the application process.

Window World Military Initiative donated the siding, replacement windows, a new sliding door, and gutters, while also providing volunteer support to help with installation.

“Our family is blessed and honored to live in a country that provides the freedoms that we all enjoy, and as a small family business, we are the example of the American dream,” said Grace Drost, owner of Window World of Western Massachusetts. “With that, we can’t forget that those freedoms and the American dream aren’t free, and we feel this is an opportunity to thank our veterans for the sacrifices they make so our dreams can come true. One of the core values of our company is rooted in changing lives, and this is a chance for our whole team to give back to those who make the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.”

Habitat also replaced the deck and repaired the shed roof and cleaned up the yard.

“Habitat is excellent,” Roland said. “I’m very pleased.”

Macmillan Group Strives to Be a Partner with Its Clients

By George O'Brien September 14, 2023

Commercial Real Estate Special Coverage

Finding Their Place

From left, Walter Kroll, Mark Healy, and Demetrios Panteleakis stand in front of the recently opened Big Y store at Tower Square.

Demetrios Panteleakis has talked often about the interview he and his partners at the Macmillan Group had with the new owners of Tower Square when they were searching for a leasing agent.

He remembers it vividly, and he refers to it often because … five years later, he’s still shocked they ultimately won the contract.

That’s because they, and especially Panteleakis, were candid — as in candid — when it came to their assessment of the state of the building, its future, and what the new owners (and future BusinessWest Top Entrepreneurs) Vid Mitta and Dinesh Patel could and should do with it. Or not do with it, as the case may be.

Indeed, the brokers who came to the interview table were telling the owners they couldn’t lease the office and retail spaces that were vacant or soon to be vacant, Panteleakis recalled, adding that Mitta and Patel were looking seriously at turning the property into multi-family housing.

“I thought I was brutally honest with them, and I had a list of 10 things they must do if they wanted to make this viable again in downtown Springfield,” he said. “It encompassed the totality of the space, how they looked at it, and how they approached it. It was one of those calls where you get off the call and say, ‘this is never going to happen — we just went in there and punched these guys in the mouth; there’s no way they’re calling us back.’”

But they did, and Panteleakis believes that’s because he and his partners, Walter Kroll and Mark Healy, didn’t tell Mitta and Patel what they wanted to hear — even if they didn’t seem too happy to hear it at first.

“With most of the responses, they didn’t like it — they didn’t like what Demetrios was telling them,” said Kroll, managing director of the firm. “They were not appreciative of the plan, but they listened.”

That strategy, if it can be called a strategy, is how the firm operates, said Panteleakis, adding that this mindset applies to clients of all sizes and questions of all kinds, especially those heard most often in commercial real estate, including ‘can you buy/lease my building?’ and ‘how much can I sell my building for?’

Too many people asking those questions are drawn to people and firms who will tell them what they what to hear, Panteleakis said, adding quickly that what they should be looking for is a firm willing to partner with them on the matter on hand, be it selling a property or leasing out the vast spaces within Tower Square.

“I have lost opportunities because I am rigid on giving the correct number to someone, more than I am giving the number that the client wants to hear and has been given to them by another broker,” he told BusinessWest.

The Macmillan Group is the latest incarnation, if you will, of the brokerage and property management firm known as Macmillan & Son. When the third-generation president of that firm, Doug Macmillan, ultimately lost his battle with cancer in 2016, the firm was in limbo, Panteleakis said, adding that he was told by Macmillan’s mother, Pat, who passed away in 2002, that Doug’s wishes were for Panteleakis to take the helm and ultimately write new chapters to the Macmillan story.

At first, he was somewhat reluctant to take that course — he already had a job working for MassMutual in its real-estate arm, and was fond of it.

He was more fond, though, of the opportunity to essentially run his own firm. And his eventual partners — Kroll and Healy — were of that same mindset.

“I have lost opportunities because I am rigid on giving the correct number to someone, more than I am giving the number that the client wants to hear and has been given to them by another broker.”

“I knew right away that I couldn’t do it myself,” Panteleakis said. “So I approached Mark and Walter, two of my closest friends, and we came together on this; we pretty much run a co-op here.”

Today, this co-op boasts a growing portfolio of clients and properties — topped by Patel and Mitta, Tower Square and the neighboring 1550 Main St., also acquired by those two serial entrepreneurs — in Western Mass., but also well beyond, as we’ll see.

Looking toward the future and what’s in the business plan for the Macmillan Group, the partners said the simple and direct goal is to continue growing the firm and the portfolio by convincing more property owners (and potential property owners) to become partners with the firm, in the same vein as those who own Tower Square.

For this issue and its focus on commercial real estate, we talked with the partners about their firm, the real-estate market in the region, and what is likely to come next for both.

Space Exploration

As they walked with BusinessWest from their offices on the mezzanine level at Tower Square to the ground floor and the ‘Dunk’ (Dunkin’ Donuts) for a coffee, the three partners pointed out many of the changes that have come to this important piece of real estate over the past five years.

These include the return of the Marriott flag to the hotel after it was lost for several years amid profound deterioration of the structure and the service provided in it, and the facility became known as Tower Square Hotel; the arrival of Big Y’s scaled-down supermarket next to the ‘Dunk’; White Lion Brewery; the Greater Springfield YMCA’s fitness center and daycare operation; and new tenants in the office tower, including Farm Credit Financial Partners, Wellfleet, and others.

Overall, Tower Square boasts a wide array of different types of tenants, which makes it ideal for the Macmillan Group and its partners, who bring different areas of expertise to the table. Panteleakis offers a diverse background, including work in succession planning, development, and construction management, but especially a strong focus on the office market through his work with MassMutual. Kroll, meanwhile, brings expertise in the retail market, while Healy has focused on the office market as well as industrial and medical.

And all three brought an understanding of this market and relationships with the brokerage community to the ‘new’ firm, as well as that mentality of partnering with clients rather than simply trying to sell or lease out their building.

This was especially true with Patel and Mitta, who were taking on a huge risk with Tower Square. Indeed, in addition to losing the Marriott flag from the hotel, MassMutual — the original owner of the building, and the primary tenant — was preparing to move out of several floors of the office tower. Panteleakis recalls that most of the talk, and speculation, was about converting the hotel, and perhaps parts of the complex, into multi-family housing.

It was with this backdrop that those two partners commenced their search for a brokerage firm.

“They interviewed every brokerage firm in Western Mass., and then it was our turn; we were the last ones,” Panteleakis recalled, adding that Kroll and Healy were face-to-face with the entrepreneurs, while he joined on a conference call. And they, and especially Panteleakis, were brutally honest.

“They didn’t like what they were hearing, but they listened,” Healy said. “And that’s why I give these guys a ton of credit.”

Kroll agreed. “With a lot of people, you talk to them and say, ‘you have to do this,’ or ‘what about this?’ and they’re insulted by it. These guys, they listened, and I think it’s because we were the first people not to tell them what they wanted to hear.”

Among other things, Panteleakis advised them to be creative when it came to leasing out the retail and office spaces, and also to be patient, and not chase tenants with attractive offers on rates, even with MassMutual set to vacate large amounts of space.

“I thought it was the most valuable building in Springfield, and I still think that,” he said. “Where others came in and told them to lower their prices, I did the opposite; I told them they needed to appropriately value the building against the competition and not chase tenants with rental rate. I advised them to establish their rate and strengthen it.”

This mindset of being honest and getting clients to listen has helped the firm grow its portfolio of clients and properties with Macmillan signs. These include Hadley Park Plaza, Palmer Plaza, the office complex at 877 South St. in Pittsfield, the Laurin Publishing Building at 100 West St. in Pittsfield, 20 Maple St. in Springfield, industrial land in Agawam, and many others.

It’s a diverse portfolio, Panteleakis said, adding that the obvious goal moving forward is to broaden and deepen it by being honest with clients and potential clients, and partnering with them to achieve whatever goals they’ve set.

Which brings Panteleakis back to those comments about numbers and projections that he and his partners give to clients, and not telling them what they think they want to hear.

“Some brokers will take the attitude, ‘don’t worry about what it actually sells for — just get the listing first, and then Mother Nature will take care of itself,” he said. “Here, we have a philosophy that this is not the kind of business we want to do. We rate success on how close we came with our assessment and analysis. Did we give that client the right information?”

Looking Ahead

As they survey the commercial real-estate landscape, and especially the local office market, the three partners at the Macmillan Group take what would be considered the optimistic view about the present and foreseeable future.

“We are past this concept of working from home — it’s losing traction,” Panteleakis said with a strong dose of conviction in his voice. “People are understanding that the productivity of their workforce is just not the same; whether it’s J.P. Morgan, Google, Apple … the trend now is ‘you have to be in the office,’ which is certainly a positive for the office market.”

Elaborating, he said corporations large and small are veering toward bringing their workers back the office, if they haven’t already, on the premise that teams of workers don’t work as effectively when some or all their players are working from home.

Persistently lower occupancy rates for office space in cities ranging from Boston to San Francisco notwithstanding, Panteleakis and his partners believe the office market locally, and especially in downtown Springfield, will withstand this post-pandemic environment and the trend toward remote work.

“What I see right now is the 3,000- to 5,000-square-foot users just starting to emerge,” Healy said. “This year has been incredibly slow, but I’m beginning to see people look to next year, for what space is available. And I think it’s going to be that way for the next 24 months.”

Meanwhile, Panteleakis noted that Regus, a leading provider of office space, co-working environments, shared space, and other products will be creating such opportunities on one floor in Tower Square, roughly 16,000 square feet, bringing more options to business owners in the wake of the pandemic and other shifts within the workplace.

Still, COVID and other factors have brought some changes to the landscape, Panteleakis said, citing law firms, a huge force within the local office market, especially in downtown Springfield, as one example. He noted there are fewer large firms, and the larger firms are getting smaller as Baby Boomers retire. Meanwhile, fewer clients are actually coming to the firms’ offices to meet with lawyers, some of whom are, in fact, working remotely. All this adds up to this segment absorbing less office space in the years to come.

Meanwhile, an even bigger challenge moving forward might be the growing number of businesses, across all sectors, that are not surviving the current generation of ownership.

Indeed, Panteleakis notes with concern that the pandemic convinced a number of Baby Boomer business owners to call it quits. Meanwhile, an alarming number of those still slugging it out have no real succession plan in place.

“They’ve put 40 years into a business, and COVID taught them that life’s too short and they really can find something else to do with their free time,” he said. “Their children don’t want their business, or they’re doing their own thing. And if they go to put the business up for sale, first you have to have entrepreneurs who are willing to take the risk and have access to capital … and when you add that kind of formula to what has happened with bank lending and interest rates, we’re seeing a lack of continuity with businesses.

“Initially, you say, ‘great, there’s so much for us to sell,” he went on. “The question is … who’s going to buy it?”

Incorporations

By BusinessWest Staff September 14, 2023

DBA Certificates

The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin counties and are the latest available. They are listed by community.

ASHFIELD

Haerer Services Corp., 1453 Hawley Road, Ashfield, MA 01330. Drew Haerer, same. Consulting services.

CHICOPEE

Braid Club Inc., 1981 Memorial Dr., #265, Chicopee, MA 01020. Lauren Blair, 15 Jared Lane, Southwick, MA 01077. Booster club committed to providing opportunities for family engagement and fundraising that support the Black Rose Academy of Irish Dance.

EAST LONGMEADOW

The Empowerment Project Inc., 200 North Main St., Suite 11, East Longmeadow, MA 01028. Cheryl Przezdziecki, same. Nonprofit organization committed to providing women in underserved communities with opportunities for personal and professional advancement through education, sponsorship, and social support.

GRANVILLE

Pool Water and More Inc., 309 South Lane, Granville, MA 01034. Casey Placek, same. Delivering water and servicing pools.

HOLYOKE

BCC Adonai Elohim Christian Ministries, 1 Beacon Ave., Holyoke, MA 01040. Natanael Lopez Ozuna, same. Christian ministry to spread the message of hope and compassion of Jesus Christ by forming, training and sending ministers, clergy, Bible teachers, Bible educators, and Christian missions teams to assist people in need.

LUDLOW

Friends of the Ludlow 250th Celebration Inc., 355 East St., Ludlow, MA 01056. John Diotalevi, 181 Cislak Dr., Ludlow, MA 01056. Nonprofit corporation to support the events involved in the recognition of the 250th anniversary of the town of Ludlow.

NORTHAMPTON

Nice Tea Inc., 211 Main St., Northampton, MA 01060. Jia Ni, same. Café business.

PITTSFIELD

Berkshire Running Foundation Inc., 5 Cheshire Road, Suite 119, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Shiobbean Lemme, same. Corporation established to raise money for local non-for-profit charities through running events while promoting and educating health and wellness throughout the community where there is little or no access to fitness and wellness activities and events.

Nantucket Venture Partners Inc., 82 Wendell Ave., Suite 100, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Shawn Green, 20 Mill Lane, Hingham, MA 02043. A funding arm by investors to enrich the island of Nantucket with strong potential growth opportunities with a capital fund raised from private and institutional investors.

Structure Works Construction Inc., 82 Wendell Ave., Suite 100, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Leland Wood, same. Home building, home improvement, and construction services.

SPRINGFIELD

All Things Beauty Lounge Inc., 73 Francis St., Springfield, MA 01104. Mariaah Martinez, same. Minority- and woman-owned salon based on eyelash-extension services.

The Bridge Christian Church, 700 Berkshire Ave., Springfield, MA 01109. Luis Otero, same. Helping the community maintain a healthy spiritual lifestyle by giving them the opportunity to congregate in a place where they can be motivated to pursue a well-established life.

Deshaciendo las Obras de las Tinieblas Inc., 32-34 Hampden St., Springfield, MA 01103. Thomas Peralta, same. Helping the community in times of darkness during a tragedy through volunteerism.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Cha Inc., 26 Alexander Dr., West Springfield, MA 01089. Todd Thibodeau, same. Appliance sales.

Healthcare Provider: Julie Lefer Quick

By Joseph Bednar September 14, 2023

Healthcare Heroes

Nurse Manager, VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System

Her Work Caring for Veterans Is Grounded in a Sense of Mission

Julie Lefer Quick

After a decade and a half in the nursing profession, Julie Lefer Quick was looking for a change, and found one at the Veterans Administration’s (VA) outpatient clinic in Springfield.

She also found a level of passion and mission-driven commitment she hadn’t experienced before.

“I can honestly say that I’ve never seen nurses more dedicated to their population; I feel the dedication,” she said. And so do the patients. “Last week, a nurse forwarded me an email that she received from one of her veterans’ caregivers about what great care she took of that veteran, just going above and beyond. And she said, ‘I love my job.’

“Every one of the nurses who works with the VA goes above and beyond every single day,” Lefer Quick added. “And it’s really wonderful to be a part of that, serving such a deserving population.”

She started at the VA in July 2018 as a primary-care nurse. Before that, she worked for a pediatrician in solo practice, including as practice manager, for two and a half years, followed by more than 11 years in the Springfield Public Schools.

“When my son went off to college, I thought, ‘now is a great time to try something new, get back into primary care.’ So that’s when I got the job at the VA.”

When they hear mention of the VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System, most people think of the hospital in Leeds, which houses services ranging from inpatient psychiatric mental-health and substance-misuse treatment to primary care; from rehabilitation to specialties like orthopedics, radiology, cardiology, and many others.

“Every one of the nurses who works with the VA goes above and beyond every single day. And it’s really wonderful to be a part of that, serving such a deserving population.”

“And we also have five community-based outpatient clinics, where we primarily do primary care and then, depending on the clinic, some specialties to support the veterans,” she explained, noting that these are located in Springfield, Fitchburg, Greenfield, Pittsfield, and Worcester. “In Springfield, we have a very large mental-health department, and we also have a small lab, physical therapy, a registered dietitian, a clinical pharmacy, and what’s called home-based primary care.”

As it happens, Lefer Quick loves primary care, and missed that during her years working in the schools. “I had missed the ongoing, deep relationships with patients and their families.”

So, with her son graduating from the school system, she craved a return to care in a medical-office setting, and happened to meet some VA nurses at a Learn to Row event through the Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club in Springfield, where her husband, Ben Quick, is executive director.

“They were like, ‘oh you should come work at the VA,’” she recalled. So she did — and, not surprisingly, she loved the work. Which is why she was hesitant to take the position of nurse manager when it became available last October.

“I wasn’t really sure I wanted to be a nurse manager. I love taking care of my patients. I love working with my team in the VA,” she said. “Nationwide, we practice a primary-care delivery system called the PACT model, which stands for patient-aligned care team. So there’s one provider, one RN, one LPN, and one admin; it’s sort of like a mini-practice within a group practice.

“We always see the same patients, and I had a great team that I worked with,” she went on. “It’s a good model for the patients; they really love it. So I didn’t want to leave my team or my patients.”

But a mentor encouraged her to try something new, and she accepted the detail.

“As a PACT RN, I was providing direct patient care and education, working with my team to meet population health-management goals, such as certain levels of control for diabetes or hypertension. And now I work for the other PACT nurses, supporting them in their practice.”

The busy community-based outpatient clinic in Springfield is one of five operated by the VA in Western and Central Mass.

As nurse manager for two clinics — Springfield and Greenfield — she currently supervises 23 LPNs and RNs, with about three more to be hired soon. And she quickly found she could apply her passion for care in this overseeing role.

“In the VA, we have a unique understanding of the military culture that other providers in the community don’t necessarily have,” she said. “It’s a very sad truth that a lot of our veterans have emotional issues when they come back, but we are on the cutting edge of all types of mental-health treatment modalities and therapeutic options, and we also have the support of Congress — it’s a single-payer system, and we don’t have to be bogged down by some of the stuff that community providers have to deal with. So we, as nurses and providers, can really focus on our veterans and come up with innovative ways to care for them.”

A Passion for Patients

A quick look at the typically full parking lot at the VA’s Springfield CBOC, which stands for community-based outpatient clinic, testifies to the need for the services it provides, from laboratory and pharmacy to primary care and behavioral health.

“From what I have learned as the spouse of a VA nurse manager, it seems that, while most of these workers could get paid more elsewhere, they stay with the VA because they are passionate about caring for our veterans, and they are energetic about supporting each other in this difficult, important work,” Ben Quick wrote in nominating his wife for the Healthcare Hero recognition.

Yet, nursing wasn’t her first career. After graduating from college, she worked briefly in human resources, found she didn’t like that career, and went back to school for a nursing degree.

“Coming out of nursing school a little bit older than the typical students, I kind of took the first job that I could get,” she recalled. “I had a small child, so I didn’t want to work hospital hours, even though I loved the idea of being in the hospital, so I went to work for a pediatrician.”

Which surprised her, considering that her nursing-school rotations caring for youngsters tended to make her cry because she didn’t want to see them hurt or sick.

“I think there’s more of an awareness of mental-health needs in general in healthcare right now. And certainly, veterans who have seen combat are going to need support afterward. So that’s part of our mission.”

But as a pediatric nurse, “I loved seeing the kids grow over the years, seeing new babies born into families, working with parents on all kinds of different diagnoses to help their kids,” she recalled, and her next move was born of wanting to keep caring for children. “Working in the public schools was a way to be available for my son while also reaching a big population of kids. And I loved it.”

So Lefer Quick felt torn about leaving pediatric care for the VA.

“I remember leaving the public-school job for this, and I was very, very excited, but I had this moment of, ‘oh my gosh, am I doing the right thing?’ I said to one of my friends, ‘but I love my kids so much here.’ And she said, ‘you’ll find new patients in a while.’ And I did.”

In doing so, she’s taken to heart Abraham Lincoln’s famous quote that the VA — established 65 years after he uttered it — has adopted as a sort of mission: “to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.”

“One of the things that almost kept me from accepting the detail to nurse manager was all my patients,” she said, but she understands that all her roles have been supportive in some way: “supporting kids and their families, supporting students at school to be optimally healthy and ready to learn, supporting our veterans, and now supporting the nurses who provide that care to veterans.”

Some of that care is behavioral and substance-related. “We recognize the need for that integrated care for our veterans. I think there’s more of an awareness of mental-health needs in general in healthcare right now,” she noted. “And certainly, veterans who have seen combat are going to need support afterward. So that’s part of our mission.”

She said the VA has felt the strain of a nationwide nursing shortage as much as any other facility, but added that the nurses who take jobs there value the mission President Lincoln put forward — and many are veterans themselves, or come from a strong military family, or are drawn for some other reason to caring for a veteran population.

“That was how I talked myself into the manager position. I thought, ‘well, if I can be a manager with my background, already doing this job, I can support these nurses, which ultimately provides better care for the veterans.’ So I’m not just doing it for my team; I’m helping every single team.”

The COVID pandemic posed challenges across the spectrum of healthcare, but Lefer Quick said the VA was uncommonly prepared for it, as it had already implemented a remote monitoring platform called VA Video Connect, so VA facilities were able to pivot to virtual appointments more quickly than other organizations.

For instance, before the pandemic, “I had a patient who needed monthly monitoring for medication he was on, and he liked to travel. So we would do video visits, and we would have a set appointment to do the follow-up for his medication, wherever he was. So we already all knew how to use this,” she recalled.

And when COVID struck, “we very quickly pivoted to using video for several months, almost exclusively. A lot of our patients did not want to come to the clinic. Nobody wanted to go anywhere. And we already had this in place.”

Their concerns were warranted, as the pandemic hit the elderly population hard in the earliest days of the pandemic. “As you can imagine, a large percentage of the VA population is elderly. I had a father-son set of patients — and the son was 74. So a lot of them, being elderly and therefore immunocompromised, were scared, but the VA already had this amazing video platform, and we had already trained everybody how to use it.”

Meanwhile, “the nurses that I worked with were coming up with great ways to rotate the staff through the clinic so that we could spread out more to allow for that social distancing and masking in a more comfortable way,” Lefer Quick explained. “And we took on new providers and new nurses, even during the pandemic. We didn’t slow down much.”

Cutting-edge Care

In his nomination, Ben Quick boiled his pitch down to three thoughts: the VA’s quality of care is second to none, downtown Springfield has a busy medical practice devoted to healing America’s heroes, and the workers there are humble, passionate, professional patriots. “That’s a Healthcare Hero story that everyone needs to hear,” he wrote.

And now they will.

“The VA is the best employer I’ve ever had in my entire life,” Lefer Quick said. “They value creativity and innovation, and they support us to explore that.

“We really are on the cutting edge,” she added. “The people I work with are doing amazing things and love to be there. No matter where they are, in Springfield or any other part of this country, if someone is eligible for VA care, they really ought to look into it.” n

Innovation in Healthcare: Gabriel Mokwuah and Joel Brito

By George O'Brien September 14, 2023

Healthcare Heroes

Patient Safety Associates, Holyoke Medical Center

Their Lifesaving Actions Shine a Light on a New Position at HMC

Gabriel Mokwuah

Joel Brito

When Gabe Mokwuah came to this country from Nigeria when he was 12 and heard people talking about ‘football,’ he thought about the sport played with a round ball that athletes try to kick into a net.

The other football, the one that is much more popular in this country? He didn’t know anything about it, and didn’t really want to know anything about it.

But that didn’t stop the football coach at his New York City high school from trying to convince the large, fast, and very athletic Mokwuah to try out for the team. Eventually, and we’re simplifying things here, he succeeded in those efforts. But even then, Mokwuah wasn’t really interested in the sport.

It wasn’t until he started hearing the word ‘scholarship’ and came to understand that football could be a means to an end — a college education and a ticket out of a high-crime area on Staten Island — that he began to really take it seriously.

Fast-forwarding through the next several years, Mokwuah did attend and graduate from American International College, while also playing defensive end and linebacker — so well, in fact, that he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 11th round in 1992 (they only have seven rounds today).

He played in two exhibition games, was cut, tried to catch on with a few other teams, didn’t, and wound up working as a court officer at the Hampden County Jail and House of Correction, a job from which he retired several years ago.

All that adds up to just one of the intriguing backstories that can be told by those now working as patient safety associates (PSAs), or, in his case, patient safety coordinator, at Holyoke Medical Center (HMC).

Joel Brito has one of his own.

He was working for Hulmes Transportation, taking individuals to medical appointments and daily programs while also volunteering his time to help those with substance-abuse issues when he saw an ad posted on Indeed — Holyoke Medical Center was looking for patient safety associates.

“As soon as I saw it, I jumped on it, and here I am. This has always been my dream — I always wanted to be in the healthcare field,” he said, adding that his ambition is to become a certified nursing assistant.

Others now working as PSAs at HMC have backstories as well. Some are retired or semi-retired CNAs who succeeded in finding work that is rewarding on many levels. Others are getting started down the road to careers in healthcare and have taken this entry-level position to explore options and find out if healthcare is for them. Some are in pharmacy programs. One is studying for her MBA.

The PSA position is relatively new to HMC, and healthcare in general, and it represents an imaginative and innovative step forward from the ‘sitter’ or ‘patient observer’ role seen in most hospitals, said Margaret-Ann Azzaro, vice president of Patient Care Services and chief Nursing officer at HMC.

“As soon as I saw it, I jumped on it, and here I am. This has always been my dream — I always wanted to be in the healthcare field.”

Elaborating, she said the role involves not merely sitting with an at-risk patient, but engaging with them as a well, a position that brings more value to the patients and the hospital, but also those who assume that role.

“We thought, ‘let’s come up with a safety role to empower people to not only keep these patients safe, but engage with them as well,” she said. “We don’t have sitters here; we don’t have observers here — we have patient safety associates, and the idea is to give them some education and tools to enrich the experience while they’re sitting with a patient.”

Mokwuah and Brito embody the motivations behind the PSA position and also just how vital these individuals are — to a hospital, to the patients they serve, to initiatives to reduce falls and improve overall patient safety, and, sometimes, much more.

Indeed, both have been credited with saving lives in recent months — Mokwuah in April, by seeing something while in the virtual monitoring room and immediately calling for a team member to check on the patient, and Brito in July for performing the Heimlich maneuver on a patient he heard making sounds of distress while he was sitting with another patient. (More on both episodes later).

Both men were named employee of the month for their respective actions. That’s certainly an honor, and in October, they’ll be receiving another one: Healthcare Hero.

Not on Their Watch

There are actually three distinct roles within the PSA position, and individuals with that title handle all three on a rotating basis, noted Brian Toia, Nursing director of the ICU, RN float pool, and patient safety associates, adding that teamwork is what makes this innovative program so effective.

The first role involves one-on-one direct care — staying within arm’s length of a patient with a high safety risk, including those susceptible to falls, patients with dementia, and those who might be suicide risks. The second involves virtual monitoring. Utilizing a camera system placed in rooms of patients with potential safety risks, PSAs working in the virtual monitoring room can keep tabs on up to 12 patients at once.

From left, Margaret-Ann Azaro, Joel Brito, Gabe Mokwuah, and Brian Toia.

From left, Margaret-Ann Azzaro, Joel Brito, Gabe Mokwuah, and Brian Toia.

The third role is what those at HMC call a ‘rounder,’ one person dedicated to a unit who will frequently check on patients, respond to virtual monitoring calls, and also answer patient calls for assistance.

When asked which role he liked the most, Brito didn’t hesitate. “I like being a rounder. I love that it’s a non-stop job.”

But all these roles are vital to the overall mission of keeping at-risk patients safe, said Mokwuah, who coordinates the department and makes the daily assignments.

Before he talked about the PSAs and what they do, he put matters in their proper perspective. “The real heroes are the nurses, the doctors, and the administrators. And they have given us support for this program to take off. Our job is to keep people safe, and our program saves lives — we’ve proven that over and over again.”

“We thought, ‘let’s come up with a safety role to empower people to not only keep these patients safe, but engage with them as well.’”

Azzaro agreed, emphasizing, again, that PSAs are far more than the ‘sitters’ of years ago. These are individuals who can, and do, watch over patients. But they also engage them and help “enrich the experience,” as she put it, while offering some examples.

“We gave them dementia and Alzheimer’s education,” she explained, noting that this, like other aspects of the program, is fairly unique within the industry. “There are certain ways in which we can engage with patients that have dementia, that have Alzheimer’s. One thing that doesn’t help them is to not be stimulated. So the PSAs can read to them, they can play games with them, they can have conversations with them, they can read a book to them, they can put something on the TV or iPad and have the patient watch it with them.”

And while engaging with these patients, or watching them on the monitor, or coming to their assistance as a rounder, the PSAs are ultimately keeping them safe, said Azzaro, noting that there has been a measurable decrease in the number of falls recorded at HMC since the start of the program.

Changing Lives, Saving Lives

As he talked with BusinessWest outside the monitoring room, Mokwuah said the facility boasts a split screen showing more than a half-dozen patients in their beds. At this moment in time, all was quiet and normal.

That was not the case one afternoon back in April, when, while watching that same monitor, he noticed a patient that did not appear well, was acting differently, and had a noticeable status change.

He called for a rounder to immediately check on the patient, who, as it turned out, was experiencing a significant medical event, was unresponsive, and had no pulse. Staff quickly began performing basic life support, followed by advanced cardiovascular life support. After two rounds of CPR and cardiac medications, the patient’s own breathing and heartbeat returned.

Joel Brito (left) and Gabe Mokwuah have both been credited with saving patients’ lives in recent months.
Staff Photo

Joel Rivas, director of Nursing Medical-Telemetry, who nominated Mokwuah for employee of the month, said at the time, “it is my professional opinion that, had the patient’s change in condition not been identified as early as it was, by Gabriel, we would not have had the positive outcome that we had.”

Similar things were said after another incident in early July, when Brito again showed the importance of HMC’s innovative PSA program.

He was serving as a rounder and sitting with a patient when another team member came in to provide patient care. During that time, Brito overheard a patient from another room making sounds of distress. Confirming that his one-on-one patient was safe and in the care of another team member, he stepped into the next room to check on what he’d heard.

“In the beginning, I didn’t pay too much attention to it, but something told me to get up and check that room, and when I did, I was really surprised because the lady was essentially purple,” he said, adding that he quickly positioned himself to perform the Heimlich maneuver and helped to dislodge the obstruction in the patient’s airway.

“This is a job where you have to be humble, you need to have some empathy, and you have to love people. That’s something my mom and my family instilled in me growing up, so I try to live my life that way and help people. This job gives me the opportunity to do that.”

Like Mokwuah, Brito was credited with saving a patient’s life, said Toia, adding that, had it not been for establishment of the rounder’s role within the PSA program, it’s unlikely that someone would have been able to respond as quickly to the situation as he did.

Looking back, Brito said he relied on his instincts and his training, and was thankful to be in a position where he could help people and make a difference in their lives — the most gratifying aspects of the PSA position.

Mokwuah said essentially the same thing.

“This is a job where you have to be humble, you need to have some empathy, and you have to love people,” he said. “That’s something my mom and my family instilled in me growing up, so I try to live my life that way and help people. This job gives me the opportunity to do that.”

Big-game Players

Gabe Mokwuah didn’t get to be a hero on the gridiron, at least at the pro level. But his life and career, especially this latest chapter, show that our heroes come from all walks of life. And they take all kinds of titles.

Patient safety associate is a relatively new one at Holyoke Medical Center, an innovative initiative that is helping to prevent falls, improve overall safety, and, as these cases show, save lives.

Mokwuah was right when he said that doctors, nurses, and administrators are heroes. But so are those with badges that read ‘patient safety associate,’ especially these two lifesavers and Healthcare Heroes.

Healthcare Education: Kristina Hallett

By Joseph Bednar September 14, 2023

Healthcare Heroes

Clinical Psychologist; Assistant Professor of Graduate Psychology, Bay Path University

She Impacts Lives — and the Next Generation of Mental-health Professionals — for the Better

Kristina Hallett

It’s not easy to cover everything Kristina Hallett has done in her wide-ranging career in one story. At least, not cover it in a way that fully conveys her impact.

Her past titles convey some of it. Director of Brightside Counseling Associates and then director of Children’s Services at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital, both in Holyoke. Supervising psychologist at Osborn Correctional Institute in Somers, Conn. Director of Psychology Internship Training at River Valley Services in Middletown, Conn. And currently, associate professor in Graduate Psycholology and director of Clinical Training at Bay Path University.

Oh, and she’s maintained a private psychotherapy practice in Suffield, Conn. for the past quarter-century.

There are some common threads.

“Dr. Hallett’s career spans over 25 years, during which she provided invaluable psychotherapy, consultation, and supervision to medical and mental-health professionals, addressing myriad relationship and major life issues. Her expertise in complex trauma and dissociative disorders is instrumental in supporting and empowering those facing significant psychological challenges,” wrote Crystal Neuhauser, vice president of Institutional Advancement at Bay Path, one of three people who nominated Hallett as a Healthcare Hero.

Just as importantly, “she is a guiding influence in shaping the next generation of mental-health practitioners. Her commitment to education and mentorship showcases her passion for instilling excellence, compassion, and cultural competence in students. She is especially passionate about guiding under-represented caregivers into the profession to help underserved communities see themselves in their mental-health professionals.”

That’s a mouthful, but it’s important to understand the generational impact of Hallett’s work — not only helping people move through often-severe challenges and trauma toward a happier, healthier, more fulfilling life (which she accomplishes as a teacher, therapist, executive coach, author, speaker, podcaster, and more), but she’s helping to raise up the next wave of mental-health professionals to do the same, at a time when the needs are great.

“When we’re talking about mental health, it’s about connection, and there are different ways to make a connection. And having a role model who look like you and who understands you is really important.”

“I’m just ecstatic about our program,” she said of her role at Bay Path, where she started teaching in 2015. “When I came, we had maybe 50 students. Right now, in our program, we have 280-plus students. This summer, they did a 100-hour practicum with us before their 600-hour internship out in the community. We had 62 students in practicum this summer, which is a logistical challenge, but we’re really able to help shape them, educate them, and give tools and resources to the next generation.”

Kristina Hallett’s books have delved into topics ranging from relationships to banishing burnout.
Staff Photo

Meanwhile, Hallett’s bestselling books, Own Best Friend: Eight Steps to a Life of Purpose, Passion, and Ease and Be Awesome! Banish Burnout: Create Motivation from the Inside Out, inspire personal growth and empowerment, while a co-authored workbook titled Trauma Treatment Toolbox for Teens is a resource for young people facing trauma-related challenges, and her contribution as a co-author to Millennials’ Guide to Relationships: Happy and Healthy Relationships are Not a Myth! reflects her commitment to enhancing the lives of diverse populations.

As an executive coach, she helps participants find lasting change in the areas of burnout, stress, motivation, and self-confidence. And her podcast, “Be Awesome: Celebrating Mental Health and Wellness,” provides hope and guidance to listeners, fostering an environment where seeking help and prioritizing mental health is normalized.

As noted, it’s a lot to take in, but Hallett is energized by the opportunity to impact so many lives in so many different ways. The opportunity, in fact, to be a Healthcare Hero.

Connected to Kids

Hallett’s private practice offers individual and family treatment, with some intriguing specialty areas, including psychotherapy for medical and mental-health professionals, military personnel, and first responders; substance abuse; mood disorders; LGBTQ clients; trauma recovery; and treatment of complex trauma and dissociative disorders.

It’s a far cry from her earliest goal in life, which was to be a pediatrician.

At Wellesley College, where she was a biology major in a pre-med program, she took a psychology course “for fun” — and found the topic interesting, so she added a double major in psychology. “My professors were like, ‘oh, you should go into psychology.’ And I said, ‘no, no, no, I’m going to be a pediatrician … right?’”

During her senior year, as she took her medical college admissions tests, Hallett found herself in an interview, being asked, ‘why do you want to go to medical school?’ And something clicked.

“I had this experience where my mouth kept talking, but a part of my brain said, ‘yeah, why do you want to go to medical school?’”

Her answer was to enroll at UMass Amherst — in a graduate psychology program.

That’s not to say she wouldn’t work with children, adolescents, and families, though. At her earliest career stops, she had plenty of opportunities for that, from her stint as regional program supervisor for the Key Program in Springfield from 1991 to 1995 to her roles with Brightside Counseling Associates from 1996 to 1998 and Providence Behavioral Health Hospital from 1998 to 2003.

“I loved the idea of working with adolescents because, while I was young, still in my 20s, I felt like they’re ripe for change; you can be honest with them … it’s a very real interaction, while adults are just stuck in their ways,” she said, adding quickly, “I don’t think that way anymore.”

That’s because she’s had plenty of experience working with clients of all ages. In fact, her next stops — at Osborn Correctional Institution from 2003 to 2005 and River Valley Services from 2005 to 2015 — broadened her experience dramatically.

Kristina Hallett’s office in Suffield, Conn. is filled with photos, artwork, and mementos from her interactions with patients.
Staff Photo

“So the first half of my career was children and adolescents, but really centered on adolescents,” she said. “And it’s unusual for someone to be running an outpatient mental-health clinic and running inpatient children’s services, and then working in a prison.” At the time, she added, Osborn housed 2,000 male inmates and also arranged schedules for mental-health workers for some other local prisons.

Years later, while working at River Valley, Hallett had a yen to get into teaching, so she joined Bay Path as an adjunct professor in 2015, which quickly led to part-time work and then a full-time opportunity. It sure beat the commute from Suffield to Middletown, but there were other, more important reasons to make the jump.

“Bay Path had just started its clinical mental-health counseling program, and they were going to expand. And I thought, ‘yeah, I’m ready to do this full-time.’”

Her first title was coordinator of clinical training, which became director of clinical training. And this past spring, when the program director left, she took over that role.

“I’ve been responsible for bringing in a lot of faculty over the last few years, and this summer alone, I brought in four faculty who are former graduates of our program, all coming from different perspectives,” she told BusinessWest. “I like to bring back our graduates because they know the program, and we want to support them in their career. I’m trying to create a pathway for our students, post-graduation, to continue their own growth and learning.”

A couple years ago, Hallett’s department procured a behavioral-health workforce and education training grant through the Health Resources and Services Administration, to support and build up the young mental-health workforce, but also to better integrate these professionals into medical settings.

“So, you have a medical office with physicians, and then you have an embedded clinician,” she explained. “You come in for your annual physical, maybe you’ve been feeling a little down, and your physician says, ‘oh, you know what, I’ve got Stacy here who can maybe talk to you about that.’ And Stacy talks to you and sees if there are resources available to help you — therapy or whatever. So that’s a newer model that’s beginning to happen, which is great.

“It’s always about increasing access, because there’s a huge mental-health crisis, a huge need, a huge waiting list,” Hallett went on. “So anything to increase the workforce is great.”

In 2023, the third year of the four-year grant, Bay Path was able to fund 36 students to the tune of $10,000 each. “So 36 students are working full-time, many have families, and they’re still trying to get a master’s degree and go into the field. As you can imagine, it’s really hard to do all that and then work 600 hours as a clinician. So the $10,000 is phenomenal.”

She recently applied for another grant, with a bigger stipend, for students going through their internships and want to work in community-based clinics, either with services from the Department of Mental Health or a majority MassHealth clientele. “So the people who need the services are going to get good services,” she said, while, again, cultivating the next generation of professionals. “I am so excited about it.”

Heart of a Teacher

It was Hallett’s love for educating people, in fact, that led her to finding other ways to communicate.

“I love what I do one-to-one, and I love teaching. So what other ways do I have to make an impact with things that people really need to know?” she said. “The podcast and the books and the speaking are just ways to share messages and really say, ‘there are things that we can do to help ourselves, to feel a sense of agency, even when the world is sort of going crazy around us, and when there are really difficult challenges that we don’t necessarily have any control over.”

So much of her work, she said, has been with community-based organizations because she cares about access to mental health, especially for the underprivileged and underserviced. “I want to support and encourage an increase in a truly diverse workforce because that’s who we are. People need to see people like themselves. It’s not that they can never talk to people with differences; of course they can. But when we’re talking about mental health, it’s about connection, and there are different ways to make a connection. And having a role model who look like you and who understands you is really important.”

As for her decades of work with stress and trauma, in particular her work with clients from the military and first-responder communities, it started early on, working with adolescents in difficult situations.

“There are horrific things that humans do to each other that are certainly hard to live through,” she said. “They’re hard to hear about, and they’re hard to know. So I try to counteract that darkness with some kind of support. People who have gone through really horrible things deserve someone to stand in the witness of that.”

For a while, in the pre-COVID years, Hallett said, she was primarily working with medical and mental-health professionals in her practice. “These are small communities; it’s hard to find providers who work with providers. So that just sort of evolved. I had already started working with veterans and first responders, and then COVID hit, and that was a time when there was so much need.”

She no longer works with teens, and the goal for her adult clients is to get them back out living their lives and doing the work that’s meaningful to them. “But if something comes up at another point in time where something new has happened, you can come back. We create a relationship that allows you to come and go. I’m always working to create these longer-term relationships.”

And, not surprisingly, she has applied that passion to her other career at Bay Path, helping to create an advanced trauma certificate in her department.

“As practitioners in the field, we’re always asking, ‘what’s the latest? What’s backed by science? What do people need to know? What do we wish we knew when we were in school? And how do we continuously support the growth of the next generation?’” she said. “Because we need them.” n

Healthcare Administration: Dr. Mark Kenton

By George O'Brien September 14, 2023

Healthcare Heroes

Chief of Emergency Medicine, Mercy Medical Center

He Considers Listening His Strongest, Most Important Talent

Dr. Mark Kenton

As a general rule, physicians working in the emergency room don’t get to know their patients as well as those in primary care or other specialties, who see their patients regularly and over the course of years and, sometimes, decades.

But Dr. Mark Kenton makes it a point to get to know those who come to his ER, the one at Mercy Medical Center. Indeed, he said he always looks to make a connection by listening to each patient and learning about what they are interested in and passionate about.

In addition to making these connections, he tries to get involved and make a difference, in ways that go beyond providing medical care.

“Sometimes, the best medicine you give someone is not actually medication,” he told BusinessWest. “It’s just listening. Everyone has a story.”

He was listening as one patient, a veteran named Homer who was going into hospice care, expressed regrets about never making it to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. So Kenton researched the Honor Flights program and worked with the patient’s family to help make arrangements for him to visit the stirring memorial. Later, he received a letter from that family.

“They said he died two weeks before he was scheduled to go, but he died knowing that he was going, and it meant a lot to him,” Kenton recalled. “That stuck with me.”

He was also listening to another patient who was near the end of his battle with cancer and came to understand that the two shared a love of baseball and the Red Sox. Kenton arranged a phone call to the patient from former catcher Rich Gedman, whom Kenton had come to know well from his participation in Red Sox fantasy camps.

“Sometimes, the best medicine you give someone is not actually medication. It’s just listening. Everyone has a story.”

“He said, ‘I can’t believe Rich Gedman actually called me,’” Kenton recalled, adding that the conversation had a lasting impact.

This ability to listen, and act on what he hears, is one of many traits that has made Kenton a Healthcare Hero for 2023 in the Healthcare Administration category — annually one of the most competitive categories within the program.

He stood out amid a number of others nominated for the award for his ability to act upon what’s heard — in a variety of different settings — and generate needed dialogue, which has sometimes led to real change.

This includes the ER at Mercy, where he has worked with others to improve flow, shorten wait times, and reduce the number of patients who leave the ER without being seen, battles that have become even more difficult amid critical shortages of trained professionals, especially nurses.

One of Dr. Mark Kenton’s passions is baseball and Red Sox fantasy camps, something that has become a family affair, as in this scene at Jet Blue Park in Florida with his sons (from left) Mark, Davin, and Jacob.

But it also includes the national medical stage, as we’ll see. Indeed, a letter posted on Facebook from Kenton to the CEO of Mylan juxtaposed the CEO’s salary against the sky-high cost of EpiPens and thrust the debate about the rising cost of pharmaceuticals into the national spotlight.

In Massachusetts, Kenton played a strong role in the passage of a bill that would allow EpiPens to be purchased in the same manner as Narcan for municipalities, whereby the state would purchase them at something approaching cost.

Kenton has also advocated for increased protection from workplace violence in hospitals, testifying at the State House after a colleague at Harrington Hospital suffered a near-fatal stabbing. Those efforts have been less successful in generating change — a result he blames on the high cost of measures such as metal detectors — but he continues to push for legislation that might prevent such incidents.

For his ability to listen and effect change — in his ER and many other settings as well — Kenton is certainly worthy to be called a Healthcare Hero.

A Great Run

The art hanging on the walls of Kenton’s office certainly helps tell his story.

Most of the pictures are baseball-themed — he played in college, has attended the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in Cooperstown since 1981, and has more than 7,000 baseball autographs, by his estimate — including photos from the fantasy camps he’s attended, with his children prominent in many of them.

“I’ve been going for 13 years now, and it’s been a pretty amazing experience,” he said, noting that he’s been on the same field as many Red Sox legends. “Now, it’s more about going back and playing with friends than seeing the Red Sox — but they’ve become friends, too.”

But there’s also a framed photo of the cast members of The Office, a gift from his children. He is a huge fan of the show, and notes with a large dose of pride that he’s met several of the cast members and possesses a suit jacket that Steve Carell wore on the show.

While Kenton spends a good amount of time in this space, his true office, if you will, has always been the ER, and especially the one at Mercy. He arrived there in 2003 and became chief of Emergency Medicine in late 2019, three months before COVID hit and turned the healthcare system, and especially the ER, on its ear.

The trajectory for this career course was set over time, and Kenton believes his passion for helping others began when he watched medical dramas on television with his mother and became captivated with what he saw.

“My mother had cancer as a child; she spent a lot of time in hospitals and always had a fascination with healthcare,” he recalled. “She was always reading medical books, and we watched every show you can think of — Quincy; Trapper John, M.D.; St. Elsewhere; you name it.”

Because of his love for baseball, Kenton initially considered a career as an athletic trainer, since he could combine both his passions, baseball and healthcare, and he attended Springfield College with that goal in mind.

He quickly realized that the life of an athletic trainer did not have a lot of stability. And after working as an EMT, a rewarding but also harrowing experience — “I remember going to shootings and the shooter was still on the loose” — he decided the emergency room was where he wanted to spend his career. He earned his medical degree at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, with the goal of completing his residency in Baystate Medical Center’s ER, a path that became reality.

“I hand out my business card to patients, talk to them, and ask, ‘why are you here today?’ I do that as one more check to make we’re not missing something.”

As he talked about working in the ER, Kenton related what he told his students when he served as medical director of the Physician Assistant Program at Springfield College. “I would always say, ‘be a little scared every day when you walk in — never lose that. Have a little fear when you walk in, because you don’t know everything, nor should you know everything. You need to know what your resources are and how to utilize those resources. You also need to know that you’re going to be tested — every day.’”

Safe at Home

These days, most of Kenton’s work is administrative in nature — he does one clinical shift per week — and, summing it up, he said it’s about making this ER as safe, welcoming, efficient, and effective as he can.

It needs to be all of the above because the ER is the “front door to the hospital,” as he put it, and a safety net for many within the community.

“There are so many patients that don’t have primary-care doctors now or don’t have insurance,” he said. “The ER is what they turn to.”

As he works with his team to improve flow, reduce wait times, and improve the ‘leave without being seen’ numbers, Kenton relies on what might be the strongest of his many skills — listening. In fact, he’s in the waiting room every ‘admin’ day talking with not only patients, but their families as well.

“I hand out my business card to patients, talk to them, and ask, ‘why are you here today?’” he said. “I do that as one more check to make we’re not missing something. I tell them that we’re working hard to get people through the system, and we’ll work on getting you through as soon as we can. And then, I listen.”

This brings him back to his comments about how everyone has a story, and it’s important to know and understand that story.

Dr. Mark Kenton holds up a card with the name ‘Homer’ on it at the World War II memorial in Washington, fulfilling, in a way, a dying patient’s desire to visit the memorial.

“You can look at the medical problem, but if you look at them as just a patient, you kind of forget that behind that patient is a person who’s scared, a family that’s scared,” he said. “Some people have lived incredible lives and been very fortunate, and some people have not had very good luck, or they’ve made bad choices, or they haven’t had the opportunities that others have had.

“I’ve taken care of Tuskegee Airmen; I took care of a gentleman who told me he flew on the Enola Gay,” he went on, referencing the famed African-American fighter and bomber pilots who fought in World War II and the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. “You learn from those stories.”

While listening, learning, taking care of patients and their families, and improving efficiency in the ER, Kenton has also become an advocate for needed change in healthcare. His open letter to the CEO of Mylan on Facebook was spurred by incidents in his personal and professional life.

Indeed, while on vacation with his family, his son had an allergic reaction to peanuts. He soon learned that a prescription for two EpiPens, the best treatment for anaphylaxis, would cost $600. Fortunately, that prescription was transferred to a pharmacy that would accept his insurance, bringing the cost down to $15.

But he understood that such good fortune would elude others. While working a shift in Mercy’s ED a few months later, he saw two patients suffering from anaphylactic reactions and gave them both EpiPens, knowing they wouldn’t be able to fill the prescriptions going forward because they didn’t have insurance.

His frustration with this matter prompted his letter, which garnered press across the country and a live interview on Fox Business. More importantly, it generated real change, especially in the Bay State. Kenton testified before the state Senate on a bill introduced by former Sen. Eric Lesser to make EpiPens available for purchase by the state, just like Narcan.

Stepping Outside the Box

Two years after Kenton received that letter from the family of that veteran who died before he could get to the World War II memorial, his wife was running in a marathon in D.C., and he made the trip with her.

He wrote Homer’s name on a piece of paper, took pictures of it in various spots at the memorial, and sent them to his family.

“I said, ‘your dad finally made it,’” he told BusinessWest. “From what he told me during that relationship we established in a really short period of time, that brought closure to me, that he made it there.

“There are things you can do beyond providing medication to someone — sometimes you just have to step outside the box a little bit,” he went on, using a baseball term to get his point across.

This ability to forge those relationships, listen to each patient’s and each family’s story, and go well beyond simply providing medication helps explain why Kenton stands out — in his field, in his ER, and in his community. And why he is being recognized as a Healthcare Hero. n

Emerging Leader: Ellen Ingraham-Shaw

By Joseph Bednar September 14, 2023

Healthcare Heroes

Pediatric Emergency Nurse, Baystate Medical Center

Her Passion for Behavioral Health Has Enhanced Care Across an Entire ER

Ellen Ingraham-Shaw

Ellen Ingraham-Shaw just couldn’t get away from children — even when she thought she wanted to.

And thanks to her leadership and innovative thinking, a lot of kids are better for it today.

“I actually started my career as a kindergarten teacher,” she said, before jumping back in time a little to when her interest in working with children really began.

“Growing up, I was a horseback rider, and I got into teaching younger kids how to horseback ride; that’s how I started working with children and adolescents, including working summer camps when I was in college,” she recalled.

Then she studied early childhood education and psychology at Mount Holyoke College before spending the first five years of her career as a kindergarten teacher.

There, Ingraham-Shaw saw needs that can’t always be addressed in the classroom.

“I worked in Chicopee, and in my classroom, I had a lot of homeless students,” she said. “So I started getting really interested in the socioeconomic status of kids and all the barriers that can really get in the way of how kids learn.

“I was happy, but I didn’t see myself doing it forever,” she continued, “so I went back to school for a second bachelor’s in nursing at UMass Amherst. After that program, I started working at Baystate Medical Center on one of the adult floors. And I just thought I didn’t want to work with kids anymore after feeling kind of burnt out.”

“Especially during the pandemic, the behavioral-health population just kind exploded in our ER. And I just got really passionate about it.”

So when friends asked her whether she wanted to enter pediatrics, she said no — but that feeling eventually thawed, and she applied for a position in Baystate’s pediatric ER. And she fell in love with it, calling it a well-run unit that, she realized early on, had an openness to new ideas and a focus on behavioral health that she would eventually expand in a number of ways.

“Especially during the pandemic, the behavioral-health population just kind exploded in our ER. And I just got really passionate about it,” she said. “And I’m lucky that my managers and my educators on my unit really support us working toward the things we’re interested in. If you want to seek out opportunities to do your own education, they give you opportunity to research.”

Thus began a fruitful career in pediatric emergency care with a focus creating more education and resources around behavioral health.

“I’ve been able to do education on de-escalating patients, just helping with the safety of the staff and the patients. And I think our physical restraint numbers have decreased; we have seen a decrease in having to resort to a restrictive environment with the kids.”

Ingraham-Shaw also worked closely with Pediatric ER Manager Jenn Do Carmo on Narcan take-home kits for the Pediatric Emergency Department. They were talking one day about how Baystate’s adult ED provides take-home kits to their substance-misuse population, but the Pediatric ED had no such process. So they decided to change that. Ingraham-Shaw created an education flier for nurses and doctors, made sure the kits were stocked, and educated every nurse on how to educate patients and families in their use.

“I did some education with our staff on how to identify patients that might be at higher risk,” she explained. “These are patients who come in with an overdose or, unfortunately, we’re seeing a lot of adolescents these days with suicide attempts and self-harm; sometimes they could be opioid-related, sometimes not. But if someone has a past overdose attempt, they’re at a higher risk of potentially overdosing on opioids in the future.

Ellen Ingraham-Shaw says pediatric emergency nurses bring not only care, but large doses of compassion and education to parents.

“So we’re making sure we have Narcan out in the community,” she added. “The nursing job is to help identify the patients that could be at risk, then working with the providers to make sure Narcan gets prescribed.”

Do Carmo, who nominated Ingraham-Shaw, said this program has the potential to save the lives of pediatric patients who overdose on opioids in the community. “Ellen is also going into the community and teaching local schools about the process of administering Narcan,” she wrote. “Ellen is a strong advocate for her patients and is a Healthcare Hero.”

Knowledge Is Power

As another example of thinking — and leading — outside the box, Do Carmo noted that Ingraham-Shaw noticed a gap in education on the care of LGBTQ and transgender patients, and took it upon herself to create educational materials and a PowerPoint presentation on how to care for and support these individuals.

“The entire Emergency Department now provides her representation on transgender education in nursing orientation,” Do Carmo wrote. “This presentation provides a clear understanding of a population in dire need of support and words and ways that help support the care of this population.”

Ingraham-Shaw told BusinessWest that she developed that education on LGBTQ and transgender health for a staff meeting, and the educators in the ED now utilize it as a required part of onboarding training for all emergency-medicine staff at Baystate, not just in the Pediatric ED. “So all of our staff has some level of training in how to be respectful and understanding of patients in our community.”

That aspect of education can be lacking in the training and college programs medical professionals experience entering their careers, she added. “So I think our people are definitely able to support those patients a lot better.”

Providing care that’s not sensitive to that population typically isn’t a problem of malice, but ignorance, she was quick to add. “It’s just people not knowing. And now my unit especially has at least a little baseline of how to be more respectful and understanding of patients.”

Of course, sensitivity to what patients are experiencing comes naturally in a pediatric ER, where the days can be challenging and the situations dire.

“I did some education with our staff on how to identify patients that might be at higher risk. These are patients who come in with an overdose or, unfortunately, we’re seeing a lot of adolescents these days with suicide attempts and self-harm; sometimes they could be opioid-related, sometimes not.”

“One thing I do like about it is that every day is completely different. I think it’s gotten a little bit harder now that I just had my own baby; I’m still adjusting to that,” she said of the toughest cases. “But the majority of what we see is more urgent care, or things likely to be seen in a primary-care setting. Those usually have a happy ending — you help educate the family, you make sure the child is safe, is eating, drinking, breathing, and then they usually get discharged home.”

At the same time, “unfortunately, we do see some really devastating new cancer diagnoses, we see some car accidents, so it’s definitely emotional. I think my co-workers do a really good job of supporting each other through those difficult times. Healthcare can be sad, and I think it’s especially sad when you know something bad happens to a child. And we do a lot of compassion with the families as well; we take care of the whole family, not just the child.”

Again, she comes back to the education aspect of her work, even for things families don’t specifically bring in their kids for, like properly installing car seats.

“When we’re at the triage desk, we first bring the kid in, we make sure they’re safe, and then that’s another point where we can just educate them and do that community health and make sure everyone’s safe by teaching families simple things like car seats.”

Going beyond the basics is how Ingraham-Shaw has really made a difference, though, implementing new ideas in an organization she says is very interested in hearing them.

“My management team is just really open. We have a lot of freedom to do things,” she said, before giving another example in the behavioral-health realm.

“One of my co-workers and I, a few years ago, started a behavioral-health committee. We try to meet monthly, just to talk about what’s going on with the unit, trying to work on different projects,” she explained. “One thing we did was make an informational pamphlet for the families and the patients that come in for behavioral-health issues because the way we treat them is much different than other patients. And sometimes they’re there for a really long time. So we want to do what we can just to support the families a little bit more.”

Do Carmo praised Ingraham-Shaw for identifying barriers in communication and creating a tool that has improved communication between nurses and patients. “Ellen works very closely with the behavioral-health team to ensure the behavioral-health population receives the needed care plans and treatments.”

Long-time Passion

Ingraham-Shaw’s interest in mental health was clear when she first studied psychology in college, but at the time, she couldn’t have predicted how it would become an important aspect of her career.

“When I was looking for jobs, if I didn’t find a teaching job, I was looking for other psychology-related jobs,” she said, adding that she’s in graduate school now, working on her doctor of nursing practice degree (DNP) to be a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

“I always thought that was a possibility, but I didn’t think this was the route I’d take,” she said. “For nurse practitioners, at least, the education track is different. So you’re a nurse first, so you get that compassionate care and bedside manner down first. And then you start learning the more advanced things.”

Once she has her DNP, she said she’d like to stay in the pediatric arena, although she’s hoping to gain a wide range of experience through her clinical rotations.

“Baystate in general is very supportive of education,” she added, noting the system’s tuition-reimbursement and loan-forgiveness programs, in addition to its affiliation with UMass Medical School’s Springfield campus, which is where she’s taking her graduate track.

“One of the reasons why I chose that school is because they have a focus on diversity and behavioral health,” she noted. “So I’ve been working hard, but I have also been lucky to find myself in places, and around people, that are supportive and inspirational, and I’ve been given a lot of opportunities to focus on the things that I want to do.”

As part of her graduate education, Ingraham-Shaw is hoping to focus on opioid and overdose education in her scholarly project. “It’s something I’m passionate about, and I’ve done a lot of my own learning. So I’m hoping to do some more research and actually implement some projects with that.”

For her work creating and cultivating a handful of truly impactful projects at Baystate already, but especially for the promise of what she and her colleagues have yet to come up with, Ingraham-Shaw is certainly an emerging leader in her field, and a Healthcare Hero. n

Emerging Leader: Ashley LeBlanc

By George O'Brien September 14, 2023

Healthcare Heroes

Practice Manager of Thoracic Surgery, Nursing Director of the Lung Screening Program, Mercy Medical Center

She Has a Proven Ability to Take the Bull by the Horns

Ashley LeBlanc

It’s been seven years now, but Ashley LeBlanc clearly remembers the day Dr. Laki Rousou and Dr. Neal Chuang asked her to consider becoming the nurse navigator for their thoracic surgery practice at Mercy Medical Center.

She also clearly remembers her initial response to their invite: “absolutely not.”

She was working days in critical care at the hospital at the time, and liked both the work and the schedule: three days on, four days off, she told BusinessWest, adding that it takes a while for a new position like this to get approved and posted, for interviews to take place, and more — and the doctors used the following weeks to make additional entreaties, with reminders that she wouldn’t have to work any weekends or holidays.

But the answer was still ‘no’ until roughly six months after that initial invite, when she had one particularly challenging day on the floor with a very sick patient. Challenging enough that, when Rousou tried one more time that afternoon, ‘no’ became “I’ll update my résumé and hear you out.”

“He got me at a weak moment, and it was the best decision I ever made, because they have been amazing mentors, and they’ve opened my mind up to this whole other world,” she said, adding that her career underwent a profound and meaningful course change, one that led her to being named a Healthcare Hero for 2023 in the Emerging Leader category.

Indeed, during those seven years, LeBlanc has emerged as a true leader, both in that thoracic surgery practice, which she now manages, and in efforts to promote awareness and screening for lung cancer — one of the deadliest cancers, and one she can certainly relate to personally. Indeed, she has lost several family members to the disease, many of whom would have qualified for screening had it been available at the time of their diagnosis.

“He got me at a weak moment, and it was the best decision I ever made, because they have been amazing mentors, and they’ve opened my mind up to this whole other world.”

In many respects, and in many ways, she has become a fierce advocate for patients related to lung cancer screening, treatment, and research, and concentrates her efforts on ways to decrease the mortality rate of lung cancer and break down the stigma of that disease by educating the community, connecting them to resources, and, in many respects, guiding them on their journey as they fight lung cancer.

When the screening program was launched, those involved didn’t really know what to expect, LeBlanc said, adding that, in the beginning, maybe a handful of people were being screened each month. Now, that number exceeds 250 a month, and while only a small percentage of those who are screened have lung cancer, she said, each detected case is important because, while this cancer is deadly, early detection often leads to a better outcome.

This is turning out to be a big year for LeBlanc, at least when it comes to awards from BusinessWest. In the spring, she suitably impressed a panel of judges and became part of the 40 Under Forty Class of 2023. And in late October, she’ll accept the Healthcare Heroes award for Emerging Leader.

The plaques on her desk — or soon to be on it — speak to many qualities, but especially an ability to work with others to set, achieve, and, in many cases, exceed goals, not only with lung cancer screening, but other initiatives as well.

Dr. Laki Rousou never stopped trying to recruit Ashely LeBlanc to manage the thoracic-surgery practice at Mercy Medical Center, and he — and many others — are glad he didn’t.
Staff Photo

Rousou put LeBlanc’s many talents in their proper perspective.

“Before we even had the formal program, I would say something sort of off the cuff, like, ‘I wish we could do this’ … and the next week, I would have the answer, or it would be done,” he said. “Then it turned into ‘OK, let’s try and do this,’ and in the next week or two weeks, it would be done. And then it turned into a situation where she would have an idea and we would talk periodically, but she would take the bull by the horns and just do things that were best for thoracic surgery, but also the screening program.”

This ability to take the bull by the horns, and many other endearing and enduring qualities, explains why LeBlanc is a true Healthcare Hero.

The Big Screen

There’s a small whiteboard to the right of LeBlanc’s desk. Written at the top are the words ‘World Conquering Plans.’

This is an ambitious to-do list, or work-in-progress board, with lines referencing everything from a cancer screening program for firefighters to something called a Center for Healthy Lungs, which would be … well, just what it sounds like. “That’s a bit of a pipe dream,” she said. “We’re going to need our own building.”

While it might seem like a pipe dream, if it’s on LeBlanc’s list of things to get done … it will probably get done. That has been her MO since joining the thoracic surgery practice, and long before that, going back, for example, to the days when she worked the overnight shift as a unit extender at Mercy until 7, then drive to Springfield Technical Community College for nursing classes that began at 8.

“Sometimes, I would snooze in the car for 15 or 20 minutes,” she recalled, adding that she wasn’t getting much sleep at that time in her life. “You just do what you have to do to make it happen.”

Initially, she thought what she wanted to make happen was a career in law enforcement — her father was a police officer in Northampton — but her first stint as a unit extender at Mercy, while she was attending Holyoke Community College, convinced her she was more suited to healthcare.

But plans to enter that field were put on ice (sort of, and pun intended) when her fiancé, a Coast Guardsman, was stationed in Sitka, Alaska.

She spent three years there, taking in winters not as bad as most people would think, and summers not as warm as they are here, but still quite nice. And also working for the Department of Homeland Security as a federal security agent for National Transportation Safety Board at Sitka’s tiny airport.

“The evidence is staggering concerning the number of people who have a scan done, and they have an incidental finding, and there is no follow-up for that incidental finding.”

LeBlanc and her husband eventually returned to Western Mass. after a stint on the Cape, and she essentially picked up where she left off, working as a unit extender at Mercy.

“It was five years later, and it felt like I never left,” she said, adding that she soon enrolled in the Nursing program at STCC and, upon graduation, took a job on the Intermediate Care floor, which brings us back to the point where she kept saying ‘no’ and eventually said ‘yes’ to Rousou and Chuang (who is no longer with the practice).

Rousou told BusinessWest they recruited her heavily because they knew she would be perfect for the role they had carved out — and they were right.

Over the past seven years, LeBlanc has put a number of line items on the ‘World Conquering Plans’ list, and made most of them reality, especially a lung cancer screening program, which wasn’t even on her radar screen when she finally agreed to interview for the job.

Indeed, she was prepared to talk about patient education and how to improve it and make it more comprehensive when Rousou and Chuang changed things up and focused on a screening program.

Thinking Big

Once she got the job, she focused on both, with some dramatic and far-reaching results.

As for the screening program, she said such initiatives were new at the time because the Centers for Medicare Services had only recently approved insurance coverage for such screenings. At Mercy, with Rousou, Chuang, and, increasingly, LeBlanc charting a course, extensive research was undertaken with the goal of incorporating best practices from existing programs into Mercy’s initiative.

“We had no idea what our expectations should be or how it would be received in the community — it was a very new thing,” she recalled. “That first month in 2017, we did seven scans; then we did 29, and by the end of the year, it was over 50 scans a month. A year after we started, it was over 100.”

Now, that number is more than 250, she said, adding that such screenings are important because, while lung cancer is the deadliest of cancers, there are usually no visible signs of it — such as unexplained weight loss, coughing up blood, or pneumonia — until its later stages.

“When patients are diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, the treatment is, by and large, palliative, not curative,” she explained, “which makes it extra important to try to diagnose these people with lung cancer at an earlier stage.”

In addition to her work coordinating the screening program, LeBlanc also handles work implied by her initial title — nurse navigator.

This is work to help the patient understand and prepare for the procedure they are facing, such as removal of a portion of their lung, and answer any questions they may have.

“When the surgeon leaves the room … that’s when a patient will take that deep breath and say, ‘I have so many questions,’” she told BusinessWest. “It can be overwhelming, and this gives me an opportunity to answer those questions, which can involve anything from the seriousness of the procedure to where to park or what to bring to the hospital with them.”

Meanwhile, she has taken a lead role in efforts to build a strong culture within the thoracic surgery and cancer screening programs, where 14 people now work, and make it an enjoyable workplace, where birthdays and National Popcorn Day are celebrated, and teamwork is fostered.

“I think it’s important to enjoy where you work, and when we’re happy, I think that carries over to patients, and they feel that,” she said. “At Easter, we have an Easter egg hunt, with grown, professional adults running around the office looking for Easter eggs. It seems silly, but it’s wonderful at the same time.”

Then, there’s that ‘World Conquering Plans’ board next to her desk. LeBlanc said she and the team at the practice have made considerable progress with many of the items on that list, including plans to expand the office into vacated space next door with an interventional pulmonary department and an ‘incidental nodule’ program.

The interventional pulmonary program is a relatively new specialty that focuses on diagnosis of lung disease, she said, adding that an interventional pulmonologist has been hired, facilities have been created, and patients have been scheduled starting early this month.

Progress is also being made on the incidental nodule program, which, as that name implies, is a safety-net initiative focused on following up on the small, incidental nodules on the lungs that show up on scans other than lung cancer screenings and are often overlooked.

“The evidence is staggering concerning the number of people who have a scan done, and they have an incidental finding, and there is no follow-up for that incidental finding,” she explained, adding that such findings often get buried or lost in reports. “When patients come to Dr. Rousou, they’ll often say, ‘I’ve had a scan every year for the last so many years; how come no one saw this until now?’”

Breathing Easier

As for the Center for Healthy Lungs … that is a very ambitious plan, she said, one that exists mainly in dreams right now.

But, as noted earlier, LeBlanc has become proficient in making dreams reality and in drawing lines through items on her whiteboard.

That’s what Rousou and Chuang saw when they recruited LeBlanc — and kept on recruiting her after she kept saying ‘no.’

They could see that she was an emerging leader — and a Healthcare Hero. n

Community Health: Cindy Senk

By Joseph Bednar September 14, 2023

Healthcare Heroes

Personal Trainer and Owner, Movement for All

She Inspires Others to Improve Their Mobility — and Quality of Life

Cindy Senk

One of Cindy Senk’s first experiences with yoga wasn’t a positive one.

Her back was very painful on the right side. “The yoga teacher came up in my face and said, ‘you can do better, you can do better’” — but not in an encouraging way, she recalled.

“It was almost hostile — this in-my-face attitude,” she went on. “I was really taken aback by that. I felt like, you don’t know me; you don’t know my health history; you don’t know what I’m feeling. I wanted to say, ‘get out of my face,’ but I didn’t — I just stepped back, and I never went back to that yoga studio.”

The experience drove her when she launched her own fitness and training practice, Movement for All, 20 years ago.

“I decided I would never be that teacher. I would never put someone in that particular place,” Senk told BusinessWest. “My philosophy as a teacher is to educate and empower my students, my clients, to make the choices that feel right because they feel it in their body. They know how they feel.”

That philosophy has led her not only to success with Movement for All, but 40 years of successes with specific populations, like people with arthritis, older individuals, and clients with cognitive challenges — because she understands that everyone, no matter their challenges, can thrive when they’re not treated in a cookie-cutter way.

Kelly Gilmore understands this. One of three clients who nominated Senk as a Healthcare Hero, Gilmore, a department chair at West Springfield High School, was hospitalized with a condition that diminished her mobility, stamina, and overall physical and mental state so severely that she couldn’t return to her teaching position.

“None of the numerous medical specialists that I continued to see regularly could offer a path toward improvement, beyond pain relief,” she wrote. “I set out to find a healthcare/fitness professional that was committed to helping me restore my health, strength, and mobility. Cindy offered exactly that. She met me where I was and created a personalized plan to move me to where I needed to be. She empowered me to take charge of my healing, unlocking the power inside of me, one step at a time.”

Starting a yoga regimen sitting in a chair, rather than on a mat on the floor, Gilmore began, within the next few months, to move freely, climb stairs, and go on walks. “Most importantly, I was in charge of my classroom again, offering my students the energy and vitality they deserve from their teacher.”

That’s real impact on clients with real problems. Multiplied over four decades, it’s a collective impact on the community, especially populations not always served well, and it certainly makes Senk deserving of being called a Healthcare Hero.

Brotherly Inspiration

Senk traces her passion for helping people to her childhood — in particular, her experiences with her younger brother, Bobby, who was born with cerebral palsy in 1955, long before the Americans with Disabilities Act codified many accessibility measures.

But Bobby had his family.

“My mother was a real advocate for him,” Senk recalled. “And we grew up in this environment in Forest Park where Bobby was one of the gang. We would accommodate him if he had trouble keeping up because of his crutches; we would just get him in a wagon and drag him around the neighborhood. He was always just part of the group. There was no, ‘well, Bobby can’t do that, so we can’t do it.’ It was never like that. It was always, ‘how can we creatively include him?’ And I think that’s really where this passion of mine comes from.”

Senk has had her own share of physical challenges as well; she was diagnosed with spinal issues at age 18 — issues that led to a lifetime of arthritis and have given her unique insight into people with similar problems, and led her into decades of advocacy in the broader arthritis community.

She’s never been free from arthritis; in fact, the day she spoke with BusinessWest at her home, Senk said she woke up with a lot of pain.

“My philosophy as a teacher is to educate and empower my students, my clients, to make the choices that feel right because they feel it in their body. They know how they feel.”

“It was just one of those days, you know?” she said. “So I started my gentle yoga I do every morning, I got in the shower, I was moving around my house, I had a class online that I teach, and then I had a client. And now I feel 1,000% better from when I woke up at 5:30 because I’ve been moving for six hours.

“It comes down to wanting to help people be functional, be fit, and have tools they can use to help themselves with whatever challenges they’re facing. And I think my passion for that came from a young age. Everything kind of flowed from all that: discovering how movement helps me and sharing that with others. Because I know how much movement helps me.”

Senk started her career with group exercise like step aerobics and regular low-impact aerobics, and later started practicing yoga to help her back — her main arthritic trouble spot. That was 35 years ago, and yoga has been an important part of her practice ever since.

Cindy Senk calls these women “the heart of my in-person classes on Tuesday nights.”

“I have my basic certification, but then I have specialties in yoga for arthritis, accessible yoga, subtle yoga, and I use all of those to put together whatever program I need for this particular client in this particular class. I feel lucky to have a lot of tools in my toolbox.”

It’s been gratifying, she said, to help clients discover those tools, especially those who didn’t think they could achieve pain relief and mobility.

“A lot of times, in the beginning, people that are in chronic pain are very tentative about movement because they think they’re going to hurt worse,” she said, adding that she draws on her experience as a volunteer and teacher trainer with the Arthritis Foundation — and her own experience with arthritis, of course — to help them understand the potential of yoga and other forms of exercise.

“It’s the idea of the pain cycle, where we think, ‘oh I can’t; it hurts,’ so we move less, and then we hurt more,” she explained. “The idea of movement breaks that pain cycle. You’re giving the power to the client through movement. It’s a journey that I’m on with them.”

It’s a good idea, Senk said, for people in pain to first see their primary-care doctor or a specialist to find out exactly what’s wrong and what their options are, whether that’s yoga, an aquatic program, a walking program, or another activity that can keep them mobile.

“She met me where I was and created a personalized plan to move me to where I needed to be. She empowered me to take charge of my healing, unlocking the power inside of me, one step at a time.”

“There are more than 60 million of us in this country who have arthritis — and that’s doctor-diagnosed, so a lot of people probably have arthritis and are not doctor-diagnosed. And it’s not just older people; it’s kids as well. It’s very pervasive, unfortunately. So you need to get the knowledge first, and then, if you want to move and exercise or whatever it may be, you need to find a professional who knows what they’re doing.”

Living Her Passion

Senk’s four-decade career as a fitness professional has brought her to commercial fitness settings, hospitals, senior-living communities, corporate environments, and the studio she runs out of her own home. She has also taught as an adjunct professor at Holyoke Community College, Springfield College, and Manchester Community College, in addition to 25 years of volunteerism with the Arthritis Foundation and her role chairing of the Western Massachusetts Walk to Cure Arthritis for the past three years.

That’s a lot of passion poured into what essentially boils down to helping people enjoy life again.

“The bottom line for me is to just encourage people to find things that are helping them stay functional, whether it’s a gym they love to go to or a more private type of setting like I offer here,” she said, noting that her home studio also includes outdoor activities and virtual classes.

“I think it’s important for people to find where they fit, where they’re comfortable. And if they go to a gym or they go to a yoga studio and it’s not their fit, just keep looking. Find your people. Find the people that really speak to you and that will support you and not judge you and not put you down because maybe you can’t bend as much.”

She said she loves hearing clients say they were able to take a vacation and hike without falling down, ride a paddleboard, even reach up into the cabinets at their cabin.

Cindy Senk demonstrates some of the simple tools of her trade.

“I live for stuff like that. As somebody who has arthritis and chronic pain, I know it can be very easy to get in the bubble of your own head and say, ‘I can’t move today … right?’ But when I’m having my class here and I’m focusing on them, that takes a whole other attitude. It takes me out of my own pain space, if you will, and helping other people uplifts me. It just brings me joy and helps me feel better. It really does.”

It certainly has helped Lisa Borlen, a teacher at Valley View School in North Brookfield, one of Senk’s nominators, who shared how working with her has given both her and her mother a new outlook on life. Looking back to her recovery from surgery in 2021, she emphasized how Senk makes everyone feel welcome.

“I was still in a sling when I returned to yoga, and Cindy offered suggestions for poses from seated in a chair to standing against a wall,” she recalled. “My safety was her utmost concern. As I grew stronger, she made adjustments to the practice. I could continue to practice yoga with my class and I always felt supported. My physical therapist and surgeon were pleased with my progress and thought that the yoga classes were instrumental in my recovery.”

Susan Restivo, a retired Springfield teacher who also nominated Senk, joined Gilmore and Borlen in stressing that Senk is not only a teacher, but a lifelong learner, and that informs her work in the community.

“She is doing what she wants — what she started doing as a big sister, never knowing that helping her brother would be the start of her journey of serving others,” Restivo wrote. “Way back then, there was no equipment or an understanding of services for those that needed a Cindy Senk.”

That equipment and understanding are available now, though. So is Senk, and a lot of people are living more active, more pain-free, and happier lives because of the way she lives her passion.

“People say, ‘oh, you’re 70, you should retire, you should slow down,’” she said. “But I still feel like I have things to offer. I really do. I feel like I have people to help, ways to be of service, and I still have a lot of energy to do it. So that’s what I do.”

Lifetime Achievement: Jody O’Brien

By George O'Brien September 14, 2023

Healthcare Heroes

Nurse, Urology Group of Western New England

During Her Long Career, She Has Made a World of Difference

Jody O’Brien

Now 87, almost 88, Joanne (Jody) O’Brien is two decades and change past what the Social Security Administration considers ‘full retirement age.’

But she is still working — two days a week as a triage nurse for the Urology Group of Western New England (UGWNE), in its Northampton office. She’s doing plenty of other things to keep busy, which we’ll get to, but for now, let’s focus on her day job — and the fact that she still has one.

When asked why, her face curves into a huge smile — it seems to be almost permanently like that — and she offers a simple and direct explanation.

“I love nursing,” she told BusinessWest with a voice that would imply this would be obvious if she’s been doing it for more than 67 years. But she wanted to elaborate, and did.

“I lucked out picking nursing as a profession coming out of high school because it’s just been the most rewarding career I could possibly imagine,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed it so much that I don’t want it to end. As long as someone keeps me employed, I’ll keep coming to work.

“I absolutely love what I do — I can’t say enough about how great nursing has been for me,” she went on. “It’s a wonderful career to have. I’ve tried so many different aspects of it, and I’ve loved them all. So I figured there’s no sense packing it in if you love what you’re doing.”

Her career has placed her in many settings — from a hospital ship that was part of Project Hope in the early ’60s to Western New England College, where she was director of Health Services; from an eye-surgery office in Hawaii to the Hampden County Jail and House of Correction, where she was a per-diem nurse and, later, director of nurses, with many other stops as well.

“I lucked out picking nursing as a profession coming out of high school because it’s just been the most rewarding career I could possibly imagine. I’ve enjoyed it so much that I don’t want it to end. As long as someone keeps me employed, I’ll keep coming to work.”

But longevity and this variety of professional settings only begins to explain why O’Brien has been chosen as a Healthcare Hero for 2023 in the Lifetime Achievement category. Beyond her various day (and night) jobs, she has undertaken a number of service and volunteer assignments — from reading at Valley Eye Radio to taking care of orphans in Romania; from teaching English to nursing students in China to tagging sharks in Belize; from restoring and protecting turtle habitats in Costa Rica to working at Whispering Horse Therapeutic Riding, supporting riders with disabilities.

All this suggests she could easily have been nominated in several, if not all, the categories of Healthcare Heroes. Because of the length, variety, and broad impact of her work, she is being honored in the Lifetime Achievement category, one that has traditionally been dominated by administrators. In this case, though, it is going to a provider. A provider of care. A provider of hope. A provider of inspiration.

Jody O’Brien with staff members at the Urology Group of Western New England’s Springfield office.
Staff Photo

Through her 87 years, 67 of them as a nurse, she has seen just about everything, including a global pandemic. Summing it all up, she said her passion for helping others hasn’t dimmed — and has probably only grown stronger — nearly 70 years after she entered nursing school.

This enthusiasm and energy was conveyed by Dr. Donald Sonn, a physician with UGWNE, who was among those who hired her 18 years ago.

“When we first interviewed her, we were struck by how positive and effervescent she was, and how energetic she was,” he recalled. “I’m constantly amazed by her energy and her positive attitude.”

Calling her an “ombudsman” for the practice’s patients, Sonn said O’Brien consistently draws praise for her calm, steady hand (and voice on the phone) and her desire to assist others.

All of this — and much more — explains why she is a true Healthcare Hero.

Riding the Wave

‘Cuba si, Yanquis no.’ That translates to ‘Cuba yes, Yankees no,’ and it’s a phrase, and a song, that O’Brien heard repeatedly as she served aboard the USS Hope, the former Navy hospital ship that was chartered to the People to People Health Foundation in 1960, when it was docked in Trujillo, Peru two years later.

“The people who met us at the dock were Communists, and they did not want us there,” she recalled, adding that the exploits of the USS Hope in Peru later became the subject of the book Yanqui Come Back!

O’Brien spent a year on the Hope, earning a $25 monthly stipend. But as those credit card commercials used to say, it was a learning experience that was priceless.

She worked beside a constantly changing team of doctors that performed surgery on the ship and in hospitals on the mainland, with procedures ranging from plastic surgery for burns to work to address cleft palate and hairlip, to removal of tumors, some of which had grown to enormous sizes because the patients hadn’t seen a healthcare provider in years, if not decades.

Urologist Dr. Donald Sonn calls Healthcare Hero Jody O’Brien an “ombudsman” for the practice’s patients.
Staff Photo

“People would walk for miles to get to the ship to be treated, and we treated everyone who needed it,” she recalled. “It was such a learning experience for me working with all these doctors.
“I was still young and adventurous,” she went on as she talked about how she paused her career, sort of, to serve on the ship, adding that she has remained young at heart and has always, in her recollection, been adventurous.

Indeed, the book on her life and career has many intriguing chapters, some of which are still being written. In literary circles, they would call this a ‘page turner.’

Our story starts in Iowa, where O’Brien was born and raised, and where she decided she wanted to be a nurse. She attended nursing school in Davenport — a three-year diploma program that cost $500.

Upon graduation, she took a job in Davenport, but soon thereafter, she went to Hawaii to stay with a friend who had recently had a baby and wanted her company while her husband was deployed.

It was in Hawaii that O’Brien became acquainted with Project Hope. She visited the ship when it was docked and became intrigued with its mission. After returning to Iowa, she filled out an application to serve in Project Hope as an operating room nurse, and in 1962, she was approved for service.

During her year on the USS Hope, she met a volunteer named Ed O’Brien, from Holyoke. Upon returning to Iowa, she would drive to the Paper City to renew acquaintances. They would marry in 1963 and eventually settle in East Longmeadow.

Thus would commence a series of assignments in the 413, but also well beyond it.

Care Package

These included a lengthy stint at what was then Wesson Women’s Hospital, working in labor and delivery, and another as a nurse practitioner in an ob/gyn office.

From 1983 to 1988, she served as director of Health Services at Western New England College, handling the needs of 6,000 students, and also as a per diem nurse at the Hampden County Jail and House of Correction.

She then accepted a travel nurse assignment at Castle Hospital in Kailua, Hawaii. She stayed in Hawaii for a dozen years, also serving as nurse manager of an eye-surgery center and as branch director of Nursefinders of Hawaii. And while in the Aloha State, she earned a master’s degree from Central Michigan University.

“She would go on a trip every three or four months, and it was always something really fascinating — volunteering in some third-world country or teaching children or reading to the blind. She has a tremendous record of service.”

She returned to Western Mass. in 2000 and took a job as area director of Nursefinders of Eastern Massachusetts, and soon thereafter became a flex team manager at Baystate Medical Center, managing 60 RNs, 25 technical assistants, 45 constant companions, and the ‘lift team.’

At the Urology Group of New England, which she joined 18 years ago, she works two days a week — Monday and Wednesday. The former is generally the busiest and perhaps the most difficult of the days of the week, but that’s when the group needs the help, so that’s when she works.

O’Brien’s whole career has been like that, in many respects — showing up when and where the help is most needed.

That’s true professionally, but also in her work as a volunteer, with work that is wide-ranging, to say the least.

Indeed, during the three days she’s not working at the Urology Group — and all through her life, for that matter — she has found no shortage of ways to give back and be there, for both people and animals.

Among them is her work with Valley Eye Radio, where she reads the local newspaper for the benefit of those who can’t read it themselves.

“It makes you feel good to know that, for people who cannot read or have difficulty reading, we can share what’s going on today in Springfield or the United States or the world,” she said. “We can share that information with them.”

Meanwhile, she also volunteers with Greater Springfield Senior Services, helping individuals who can no longer handle their own finances with bill paying and other responsibilities, and with Whispering Horse Therapeutic Riding, a nonprofit that, among other things, brings horses to nursing homes, where residents can feed and pet the animals.

“The way they light up when they see these horses … it’s so gratifying,” she told BusinessWest, adding that she and a colleague will visit facilities regularly — sometimes weekly, other times monthly.

Animals have always been a big part of her life — and her strong track record of giving back. In addition to tagging sharks and restoring turtle habitats, she has also volunteered at animal sanctuaries in Australia to care for koalas, often taking her grandchildren with her on such service trips, introducing them to the many rewards that come with such work.

“At this age, you know you don’t have many more days to fill, so you fill each one of them,” she said, but concedes that she’s always wanted to stay busy.

“She’s done so much in her life … I’ve always looked forward to listening to her talk about trips, her escapades,” said Sonn, choosing that word carefully. “She would go on a trip every three or four months, and it was always something really fascinating — volunteering in some third-world country or teaching children or reading to the blind. She has a tremendous record of service.”

In both aspects of her life — as a nurse and as a volunteer — the common thread has been a desire to help those in need, and this explains why she has been chosen as a Healthcare Hero for 2023.

“I loved working at Western New England; the college kids were a joy to work with,” she said, adding that each stop in her career has been different — and enjoyable. “There’s something about taking care of people and helping them deal with mental and physical problems and seeing what you can do to help them in their lives.”

Still Making a Difference

There are many people who have worked well into their 80s in healthcare. And there are many people who have put dozens of lines on a résumé detailing a lengthy list of career stops.

But there are few who have the passion, dedication, and resolve to use their talents and their love for helping others to make a world of difference, in every aspect of that phrase.

Jody O’Brien is such an individual. That commitment has helped her stand out in this field for seven decades. It makes her a Healthcare Hero. n

Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Justin Hurst to Face Off in Nov. 7 Election

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and City Councilor Justin Hurst emerged from a preliminary mayoral election on Tuesday as the top two vote getters and will advance to the Nov. 7 final election.

Sarno received nearly 48% of the votes (7,120), while Hurst picked up nearly 29% (4,292), easily outpacing the other candidates: state Rep. Orlando Ramos (2,032), City Councilor Jesse Lederman (1,344), and therapist David Ciampi (93).

Also on Tuesday, 10 candidates (from a field of 21) advanced to the Nov. 7 election for five Springfield City Council at-large seats: Juan Caraballo III, Nicole Coakley, Sean Curran, Jose Delgado, Juan Francisco Latorre III, Gerry Martin, Willie Naylor, Brian Santaniello, Kateri Walsh, and Tracye Whitfield.

Holyoke Community College Launching Wine-tasting Classes

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) is launching a series of wine-tasting classes this month for would-be connoisseurs who want to explore the vast complexities of wine while sampling select foods.

Starting Sept. 28, classes meet monthly on Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. at the HCC MGM Culinary Arts Institute, 164 Race St., Holyoke. All are taught by gastronomy professional Hannah Morrow, a travel food educator and cheese specialist at Formaggio Kitchen in Boston.

Each wine-tasting class has a different theme and food pairing: “Biodynamic Wines” (cheese and charcuterie) on Sept. 28, “Oaked Wines” (BBQ) on Oct. 19, “Skin Contact: Maceration and Beyond” (Thanksgiving and chocolate) on Nov. 16, and “Table Wines” (holiday leftovers and hand pies) on Dec. 14.

The cost for each session is $59. Seats are limited. To register, visit hcc.edu/cookingfa23 or call (413) 552-2500.

Pittsfield Cooperative Bank Hires New Chief Technology Officer

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Daily News

PITTSFIELD — Pittsfield Cooperative Bank announced the hiring of Eric Padelford as senior vice president and chief technology officer. In this role, he will oversee the Information Technology department and work closely with leadership on modernizing technology and platforms to increase efficiency and better serve the institution’s customers.

Padelford joins the bank after serving as vice president, integration architect, and developer at Berkshire Bank for the last six years. He has more than 22 years of systems-architecture and development expertise, serving in IT and development roles at McGlinchey Stafford and Tech Valley DataPro LLC.

“The Pittsfield Cooperative Bank is delighted to welcome Eric to our team,” said J. Jay Anderson, the bank’s president and CEO. “Eric brings years of IT experience aligning business and technology, with much of it rooted in the financial industry.”

Padelford received his associate of applied science degree from Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y. and a bachelor’s degree in IT from SUNY Empire State College in Saratoga, N.Y.

TommyCar Collision Center Transforms Jeep Wrangler for Hampshire County TRIAD

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Daily News

NORTHAMPTON — TommyCar Collision Center announced a collaboration with Hampshire County TRIAD seniors and law enforcement to provide a customized Jeep Wrangler for the organization’s community-outreach efforts.

TRIAD is dedicated to improving quality of life for seniors in Hampshire County by fostering collaboration between law-enforcement agencies and senior organizations. This unique partnership ensures that senior citizens are safe, engaged, and well-informed about issues affecting their well-being.

Recognizing the significance of this collaboration, TommyCar Collision Center performed expert bodywork and skillfully applied graphics to transform the Jeep Wrangler into a visually striking vehicle that embodies the TRIAD mission. More than just a symbol, this Jeep will serve as a valuable asset for TRIAD’s outreach endeavors.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this meaningful project in collaboration with Hampshire County TRIAD,” said Carla Cosenzi, president of TommyCar Collision Center. “Our team worked diligently to ensure that the Jeep Wrangler becomes a visible and impactful symbol in the community.”

Picture This

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Picture This

Email ‘Picture This’ photos with a caption and contact information to [email protected]

Pulling Up to a New Home

Last week, Balise Auto Group detailed plans to move its corporate headquarters from West Springfield to the third floor of the TD Bank building at 1441 Main St. in Springfield. The move is expected to bring more than 50 jobs to downtown Springfield at first, with more to come.

Pictured, from left: Balise Auto Group President Jeb Balise, Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Balise Auto Group Chief Operating Officer Ben Sullivan, and Jack Dill, president and CEO of Colebrook Realty Services, which owns the TD Bank tower.

Community Support

Last month, Monson Savings Bank made a $1,000 donation to Springfield’s Hispanic-American Library in support of its newly established event, the New England Latino Festival, which took place at Riverfront Park in Springfield on Aug. 25-26. The first-time festival celebrated New England’s vibrant Latino community through food, music, and more, bringing together thousands of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.

Pictured: Monson Savings Bank President and CEO Dan Moriarty (left) and Hispanic-American Library Executive Director Juan Falcon.

Helping to Meet a Need

J. Jay Anderson (left), president and CEO of Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, recently presented a $1,000 donation from the bank to the People’s Pantry in Great Barrington. The People’s Pantry, located at Saint James Place, is a local nonprofit offering locally sourced food and other resources to clients experiencing food insecurity. “We are extremely grateful and appreciative,” said Beth Moser (second from left), president of the People’s Pantry. “We rely on our donors’ generous support to help reduce food-supply costs so that we can keep serving our community.”

J. Jay Anderson (left), president and CEO of Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, recently presented a $1,000 donation from the bank to the People’s Pantry in Great Barrington

Court Dockets

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Court Dockets

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

Western Mass Demolition Corp. v. Ohio Concrete Inc.

Allegation: Breach of contract: $53,017.25

Filed: 7/19/23

NC Inc. AMN f/k/a the Nunes Cos. Inc. v. Latour and Sons Trucking Inc.

Allegation: Negligence causing personal injury and property damage: $90,000

Filed: 7/20/23

Ruth Christianson v. Big Y Foods Inc.

Allegation: Negligence; slip and fall causing personal injury: $51,000

Filed: 7/26/23

James M. Bruderman v. Mercury Public Affairs

Allegation: Defamation: $1,000,000

Filed: 7/27/23

Rene Pomales and Rosalee Pomales v. OM SAI Racingmart LLC

Allegation: Negligence; slip and fall causing personal injury: $14,497.18

Filed: 7/31/23

Kimberly Thayer v. Mr. Stax Inc. and Gabi Pancakes Inc.

Allegation: Negligence; slip and fall causing personal injury: $425,000

Filed: 8/2/23

Arcbest Inc. v. East Baking Co.

Allegation: Money owed for transportation services: $67,301

Filed: 8/3/23

Parisi Management Group LLC v. Blue Lotus Group LLC et al

Allegation: Breach of contract, unjust enrichment: $350,060.65

Filed: 8/9/23

Laurel Stanislas v. Edward Wall

Allegation: Negligence causing personal injury: $75,000

Filed: 8/9/23

Agenda

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Agenda

Estate-planning Courses

Sept. 21, Oct. 19, Nov. 30: Attorney Karen Jackson of Jackson Law in Holyoke will lead three estate-planning workshops at Holyoke Community College. An elder-law and estate-planning attorney, Jackson will present these sessions:

• “Core Estate Planning,” Thursday, Sept. 21, 6-7 p.m. Jackson recommends that everyone should have what she calls a ‘core estate plan,’ with a will, power of attorney, and healthcare proxy. She will explain the value of each document.

• “De-mystifying Trusts,” Thursday, Oct. 19, 6-7 p.m. Jackson will explain what a trust is, review the different types of trusts, and outline who needs a trust and in what situations.

• “Saving Your Home from the Nursing Home Bill,” Thursday, Nov. 30, 6-7 p.m. Jackson will explain the use of an irrevocable income-only trust to save one’s home when nursing care becomes problematic. She will explain MassHealth rules and provide tips and traps to avoid.

Each class costs $39. To register, call (413) 552-2320.

Source to Sea Cleanup

Sept. 22-23: Connecticut River Conservancy’s (CRC) 27th annual Source to Sea Cleanup is back, with opportunities for individual groups to set their own specific cleanup days around this time. The objective is to safely collect as much trash as possible to reduce the impact of pollution across all four states of the 410-mile Connecticut River basin, including the tributaries that feed the main river in those four states. Volunteers are organized into groups, with group leaders coordinating details at different trash sites. Trash tallies are also gathered after each cleanup, contributing to CRC’s long-standing database, which is used to inform the nonprofit’s work in advocacy to reduce future pollution, support river restoration, and inform the public and policymakers of issues affecting the environment. In last year’s cleanup, more than 1,300 volunteers reported hauling 37 tons of trash from riverbanks and waterways across the four watershed states. Volunteers removed everything from recyclable bottles and cans to fishing equipment, food packaging, tires, televisions, and refrigerators. More than 12,000 beverage containers were tallied in 2022 alone. Registration is now open for both group leaders and volunteers to participate. Businesses and community groups are also encouraged to register, and entities able to support cleanup efforts through in-kind or monetary donations are appreciated. Visit secure.qgiv.com/event/source2seacleanup2023 to sign up as a volunteer or group leader.

Cruise for Critters

Sept. 23: The countdown has begun for the much-anticipated Cruise for Critters to Westview Farms Creamery. Now in its 11th year, this car show, sponsored by Service Connection of Monson, is set to once again make a meaningful impact on the lives of pets in need at Second Chance Animal Services. This year’s Cruise for Critters promises an array of fall-themed activities for attendees of all ages. A vendor fair will offer a treasure trove of unique finds and is expected to be the largest Cruise for Critters vendor fair to date. The much-loved Halloween Barktacular kids’ games will be back thanks to Second Chance volunteers who are gearing up to provide an unforgettable experience for children and families alike. The festivities are set to kick off at 10 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m., encompassing food and ice cream along with an assortment of fall-inspired attractions for which Westview Farms Creamery is known, from pumpkin picking to navigating through a corn maze. Live music by Spare Parts will provide a soundtrack to the day, while raffle prizes beckon attendees to try their luck. Organizers extend an invitation to local businesses and vendors, calling upon them to unite in support of pets in need. Information on sponsorship opportunities and becoming a vendor can be found at secondchanceanimals.org/events/cruise. The event will welcome spectators free of charge. Car enthusiasts are encouraged to take part in the show by contributing a $20 entry fee per vehicle, with every dollar earmarked for the betterment of pets’ lives. A rain date has been set for Saturday, Sept. 30.

Free Shred Days

Sept. 23, Oct. 14: bankESB invites customers and members of the community to two free Shred Days at local offices. Events will be held from 9 to 11:00 a.m. (on until the truck is full) on Saturday, Sept. 23 at the 241 Northampton St., Easthampton office; and Saturday, Oct. 14 at the 40 State St., Belchertown office. No appointment is necessary. Local residents can reduce their risk of identity theft by bringing old mail, receipts, statements or bills, canceled checks, pay stubs, medical records, or any other unwanted paper documents containing personal or confidential information and having them shredded safely and securely for free. A professional document-destruction company will be on site in the bank’s parking lot and can accept up to two boxes of documents per person.

Tom Cosenzi Driving for the Cure Charity Golf Tournament

Sept. 26: The fifteenth annual Tom Cosenzi Driving for the Cure Charity Golf Tournament will be held at Twin Hills Country Club in Longmeadow. Tom Cosenzi, successful businessman and father of four, succumbed to brain cancer in 2009 at the early age of 52. His vision was that no other family would experience the pain that he and his family endured. It was his wish that his family and friends continue to raise money for neuro-oncology research so the burden of cancer can be eliminated for patients and their families. In his memory, the Tom Cosenzi Driving for the Cure Charity Golf Tournament was formed. All money raised will go directly to benefit the work of Dr. Patrick Wen and his team of researchers in the Center for Neuro-Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in search for a cure. The tournament has raised more than $1,458,135 in its 14-year history. Volkswagen of America has has signed on as the event’s 2023 presenting sponsor. Visit www.tomcosenzidrivingforthecure.com for registration, sponsorship opportunities, and more information. Questions may be directed to (413) 341-1917 or [email protected].

‘Transforming Stress’

Oct. 11: Berkshire-based stress expert Julie Haagenson will lead a virtual Dulye Leadership Experience wellness workshop called “Transforming Stress: An Interactive Workshop for Improving Your Well-being and Mental Fitness.” This one-hour, interactive session, which begins at 5:15 p.m., will deliver valuable insights into the physiological and psychological aspects of stress. Haagenson has more than two decades of experience as a counselor, facilitator, educator, consultant, and coach. As the founder of New Pathways Coaching & Consulting, she will provide tools and strategies to increase well-being and improve performance. Through the underwriting of the Dulye & Co. management consultancy, there is no fee to attend. Advance registration is required. To ensure an intimate and interactive learning experience, only 45 spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Visit www.dle.dulye.com/upcoming-events to reserve a virtual seat.

Dragon Boat Festival

Oct. 14: A new date for the ninth annual Dragon Boat Festival has been set. The event will feature dragon-boat races, food trucks, and Asian-themed entertainment from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at North Riverfront Park, 121 West St., Springfield. The festival was originally scheduled for July 29 but postponed due to unsafe water conditions resulting from recent flooding. Admission to the festival is free for spectators. Twenty-four teams from throughout New England are registered to participate in this year’s dragon-boat races. Community teams include Behavioral Health Network, CRRC-MA, as well as the defending champions, Springfield Pharmacy First Responders. With the new date set, registration will be reopened at www.pvriverfront.org for additional teams to sign up to race on Oct. 14. The Springfield Dragon Boat Festival, which has been hosted by the Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club (PVRC) since 2013, attracts hundreds of participants and spectators to the banks of the Connecticut River for a day of competition, festivity, and community support. The festival is an important fundraiser in support of breast-cancer survivors and community programming at the Pioneer Valley Riverfront Club. Free parking is available nearby at 77 West St. or along Avocado Street and on property abutting and behind the new Starbucks store adjacent to the Riverfront Club. The festival can also be reached by the Connecticut Riverwalk Bikeway. More information can be found at www.pvriverfront.org or by calling (413) 736-1322.

Healthcare Heroes

Oct. 26: BusinessWest and the Healthcare News will honor nine individuals as 2023 Healthcare Heroes at a celebration dinner at Marriott Springfield Downtown. The Healthcare Heroes class of 2023 will be announced and profiled in the Sept. 18 issue of BusinessWest. Tickets will be on sale beginning Friday, Sept. 15. Tickets cost $90 per person, and reserved tables of 10 are available. Current event sponsors include presenting sponsors Elms College and Baystate Health/Health New England, and partner sponsors Holyoke Medical Center, Mercy Medical Center/Trinity Health, and the Elaine Marieb Center for Nursing and Engineering Innovation and the Institute for Applied Life Sciences at UMass Amherst. Congratulatory advertisements and additional event sponsorships are available. For more information, call (413) 781-8600 or visit businesswest.com/healthcareheroes.

People on the Move

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

People on the Move

Jean Deliso

Jean Deliso, CFP, from the Connecticut Valley General Office of New York Life, has been listed on the 2023 Forbes Top Financial Security Professionals Best-in-State list. A New York Life agent for 28 years, Deliso is president and owner of Deliso Financial and Insurance Services, a firm focusing on comprehensive financial strategies that help position clients for a solid financial future. She has been working in the financial field for more than 30 years, her first seven in public accounting and the balance working in the financial-services industry. She has developed an expertise in helping business owners and individuals protect and secure their own and their family’s future. Deliso is a Nautilus Group member agent, an advanced-planning resource for estate-conservation and business-continuation strategies. A graduate of Bentley College, she has also been a member of New York Life Chairman’s Council since 2012 and a qualifying member of the Million Dollar Round Table since 1999. Members of the elite Chairman’s Council rank in the top 3% of New York Life’s sales force of more than 12,000 licensed agents in sales achievement. Active in her community, Deliso currently serves on and is immediate past chairman of the board of the Baystate Health Foundation. She also serves on and is past chairman of the board of the Community Music School of Springfield, and is also a past board member of Pioneer Valley Refrigerated Warehouse.

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Bay Path University announced that Anna Zendell has been named program director of the university’s master of healthcare management program. Zendell brings more than three decades of experience as an educator, researcher, and social-welfare advocate to her role. She was most recently the senior faculty program director of the School of Health Sciences and the School of Graduate Studies at Excelsior University, where she oversaw master’s-degree programs in health sciences, healthcare administration, and public administration, in addition to graduate certificates in public-health equity, nutrition, and informatics. Zendell has been a practitioner, educator, administrator, and caregiver, and throughout her career, she has applied that experience to the development of curriculum and teaching methods focused on population health, healthcare systems, screening, and research to practice. She has published research looking at aging, the roles of sibling caregivers, and the impact of regular physical activity on health. Her recent work focuses on collaborative teaching, experiential learning, and working with adult learners.

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Greg Sanocki

Eastern States Exposition (ESE) announced that Greg Sanocki has joined the organization’s Marketing Department as communications & social media specialist. Sanocki completed his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in marketing from Western New England University in December 2014. Shortly following his collegiate career, he joined Westfield State University’s Marketing Department as social media and digital content specialist. In that role for nearly seven years, Sanocki was responsible for developing and administering the university’s official social-media presence, producing video content, and serving as a social-media expert for the campus community. In his new role as communications & social media specialist, Sanocki will be responsible for overseeing ESE’s digital and social-media marketing initiatives, collaborating with departments to ensure seamless digital communication, and creating and producing effective marketing and public-relations communications.

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Bulkley Richardson announced that both Stephen Holstrom and Lauren Ostberg have been included in the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America. Holstrom, counsel at Bulkley Richardson, was recognized for his work in both professional malpractice law and education law. Ostberg, an associate in the Litigation department and co-chair of the Cybersecurity practice, was recognized in the area of commercial litigation. Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America recognizes lawyers relatively early in their careers for their outstanding professional excellence in private practice in the U.S.

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Florence Bank recently presented its 2023 President’s Award to three staff members for exceptional service. Established in 1995, the President’s Award recognizes outstanding performance, customer service, and overall contribution to Florence Bank. Awardees are nominated by their colleagues at the bank. This year’s award recognizes Calli Paulin, a teller at the bank since 2021; Aaron Bonneau, an IT administrator who has worked at the bank since 2019; and David Lipson, a marketing research analyst who came on board in 2018. Paulin attended Bay Path University in pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity. Bonneau holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from UMass Amherst. Lipson holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business management from Western New England University.

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Michael Dodge

American International College (AIC) announced that Michael Dodge has been named executive vice president for Academic Affairs. He has been serving in this role on an interim basis since March 2022. In this position, Dodge serves as AIC’s chief academic officer and is responsible for the academic operations of the college, including strategic planning for, and day-to-day operations of, the schools of Business, Arts & Sciences; Education; and Health Sciences. He represents the Office of Academic Affairs to internal and external constituencies and is responsible for developing and overseeing comprehensive and integrative structures and processes to support teaching and learning, student success, retention, and graduation. In addition, he oversees the institution’s accreditation and academic-assessment processes and supports the development of meaningful and measurable institution, program, and course student-learning outcomes. Upon his arrival in 2018, Dodge served as dean of Student Success and Opportunity. He additionally served as the principal investigator for the U.S. Department of Education Title III Grant program. He was promoted to associate vice president for Academic Affairs in January 2022. Before joining AIC, Dodge worked for more than a decade at UMass Amherst in a variety of teaching and administrative roles. He earned his doctorate in educational policy, leadership, and administration at UMass Amherst after earning his master’s degree in student affairs from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his bachelor’s degree in secondary education and English from the State University of New York Oswego.

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Country Bank announced that Mary McGovern, executive vice president and chief financial and operating officer, successfully completed the inaugural American Bankers Assoc. (ABA) Wharton Leadership Lab at the University of Pennsylvania last week. She earned an ABA Wharton Executive Leadership Certificate, a prestigious credential that demonstrates her excellence in leadership and strategic planning. The ABA Wharton Leadership Lab is a rigorous, immersive program that challenges executive bankers on the reality of leadership in today’s world at an Ivy League level. The program, which included 42 students, covers topics such as creating and sharing a vision, goal setting, managing talent, driving innovation, and sustaining meaningful relationships. McGovern is an influential executive leader with more than 30 years of experience in the financial-services industry. Her leadership has contributed to the bank’s continued success for the past 12 years. Her participation in the ABA Wharton Leadership Lab reflects her commitment to continuous learning and professional development at a critical time in the industry as regulations, technologies, and the workforce continue to rapidly evolve.

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Samantha Graves

Samantha Graves recently joined the Royal Law Firm team. She advises clients on various matters involving allegations of discrimination, harassment, wrongful terminations, and violations of FMLA. Her preventive work also includes drafting a variety of employment-related manuals and contracts, such as executive agreements, compensation and commission agreements, and severance and settlement agreements. Graves graduated cum laude from Worcester State University with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a minor in business administration. She obtained her juris doctorate from Western New England University School of Law.

•••••

Bacon Wilson, P.C. announced that six lawyers from the firm were recently recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for 2024, and two were included in Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America. Along with the year they were first recognized in Best Lawyers in any practice area, they are: Gary Breton (2018), banking and finance law and business organizations (including LLCS and partnerships); Michael Katz (2016), bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law; Kenneth Albano (2020), business organizations (including LLCS and partnerships); Gina Barry (2018), elder law; Hyman Darling (2020), elder law; Peter MacConnell (2021), real-estate law; Daniel McKellick (2023), Ones to Watch in real-estate law; and Tyler Humphrey (2021), Ones to Watch in banking and finance law.

•••••

Northampton Dollars for Scholars announced the appointment of three community members to its board of directors. Anna Zadworny is assistant vice president and Employee Development manager for Greenfield Savings Bank. She has an associate degree in business management from Holyoke Community College and completed Babson College Financial Studies. Valerie Harlow is a learning advisor and facilitator for the Employers Assoc. of the NorthEast. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Westfield State University and a master’s degree in training and development from Lesley University. Patricia Mahar works as an area manager in Dining Services at Smith College. She is a graduate of the University of Saint Joseph.

Company Notebook

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Company Notebook

Food Bank Sells Facility to Myers Produce

HATFIELD — The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts announced the successful sale of its Hatfield building and property to Myers Produce, a woman-owned regional produce distributor and trucking company offering farmer-focused distribution, freight, and warehousing services. The strategic decision to sell the building marks a significant milestone for both businesses. The Food Bank moved to its new location at 25 Carew St., Chicopee, during the last week of August, and Myers Produce will move into its new Hatfield facility in October. Myers Produce has a long-standing commitment to bolster access to regionally grown food and to support farmers in Western Mass. and Vermont. With this strategic move, Myers Produce is taking a significant step to expand the purchasing of food from local growers and producers and transporting and reselling it to food retailers throughout the region and beyond. Moving to Hatfield will generate employment opportunities and place Myers Produce close to farmlands, near highways, and at a central crossroads for serving growers, customers, and fellow distributors in Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Maine. Both the Food Bank and Myers Produce are looking forward to sharing resources at their respective new facilities, including cross docking and temporary storage. This arrangement will facilitate Food Bank deliveries to its member food pantries and meal sites in Hampshire and Franklin counties. For Myers Produce, this arrangement will contribute to its current ‘donation transportation’ program, facilitating the free transportation of donated food to the Food Bank for distribution to the local community. Foreseeing it was running out of space many years ago, the Food Bank purchased 16.5 acres of vacant land in the Chicopee River Business Park in 2020. In 2021, it launched a successful, $26 million capital campaign to raise funds to build a larger facility, with support from individual and business donors, state and federal governments, and volunteers. In 2022, construction began on its new distribution center and headquarters, which is nearing completion.

AIC Introduces Division of Arts, Media, and Design

SPRINGFIELD — American International College (AIC) has made a significant advance toward meeting the evolving demands of the workforce with the introduction of a new Division of Arts, Media, and Design within the School of Business, Arts, and Sciences. This division encompasses redesigned undergraduate programming in the bachelor of arts and bachelor of science curricula, launching with the upcoming fall 2023 semester. This new division will introduce four undergraduate majors, each crafted to provide students with a comprehensive foundation. The offerings include public relations & social media administration, digital media production, arts and entertainment management, and graphic arts and design. Moreover, AIC unveiled six new undergraduate minors that complement these majors. The minors include public relations and social media administration, digital media production, arts & entertainment management, graphic arts and design, fashion design and merchandising, and music technology & production.

MCLA’s LEAD Academy Expands with Support from Greylock Federal Credit Union

NORTH ADAMS — LEAD Academy, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ (MCLA) almost two-decade-old program to help new students integrate into college life, is getting a huge boost thanks to Greylock Federal Credit Union. Greylock pledged $100,000 to support a reimagined Greylock LEAD Academy, allowing the program to grow from around 30 MCLA students each year to this fall’s cohort of 200 participants. Thanks to Greylock’s generosity, LEAD is now available to all MCLA first-year students at no cost. LEAD, which stands for Leadership, Education, Action, and Development, is a college success, leadership, and civic-engagement program designed to help students develop leadership skills and the skills necessary for college preparation, which they can immediately apply. Beginning Aug. 26, this year’s LEAD students will participate in a holistic onboarding experience before the start of fall classes. The first five days will provide a signature experience focusing on leadership development, team building, community building, and workshops conducted by student leaders.

Community Music School Receives $10,000 Grant from New York Life

SPRINGFIELD — Community Music School of Springfield (CMSS), which provides accessible, affordable music education, has been awarded a $10,000 Community Impact Grant from New York Life. The grant will support the Adaptive Music Program (AMP), which connects music education and special education to improve students’ lives, impacting their social/emotional, academic, and artistic development. “We are grateful for New York Life’s investment in AMP, which will change many lives for the better,” said Jean Deliso, CFP, an agent with New York Life’s Connecticut Valley General Office and CMSS board member. “We are pleased that our partnership will have a long-lasting impact on CMSS and the population they serve.” The Community Impact Grant program awards grants of up to $25,000 to local nonprofit organizations, which are championed by New York Life agents and employees. Since the program’s inception in 2008, nearly 800 grants totaling more than $10 million have been awarded to nonprofits across the country. “With this generous support from New York Life, this year, AMP will be able to work with over 800 students at more than 15 Springfield public schools, providing critical skill building, including receptive and expressive language, motor skills, and building social relationships, helping these vulnerable children build their foundation for future success in all types of academic and personal areas,” said Eileen McCaffery, executive director of CMSS.

Maybury Material Handling, Community Action Pioneer Valley Win HNE Well Worth It Award

SPRINGFIELD — Health New England has awarded Maybury Material Handling of East Longmeadow and Community Action Pioneer Valley of Greenfield its Well Worth It Award, Gold designation, for outstanding employee-wellness programs. Maybury Material Handling provides industrial products and services to manufacturing, distribution, and warehousing customers. Community Action Pioneer Valley is a not-for-profit that helps those with low incomes achieve economic stability and security, and works to build communities in which all people can thrive. Both employers demonstrated their responsibility to the health and well-being of their employees by encouraging them to use Health New England’s suite of health and wellness services. These include its Healthy Choices Rewards Program that offers monetary rewards for healthy activities, such as joining a gym, nutrition counseling, smoking cessation, and more. Health New England also awarded Well Worth It Awards in the Silver designation to Scantic Valley Regional Health Trust and PeoplesBank, and in the Bronze designation to Springfield Area Transit Co. Inc./Pioneer Valley Transit Authority. Well Worth It Award winners will be honored at a luncheon on Oct. 5 at the Sheraton Springfield.

Country Bank, WooSox Foundation Announce 2023 WooStars

WARE — Country Bank and the Worcester Red Sox Foundation recently announced the 2023 WooStars, a program that supports nonprofit leaders throughout the region. Country Bank recently recognized nine local WooStars and the nonprofits they are affiliated with at Polar Park, including Mari Gonzalez of El Buen Samaritano Food Program Inc., Jenna Rahkonen of HomeFront Strong, Brian Feeley of Miracle League of Western Massachusetts, Todd Stewart of Camp Putnam, Sharon MacDonald of Guild of St. Agnes of Worcester Inc., Anna Rice of Dismas House, Gina and John Connolly of Lou Gehrig Little League, and Joseph Kenadek of Jack Barry Little League. Each nonprofit was presented with a $5,000 donation. In the past three years, 27 WooStars have been awarded a total of $135,000 in donations.

The Stubblebine Co., JLL Announce Sale of Property

WESTFIELD — The Stubblebine Co./CORFAC International and JLL announced the sale of 323 Lockhouse Road, Westfield to ERD Metal Inc. for $14.5 million. The property consists of a 229,867-square-foot industrial building on 26.09 acres. Situated two miles from I-90 and seven miles from I-91, the property is located adjacent to Westfield-Barnes Regional Airport. Erdoganlar Aluminum (ERD Metal Inc.) was established in 1987 in Istanbul, Turkey as a family-owned aluminum-extrusion company. Its vision is to fulfill the needs of its partners by offering a wide range of products and services, including custom fabrications, plastic injection, aluminum casting, custom aluminum extrusions, custom packaging, and more. Established in 1987, the Stubblebine Co./COFAC International specializes in selling and leasing large industrial investment properties and adaptive reuse sites throughout New England.

Doing Business as Certificates

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

DBA Certificates

The following business certificates and/or trade names were issued or renewed during the month of August 2023.

DEERFIELD

Brian Zamojski Plumbing and Heating
797 River Road
Brian Zamojski

Craftsman Residential Services
9 Conway St.
William Dziura

Intuitive Wellness, Training & Coaching
89 North Hillside Road
Kimberly Keefe Swasey

Lichocki Design
10 Crestview Dr.
Edward Lichocki

Michaela Battistoni
8B Elm St.
Michaela Battistoni

USASA Massachusetts Snowboard and Freeski Competition Series
15 Wells St.
John Friends

GRANBY

Brie’s Balloons
5 Lakeview Ave.
Brie’s Balloons

Colonial Apartments
8 West St.
Colonial Apartments

Five Corner Cuts
5 Lakeview Ave.
Five Corner Cuts

HaasNetworks
5 Griswold Circle
Timothy Haas

Happy Days Mini Golf & Driving Range
172 West State St.
Happy Days Mini Golf & Driving Range

Hawthorn Hills Property Solutions
65 West St.
Hawthorn Hills Property Solutions

Kruisin’ Café
172 West State St.
Kruisin’ Café

SLG Photography
18 Pinebrook Circle
SLG Photography

HADLEY

Countryside Farm
199 Russell St.
Alex Rytuba

Great Spirits Tattoo of Greenfield LLC
216B Russell St.
Vincent Pernice

Warvik Enterprises LLC
134 Rocky Hill Road
Christian Rahn

LEE

Keenan Construction
65 Franklin St.
Jeffrey Keenan

Main Street Comics, Toys & More
74 Main St.
Ryan Davis

Vuolo Renovations
75 Prospect St.
Andrew Vuolo

PITTSFIELD

2nd Chance Landscaping
555 Hubbard Ave.
Chauncey Dozier

Abbey’s Home Store LLC
82 Wendell Ave.
Winifred Abbey

Alliance Building Automation
82 Wendell Ave., Suite 100
Alliance Mechanical Inc.

Belle Isle Consulting
2 Cobblestone Cove
Thomas Meyer

Berkshire Elegance
945 West St.
John O’Brien

Brush Masters
11 Jayne Ave.
Vicente Rodriguez

Hilltop Farm Gardens & Landscaping
195 Wendell Ave.
Joanna Sokolsky

Law Office of Ahmed B. Ismail
8 Bank Row
Ahmed Ismail

Lefebvre Auto Repair
1500 East St.
Eric Lefebvre

Mega Power Performance
48 Dalton Ave.
Dany Argueta

Ritz Business Tutoring
82 Wendell Ave.
Rostock Inc.

RP Trucking
104 Orlando Ave.
William Fiske Jr.

Simply Boutique
253 South St.
Daniel Zocchi, Dinah Luczynski

Thriving Aura Wellness LLC
42 Summer St.
Thriving Aura Wellness LLC

WTPI Services LLC
P.O. Box 1146
Norman Lee

SOUTH HADLEY

Bodies in Motion
200 Old Lyman Road
BIM Dance LLC

Castle Halls Family Travel LLC
14 Apple Road
Kristin Browning Hall

Daydreaming in Canvas
11 Brigham Road
Jonathan Nunez-Olivieri

ERA M. Connie Laplante Real Estate
2 Lyman St.
M. Connie Laplante Real Estate Inc.

Everest Chiropractic Associates
601 Newton St.
Everest Chiropractic

Happy Valley Handywoman
4 South Sycamore Knolls
Laurie Nichols

Ideaworx
317 East St.
Kiersten Asbek

Living Waters Pool & Spa Service
249 East St.
Catherine Foxwell

MK Galaxy Gutters
20 New Ludlow Road
Mark Krasnowski

Ochoa Salon & Spa
15 College St.
Ochoa Salon & Spa

South Hadley Players
34 Pine Hill Road
Cynthia Strycharz, Daniel Mashia

This Red Rock Entertainment Inc.
12 Jewett Lane
This Red Rock Entertainment Inc.

Tigerweb LLC
22 South Sycamore Knolls
Thomas Moore

Valedictorian Tutoring
25 Highland Ave.
Gregory Shenk

WARE

Gail Marie’s Gourmet Popcorn LLC
91 Main St.
Gail Craig

Guy with Glasses Design
271 Palmer Road
G. John Devanski

Kal-Dogs
25C Church St.
Kalzamah McCoy

KJB Bookkeeping
12 Millers Road
Kathleen Bourcier

TCF Enterprise LLC
91 Main St.
Gail Craig

Bankruptcies

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Bankruptcies

The following bankruptcy petitions were recently filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Readers should confirm all information with the court.

Ayala, Janessa I.
79 Franklin St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/08/2023

Chistolini, Samantha L.
52 Weston St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/09/2023

Eastern Suffolk Counseling, LCSW PLLC
Girard-Domena, Richard Frederick
a/k/a Girard, RichardFrederick
47 Round Hill Road, #13
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/03/2023

Forbes, David M.
Forbes, Laura J.
a/k/a Kaniecki, Laura Jean
359 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/12/2023

Kane, Sarah R.
468 Springfield St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/10/2023

King, Nancy I.
27 Stillwater Road
South Deerfield, MA 01373
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/04/2023

LaChance, Ernest Joseph
185 South St.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 13
Date: 08/01/2023

Lawson, Ryan A.
230 Szetela Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Date: 07/31/2023

Leary, Katie Jane
31 Armand St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Date: 07/31/2023

McCollum, Turian A.
a/k/a McCollum, Turian L.
64 Hill St., Fl. 3
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/15/2023

Moreau, Matthew Paul Dennis
a/k/a Moreau, Matthew P.
258 Winsor St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/09/2023

Pelletier, Shane Edward
Enloe-Pelletier, Sarah Josephine
23 Corey Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/14/2023

Rivera, Jessika M.
227 Beech St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Date: 08/09/2023

Roissing, Jennifer A.
22 Regal St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 13
Date: 08/08/2023

Rzeznik, Martin K.
63 Parker St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/01/2023

Sena, Joseph M.
345 New Boston Road
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Chapter: 13
Date: 08/09/2023

Smith, Allen F.
314 North Caldwell Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Chapter: 13
Date: 08/10/2023

Smith, Denise J.
14 Meadowbrook Manor
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Date: 08/02/2023

Thornton, Kellie J.
115 Haven Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Date: 07/31/2023

Yilmaz, Oytun
63 Musante Dr., Apt. D
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Date: 07/31/2023

Real Estate Transactions

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Real Estate

The following real estate transactions (latest available) were compiled by Banker & Tradesman and are published as they were received. Only transactions exceeding $115,000 are listed. Buyer and seller fields contain only the first name listed on the deed.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

ASHFIELD

19 Bailey Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Jennifer L. Crabbe
Seller: E. M. Davis
Date: 08/16/23

199-J Stonewall Dr.
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $715,000
Buyer: David Falk
Seller: Scott B. Johnson
Date: 08/11/23

BERNARDSTON

315 Martindale Road
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: Ryan Maxfield
Seller: William E. Meese
Date: 08/08/23

BUCKLAND

120 Bray Road
Buckland, MA 01370
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: William Jacobson
Seller: Sarah Davenport
Date: 08/16/23

30 School St.
Buckland, MA 01370
Amount: $600,000
Buyer: Anne-Liesl H. Swogger
Seller: Alexander D. Meade
Date: 08/18/23

49 School St.
Buckland, MA 01370
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Bettie L. Nolan
Seller: Edward A. Reagey
Date: 08/10/23

CHARLEMONT

91 East Hawley Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Kenan T. Lavelle
Seller: James P. Whitney
Date: 08/16/23

447 Legate Hill Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: Brian P. Anton
Seller: Sally B. Sampley
Date: 08/07/23

CONWAY

583 Williamsburg Road
Conway, MA 01096
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Brianna McMillan
Seller: Spencer FT
Date: 08/16/23

ERVING

17 Central St.
Erving, MA 01344
Amount: $203,500
Buyer: Chelsea Diaz
Seller: Broughan, Sharon K. (Estate)
Date: 08/14/23

GREENFIELD

603 Barton Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Ann Bronner
Seller: Douglas J. Depault
Date: 08/18/23

382 Deerfield St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Jimbob Realty LLC
Seller: Greenfield & Montague
Date: 08/17/23

131 Verde Dr.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $574,500
Buyer: Jason Kopec
Seller: Greenfield KMW LLC
Date: 08/16/23

LEVERETT

258 Pratt Corner Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $585,000
Buyer: Ryan Gwyther
Seller: Chelsea S. Voake
Date: 08/10/23

MONTAGUE

84 2nd St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $302,500
Buyer: Tatjana Diaz
Seller: Michael L. Dibari
Date: 08/11/23

96 3rd St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Alycar Investments LLC
Seller: James L. Mayrand
Date: 08/16/23

88 South Prospect St.
Montague, MA 01349
Amount: $269,900
Buyer: Kenneth J. Kuklewicz
Seller: Robert J. Croteau
Date: 08/16/23

ORANGE

212 Holtshire Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Virginia Realty Inc.
Seller: Jonathan P. Gleason
Date: 08/16/23

178 North Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Robert Ellin
Seller: Ryan Smith
Date: 08/18/23

41 Putnam St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Crystal Harvey
Seller: Bonnie C. Frank
Date: 08/16/23

SHUTESBURY

244 Baker Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Branden Eugenio
Seller: Ethan Todras-Whitehill
Date: 08/15/23

218 Baker Road
Shutesbury, MA 01002
Amount: $696,900
Buyer: Janet N. Hampton
Seller: Ethan Todras-Whitehill
Date: 08/10/23

SUNDERLAND

230 Plumtree Road
Sunderland, MA 01375
Amount: $630,000
Buyer: Adam J. Dahl
Seller: Alyssa E. Crockett
Date: 08/18/23

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

17 Cambridge St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: James C. Carr
Seller: Douglas Dichard
Date: 08/15/23

22 Hunting Lane
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Youssef Abdelhalim
Seller: Lessard, Kenneth E. (Estate)
Date: 08/11/23

34 James St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: Adam J. Shea
Seller: Mark E. Morris
Date: 08/10/23

35 Lealand Ave.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $309,500
Buyer: Andrew J. Colson
Seller: Dola T. Tayeh
Date: 08/15/23

1108 Main St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $310,000
Buyer: James Thompson
Seller: Dorothea M. Aull
Date: 08/10/23

34 Mooreland St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: JLX 2 Properties LLC
Seller: Chenevert Properties LLC
Date: 08/16/23

523 North Westfield St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Brian Holmes
Seller: Susan M. Smith-Malecky
Date: 08/17/23

627 North Westfield St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $392,000
Buyer: Laure Moyse
Seller: Kathleen Devins
Date: 08/11/23

120 Oak Lane
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Plata O. Plomo Inc.
Seller: Wisen, Linda A. (Estate)
Date: 08/10/23

11 Pleasant Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $299,900
Buyer: Christopher A. Jamgochian
Seller: Heather M. Taupier
Date: 08/11/23

101 Ramah Circle, South
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Matthew Desrosiers
Seller: Gary E. Moren
Date: 08/10/23

248 River Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Larisa Nakhabenko
Seller: Kusmierz, Robert F. (Estate)
Date: 08/10/23

47-49 Royal St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Ferris R. Fleming
Seller: Silver Snake Properties LLC
Date: 08/07/23

240 South St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: Lucas Giusto
Seller: Robert A. Frasco
Date: 08/14/23

130 South Park Ter.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Maria Rodrigues
Seller: Vitaliy Dzhenzherukha
Date: 08/08/23

497 South Westfield St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $2,200,000
Buyer: Bretta Construction LLC
Seller: Ralph Depalma
Date: 08/08/23

138 Suffield St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Monique L. Malvezzi
Seller: Jared M. Hamre
Date: 08/18/23

BLANDFORD

41 North Blandford Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $485,000
Buyer: Chris Anciello
Seller: Eric B. McVey
Date: 08/11/23

BRIMFIELD

5 Sutcliffe Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $312,000
Buyer: Kristopher Bishop
Seller: Peter D. Puzio
Date: 08/07/23

144 Washington Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Sandy L. Wrona
Seller: North, Kent D. (Estate)
Date: 08/07/23

124 Washington Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $252,000
Buyer: Tony R. Roberts
Seller: Roberts FT
Date: 08/17/23

CHESTER

601 East River Road
Chester, MA 01050
Amount: $790,000
Buyer: 601 East River Road RT
Seller: John M. McGinn
Date: 08/18/23

171 Route 20
Chester, MA 01011
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: Andrea J. Plankey
Seller: Terry L. Murphy RET
Date: 08/16/23

523 Skyline Trail
Chester, MA 01011
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Donna L. Sweetman
Seller: Joyce A. Maruca-Kantor
Date: 08/10/23

CHICOPEE

85 Barbara St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: David A. Carlos
Seller: Matthew J. Blanchard
Date: 08/09/23

127 Blanan Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Axelice G. Vazquez
Seller: Ian K. Handfield
Date: 08/10/23

664 Chicopee St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Eduardo Quinteros
Seller: Robert N. Rouleau
Date: 08/18/23

98 Clairmont Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $286,000
Buyer: Lisa A. Mindell
Seller: Mary E. Goulette
Date: 08/17/23

15 Conrad St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Kelly Mortimer
Seller: Sherry C. Jarvis
Date: 08/18/23

36 Coolidge Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Jimmy L. Remillard
Seller: Kerrie Dumas
Date: 08/08/23

350 East Main St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Ghaith S. Jaafar
Seller: Phoenix Development Inc.
Date: 08/11/23

29 Emmett St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Austin Tyrell
Seller: John F. Ptaszek. Jr. TR
Date: 08/11/23

23 Fay St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $272,000
Buyer: Tara K. Harrell
Seller: Donovan A. Neiford
Date: 08/11/23

333 Front St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $860,000
Buyer: 4front Ventures LLC
Seller: Bogdan Konarzewski
Date: 08/14/23

606 Front St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: 606 Front Sreet Realty LLC
Seller: Edward Juchno
Date: 08/17/23

28 Grape St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $860,000
Buyer: 4Front Ventures LLC
Seller: Bogdan Konarzewski
Date: 08/14/23

61 Kimball St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Joe Joe Properties LLC
Seller: Maurice N. Lacasse
Date: 08/18/23

8 Leclair Ter.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Maria V. Olivo
Seller: Revampit Holdings LLC
Date: 08/11/23

1517 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Westover LLC
Seller: L. & R. Properties LLC
Date: 08/08/23

1517-1/2 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Westover LLC
Seller: L. & R. Properties LLC
Date: 08/08/23

1519 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Westover LLC
Seller: L. & R. Properties LLC
Date: 08/08/23

1523 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Westover LLC
Seller: L. & R. Properties LLC
Date: 08/08/23

1525 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Westover LLC
Seller: L. & R. Properties LLC
Date: 08/08/23

2017 Memorial Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $1,327,065
Buyer: Car Properties LLC
Seller: Spinelli Realty LLP
Date: 08/09/23

10 Parshley St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $860,000
Buyer: 4front Ventures LLC
Seller: Bogdan Konarzewski
Date: 08/14/23

793 Pendleton Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Susanne M. Romani
Seller: Gerard Roy
Date: 08/15/23

17 Peter St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Ellen E. Ransow
Seller: Michael A. Nallen
Date: 08/11/23

75 Roy St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Justin Camp
Seller: Emily R. Boronski
Date: 08/09/23

58 Silvin Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Andrew Black
Seller: Natanael Crespo
Date: 08/09/23

40 Sunnymeade Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $222,000
Buyer: Wicked Deals LLC
Seller: Darlene A. Leblanc
Date: 08/14/23

68 Trilby Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Kyle Laplante
Seller: Avail I. LLC
Date: 08/18/23

27 Warwick Road
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Tiffany B. Bogart
Seller: M. T. IRT
Date: 08/09/23

EAST LONGMEADOW

63 Greenwich Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: David Santos
Seller: Benjamin F. Turnberg
Date: 08/16/23

36 Lee St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Hazel Zebian
Seller: Mark J. Masi
Date: 08/16/23

304 Millbrook Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $640,000
Buyer: Matthew Catacchio
Seller: Nicholas R. Kososki
Date: 08/16/23

47 Newbury Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $312,000
Buyer: Keshav Joshi
Seller: Beverly L. Carrington
Date: 08/15/23

64 Oak Brook Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $530,000
Buyer: Mwathi Gatonye
Seller: James R. Shuttleworth
Date: 08/08/23

115 Old Farm Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $910,000
Buyer: Nicholas R. Kososki
Seller: Larry A. Litscher
Date: 08/17/23

390 Somers Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Jonathan Kuivinen
Seller: Robert Potvin
Date: 08/15/23

21 White Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $376,000
Buyer: Timothy Theriaque
Seller: Patrick J. Lynch
Date: 08/17/23

GRANVILLE

44 Granby Road
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Joshua Fuller
Seller: Darcy M. Grimaldi
Date: 08/15/23

HAMPDEN

381 Allen St.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $339,900
Buyer: Samantha P. Dionne
Seller: Roseann Bonatakis
Date: 08/18/23

8 Echo Valley Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Scott A. Thomas
Seller: Ruth F. Lewenczuk
Date: 08/10/23

59 Greenleaf Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: John T. Quackenbush
Seller: 59 Greenleaf Drive LLC
Date: 08/15/23

17 Kibbe Lane
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $620,000
Buyer: Nicholas Boissonneault
Seller: Michael D. Goldberg
Date: 08/18/23

20 Martin Farms Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Natalia J. Skoczylas
Seller: Trevor T. Howell
Date: 08/16/23

271 North Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Cooper Leardi
Seller: Johnson, Kelley C. (Estate)
Date: 08/11/23

13 Sessions Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Nicole Morales
Seller: Taran A. Savoie
Date: 08/18/23

57 Woodland Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Albana Deda
Seller: David M. Syrek
Date: 08/16/23

HOLLAND

6 Craig Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $281,000
Buyer: Jay Milner
Seller: Gerald C. Nadeau
Date: 08/07/23

36 Massaconnic Trail
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $520,000
Buyer: Paul Ware
Seller: Ann B. Gagnon IRT
Date: 08/11/23

1 Shore Dr.
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Susan Olson
Seller: Olson Jr., Arthur W. (Estate)
Date: 08/09/23

HOLYOKE

16 Brightwood Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Drew Nalewanski
Seller: Josue Lopez
Date: 08/15/23

32 Clark St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $251,000
Buyer: Robert L. Hodgkins
Seller: Pueschel, Gloria J. (Estate)
Date: 08/17/23

1047-1049 Dwight St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Jose A. Ramos
Seller: Four Harps LLC
Date: 08/09/23

828 Homestead Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Jennifer Moynihan
Seller: Richard Turek
Date: 08/09/23

1767 Northampton St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $630,000
Buyer: Gallagher Properties LLC
Seller: 1767 Realty LLC
Date: 08/09/23

75-77 Longwood Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $399,900
Buyer: Taylor Robbins
Seller: Christopher Thompson
Date: 08/16/23

6-8 Portland St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: L. & B. Greenvale Home Improvements LLC
Seller: Rafael Santos
Date: 08/14/23

55 Portland St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Robert C. Budynkiewicz
Seller: Johanna Torres
Date: 08/07/23

60-62 Shawmut Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Plata O. Plomo Inc.
Seller: Alfred J. Robarge
Date: 08/11/23

LONGMEADOW

36 Belleclaire Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $287,700
Buyer: Custom Home Development Group LLC
Seller: Asset Mortgage Investment II
Date: 08/17/23

209 Birch Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: MD M. Reza
Seller: Jackie Tang
Date: 08/11/23

212 Burbank Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Jenna Goldman
Seller: Ruth Kurniawati
Date: 08/11/23

95 Dover Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $610,000
Buyer: Peter H. Carlson
Seller: James V. Barilaro
Date: 08/11/23

15 Durham Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $750,000
Buyer: David G. Kayiatos
Seller: David J. Martel
Date: 08/08/23

159 Ellington Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $785,000
Buyer: Kevin Morine
Seller: Irina U. O’Hara
Date: 08/14/23

304 Farmington Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Kristan Xanders
Seller: Barbara S. Verrilli TR
Date: 08/15/23

94 Wheel Meadow Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $580,000
Buyer: Vincent C. Bucklen
Seller: Ilkwon Kim
Date: 08/17/23

76 Woodland Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $452,000
Buyer: Adam W. Metzger
Seller: Joshua Warren
Date: 08/16/23

LUDLOW

70 Fuller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Whalen
Seller: F. E. Farrar-Gorcynski
Date: 08/09/23

11 Greenwich St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Christopher A. Rodriguez
Seller: Peter A. Morales
Date: 08/16/23

36-38 Hubbard St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: Regina Modzelewski
Seller: Susan A. Jeanroy
Date: 08/09/23

190 Moody St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $1,880,000
Buyer: Boomerang Realty LLC
Seller: H. P. Rum LLC
Date: 08/16/23

73 Pine Knoll Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $146,777
Buyer: Brian F. Fish
Seller: Wroblewski 2010 IRT
Date: 08/09/23

38 Robin Dr.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $430,000
Buyer: Lianne E. Azevedo
Seller: Laurenio S. Azevedo
Date: 08/17/23

Sunset Ridge, Lot 10
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Muhammad A. Saleem
Seller: Baystate Developers Inc.
Date: 08/11/23

865 West St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $520,000
Buyer: Scott Osbourne
Seller: Cheryl King
Date: 08/07/23

44 Wilson St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $274,999
Buyer: Germano A. Andre
Seller: Kusek, Marion (Estate)
Date: 08/11/23

28 Yale St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Robert T. Silva
Seller: Helen B. Waz
Date: 08/08/23

MONSON

1 Lakeshore Dr.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Timothy Marquis
Seller: Jason R. Voyik
Date: 08/10/23

82 Main St.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: James Joinville
Seller: Daniel J. Nolan
Date: 08/11/23

66 Palmer Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $316,000
Buyer: Jeffrey A. Shaw
Seller: Gary D. Stewart
Date: 08/18/23

MONTGOMERY

86 Pineridge Road
Montgomery, MA 01085
Amount: $475,100
Buyer: Jacob Gonska
Seller: Mark A. Nelson
Date: 08/15/23

PALMER

2098 Calkins Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Citadel Projects LLC
Seller: Daniel J. Dupuis
Date: 08/15/23

56 Laurel Road
Palmer, MA 01095
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Alysia Mercado
Seller: Butcher Jr., John R. (Estate)
Date: 08/07/23

2340 Main St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Ian Curtiss
Seller: Mia L. Griffin
Date: 08/18/23

1115 Overlook Dr.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Prime Partners LLC
Seller: Michael J. Cwiok
Date: 08/08/23

52 Pinney St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Kendrick J. Dempsey
Seller: Donald H. Labare
Date: 08/18/23

RUSSELL

118 Main St.
Russell, MA 01071
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Andri Pomazniuk
Seller: Fitzgerald Home Solutions
Date: 08/09/23

SPRINGFIELD

384 Abbott St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Samuel I. Polep
Seller: Luke M. Hollwedel
Date: 08/11/23

36-38 Ashmont St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: Sandra M. Valentin
Seller: Robert J. Pelzek
Date: 08/18/23

80 Baird Terrace
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $352,000
Buyer: Jasmin S. Powers
Seller: Giovanni Cardaropli
Date: 08/15/23

1104 Bay St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $750,000
Buyer: Bay Street RT
Seller: Markdon Realty LLC
Date: 08/10/23

1192 Bay St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $180,625
Buyer: Barbara J. Williams
Seller: NSP Residential LLC
Date: 08/18/23

1192 Bay St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: NSP Residential LLC
Seller: Federal National Mortgage Association
Date: 08/18/23

15-17 Biltmore St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Onyx Investments LLC
Seller: Maria Diaz
Date: 08/11/23

153 Brandon Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $183,000
Buyer: Christopher Fairbanks
Seller: Joann L. Gagne
Date: 08/18/23

30 Burton St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $262,000
Buyer: Gloria McCutchen
Seller: Nicole L. Morales
Date: 08/18/23

137 Chalmers St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Erin K. Coughlin
Seller: Kenneth R. Barba
Date: 08/07/23

142 Cloran St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Ashley Brennan
Seller: Skyspec LLC
Date: 08/08/23

34 Crystal Brook Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $371,000
Buyer: Esther Durance
Seller: Kristina E. Tenggren
Date: 08/16/23

35-39 Darling St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $471,000
Buyer: Nevaeh Price
Seller: Bretta Construction LLC
Date: 08/18/23

76 Darling St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $365,000
Buyer: Arlennis Segura
Seller: Gary A. Daula
Date: 08/15/23

91 Deepfield Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $268,000
Buyer: Claudia Quintero
Seller: LSF9 Master Part TR
Date: 08/10/23

105 Dickinson St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $338,000
Buyer: Ramon Torres
Seller: Julissa Ramirez
Date: 08/10/23

40 Dennis St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Theresa Harrington
Seller: James Coombs
Date: 08/18/23

52-54 Draper St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $380,000
Buyer: Eyea Darwulo
Seller: Jjj17 LLC
Date: 08/14/23

1571 Dwight St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Abigail E. Vazquez-Berduo
Seller: TKJM LLC
Date: 08/07/23

64 Ellendale Circle
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Pah Properties LLC
Seller: Lee M. Kowarsky
Date: 08/07/23

49 Fitzgerald Road
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $269,000
Buyer: Teri L. Meigs
Seller: Henry E. Yergeau
Date: 08/11/23

27 Forest Park Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $253,800
Buyer: Carlos A. Contreras
Seller: Joe H. Liang
Date: 08/11/23

153 Gillette Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Steven A. Aquino
Seller: Pah Properties LLC
Date: 08/17/23

26 Grandview St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $160,770
Buyer: Morgan Stanley IT 2007-H
Seller: Thomas P. Welch
Date: 08/16/23

108 Jerilis Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $296,500
Buyer: Kyaw Kyaw
Seller: Sunny Kim
Date: 08/11/23

80-84 Keith St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Chaz Williams
Seller: Elving L. Rosado
Date: 08/17/23

146 Kensington Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $535,000
Buyer: Onstar Properties AA LLC
Seller: Winners O. LLC
Date: 08/10/23

412 Kent Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Eileen Hernandez
Seller: Alfred J. Albano
Date: 08/18/23

86 Linnell St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Isabel Pellot
Seller: John R. King
Date: 08/18/23

282-294 Locust St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $520,000
Buyer: C. & C. Auto Industries LLC
Seller: Victor S. Jimenez
Date: 08/11/23

28 Longview St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Justin C. Ching
Seller: Tm Properties Inc.
Date: 08/18/23

30 Lynwood Ter.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Edward Kenney
Seller: Jose R. Rolon
Date: 08/09/23

18 Mark St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $191,000
Buyer: Cornerstone Homebuying LLC
Seller: Sharon R. Kosinski
Date: 08/18/23

162 Marmon St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $203,775
Buyer: Dorcas RT
Seller: Karen L. Hansen
Date: 08/11/23

42 Melrose St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Giselle Collazo
Seller: Courageous Lion LLC
Date: 08/18/23

79 Oak St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Areid Estate LLC
Seller: Jesus M. Roman-Diaz
Date: 08/15/23

83 Oak St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: Rejuvenate Re LLC
Seller: Plata O. Plomo Inc.
Date: 08/17/23

108 Odion St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Brian Mass
Seller: Nolava LLC
Date: 08/07/23

785 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Thi Tai Realty LLC
Seller: Penelope LLC
Date: 08/11/23

1154-1156 Page Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $232,000
Buyer: Posiadlosc LLC
Seller: Steven E. Zeimbekakis
Date: 08/11/23

211 Pasco Road
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $285,500
Buyer: Maurice L. Thomas
Seller: Luis Cortes
Date: 08/10/23

174 Pineywoods Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $279,253
Buyer: Accredited Mortgage Loan TR
Seller: Michael S. Farrier
Date: 08/11/23

122 Prentice St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Naomi L. Deslongchamps
Seller: Stephanie J. Smith
Date: 08/18/23

19 Roosevelt Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Ashok K. Mizar
Seller: Mintueman Property & Acquisitions
Date: 08/11/23

532 Roosevelt Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $395,000
Buyer: Shawn Knight
Seller: Kelly A. Thistle
Date: 08/17/23

260 Roy St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Real Estate Victory LLC
Seller: Tyler M. Feinstein
Date: 08/18/23

73 Sawmill Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Lilynilka Morales
Seller: Tiara J. Chatman
Date: 08/18/23

6 Sorrento St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $455,000
Buyer: BRVS LLC
Seller: Ajn Rentals LLC
Date: 08/17/23

31 Starling Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $236,000
Buyer: Bryan Zatorski
Seller: John T. Kukowski
Date: 08/16/23

912 State St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Mass. Postal Holdings LLC
Seller: Raymond Rivard
Date: 08/14/23

79 Strong St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Miguel A. Velazquez
Seller: Gina M. Pericolosi
Date: 08/09/23

35-37 Suffolk St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Marco Z. Martinez
Seller: Ericka G. Carrillo
Date: 08/10/23

68-70 Suffolk St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: Addis J. Moran
Seller: Brvsa Associates LLC
Date: 08/09/23

44 Sumner Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $900,000
Buyer: Milestone Funeral Services
Seller: Ascher Zimmerman Funeral
Date: 08/14/23

150-152 Sumner Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $560,000
Buyer: Exandieu Arelus
Seller: Edurd Shvetsov
Date: 08/16/23

201 Westford Circle
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $189,000
Buyer: Pellisas Construction Inc.
Seller: Regina V. Jackson
Date: 08/15/23

131-133 Wellington St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Donald Maxwell
Seller: James Alberici
Date: 08/10/23

28 Wilmont St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Vivian J. Pagan
Seller: K. J. Valentin-Gonzalez
Date: 08/10/23

85-87 Windemere St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Johnathan Salas-Delgado
Seller: Jessenia Robles
Date: 08/18/23

168 Winton St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $287,300
Buyer: Kody L. Crosby
Seller: Erica Bridge
Date: 08/07/23

1207-1209 Worcester St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: 1207 Worcester Street LLC
Seller: Dilar Partynski
Date: 08/10/23

SOUTHWICK

54 Berkshire Ave.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: Russell H. Varney
Seller: Amanda B. Evans
Date: 08/11/23

10 Great Brook Dr.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $560,000
Buyer: Laura M. Richter-Austin
Seller: Marcel J. Grondin
Date: 08/15/23

204 Hillside Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: Rebekah Diamond
Seller: Melissa Morrow
Date: 08/18/23

30 Lakeview St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Kevin C. Turcotte
Seller: Ronald P. Croteau
Date: 08/08/23

7 Reservoir Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $630,000
Buyer: Thomas M. Rice
Seller: Miroslav Tkach
Date: 08/15/23

17 White St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $475,000
Buyer: Mark Merrow
Seller: David S. Bunten
Date: 08/16/23

WEST SPRINGFIELD

55 Church St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Lilian Ayala
Seller: Danny M. Devlin
Date: 08/18/23

190 Heywood Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Michael Patenaude
Seller: Bryan A. Cote
Date: 08/15/23

75 Lewis Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Hiram Rodriguez
Seller: Dorothy M. Harris
Date: 08/14/23

44 Partridge Lane
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $448,500
Buyer: Long Ly
Seller: Brian T. Davignon
Date: 08/11/23

2045 Riverdale St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Mayur Solanki
Seller: Pravinbhai C. Patel
Date: 08/07/23

WESTFIELD

63 Barbara St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $457,500
Buyer: James J. Mathieson
Seller: Joseph D. Noblit
Date: 08/10/23

29 Berkshire Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Erika Csekovsky
Seller: Jacob N. Lennen
Date: 08/16/23

23 Day Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Ramon M. Batista
Seller: John D. Sullivan
Date: 08/15/23

85 Dartmouth St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Molly Witkus
Seller: Megan O’Brien
Date: 08/07/23

856 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Tyler D. Spath
Seller: Jeffrey M. Beebe
Date: 08/17/23

1331 East Mountain Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Suzanne M. Pelott
Seller: Joanne L. Drozdowski
Date: 08/14/23

133 Feeding Hills Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $560,000
Buyer: Robert J. Hall
Seller: Steven Gardner
Date: 08/10/23

60 Franklin St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $2,300,000
Buyer: Starlight Realty LLC
Seller: HP Rum LLC
Date: 08/07/23

237 Granville Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $266,000
Buyer: Sean M. Crawford
Seller: Gene P. Bressette
Date: 08/11/23

50 Montgomery St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Andreana T. Nop
Seller: Jon Kozak
Date: 08/09/23

120 Mullen Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $420,000
Buyer: Dana B. Potter
Seller: Victor Kondratyev
Date: 08/09/23

287 North Elm St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Francis T. Tangredi
Seller: Tankash Inc.
Date: 08/08/23

57 Orange St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: TGC Investments LLC
Seller: Aleksandr Katykhin
Date: 08/07/23

20 Pilgrim Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $381,000
Buyer: Kimberly Santiago
Seller: Maryanne E. Carter
Date: 08/15/23

39 Pochassic St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Josue Rodriguez
Seller: Elizabeth E. Champagne
Date: 08/18/23

986 Russell Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Joshua P. Stebbins
Seller: William E. Miner
Date: 08/16/23

Russellville Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $168,000
Buyer: Angela Hollis
Seller: Steven H. Horkun
Date: 08/18/23

259 Steiger Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $390,000
Buyer: Kathryn L. Buttrick RET
Seller: Julie A. Sillesky
Date: 08/17/23

WILBRAHAM

17 Bittersweet Lane
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $610,000
Buyer: Patrick J. Lynch
Seller: Michael D. Marceau
Date: 08/18/23

3085 Boston Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Kyle D. Jamison
Seller: LRD Realty Properties Inc.
Date: 08/18/23

8 Dalton St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $208,000
Buyer: Freedom Mortgage Corp.
Seller: Timothy M. Cosenzi
Date: 08/11/23

7 Decorie Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $328,000
Buyer: Alyn Coler
Seller: Daniel J. Hamel
Date: 08/15/23

488 Dipping Hole Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Nathan Teri-Savage
Seller: Mary H. Polom
Date: 08/15/23

21 Millbrook Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Jennifer Leydon
Seller: James C. Thompson
Date: 08/10/23

46 Monson Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $465,000
Buyer: Melissa Morrow
Seller: Jeffrey M. Lotterer
Date: 08/18/23

444 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $505,000
Buyer: Hilary J. Abigana
Seller: Erica M. Kanzinger
Date: 08/11/23

1076 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Jeffrey Macdonald
Seller: Ryan Westbrooks
Date: 08/14/23

2 Sylvan Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Lyria Unsderfer
Seller: ARF LLC
Date: 08/16/23

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

3 Evergreen Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $563,000
Buyer: Subhransu Maji
Seller: James J. Rutter
Date: 08/17/23

255 Market Hill Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $520,000
Buyer: Jennifer Gephart
Seller: Hazel V. Cardozo RET
Date: 08/18/23

15 Sherry Circle
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $1,825,000
Buyer: Julie Silberstein
Seller: B&r Ft
Date: 08/15/23

826 South East St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $815,000
Buyer: Lauren E. Collier
Seller: Abraham Marder
Date: 08/10/23

2 Wintergreen Circle
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $560,000
Buyer: Olufunmilayo A. Adeoyin
Seller: Natalie McKeon IRT
Date: 08/14/23

BELCHERTOWN

32 Brandywine Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Sean Lioyd
Seller: Robert Gaudette
Date: 08/07/23

152 Old Bay Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $645,000
Buyer: Matthew W. Deady
Seller: Michelle D. Staudinger
Date: 08/16/23

10 Old Sawmill Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $620,000
Buyer: Timothy J. Luce
Seller: Mingxu You
Date: 08/17/23

14 Prescott Hill
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $430,000
Buyer: Ancel Romero
Seller: Weichert Workforce Mobility
Date: 08/08/23

14 Prescott Hill
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $430,000
Buyer: Weichert Workforce Mobility
Seller: Noah Pefaur
Date: 08/08/23

11 Rainbow Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $615,000
Buyer: Brita A. Riley
Seller: Douglas G. West
Date: 08/15/23

EASTHAMPTON

80 Clark St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Manuel A. Zaruma
Seller: Joseph M. Kaminski
Date: 08/10/23

198 Park St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $147,500
Buyer: John M. Doll
Seller: Williston Northampton School
Date: 08/18/23

8-10 Spring St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Carole A. Andrus
Seller: David W. Curtin
Date: 08/15/23

16 Truehart Dr.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $375,000
Buyer: Lura Elderkin-Rouleau
Seller: Linda M. Lococo
Date: 08/15/23

GOSHEN

87 Lake Dr.
Goshen, MA 01096
Amount: $608,500
Buyer: Gould RET
Seller: Yvonne Ting
Date: 08/15/23

GRANBY

11 Meadow Glen Dr.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $308,000
Buyer: Robert J. Embury
Seller: Chrystal Petersen
Date: 08/16/23

105 North St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Wicked Deals LLC
Seller: Marc Loverly
Date: 08/09/23

252 Taylor St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Christopher Gallant
Seller: Donald A. Tremblay
Date: 08/15/23

HADLEY

22 Farm Lane
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $650,222
Buyer: Christopher Coyle
Seller: Jason E. Kopec
Date: 08/16/23

37 Shattuck Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $690,000
Buyer: Kamyar Vahdat
Seller: Ellen Woolford
Date: 08/17/23

HATFIELD

70 Depot Road
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $880,000
Buyer: Heather K. Tauck
Seller: CTNA Construction LLC
Date: 08/07/23

59 Dwight St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $4,408,183
Buyer: 59 Dwight LLC
Seller: Turf Care Supply LLC
Date: 08/10/23

55 North St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $415,000
Buyer: Bethany M. Accipiter
Seller: Michael S. Smith
Date: 08/15/23

HUNTINGTON

2 Stanton Ave.
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Megan Ottens-Sargent
Seller: Joanne J. Smith RET
Date: 08/07/23

NORTHAMPTON

128 Acrebrook Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $352,000
Buyer: Ryan F. McCarthy
Seller: Janet M. Turdryn
Date: 08/10/23

40 Berkshire Ter.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $740,000
Buyer: Kevin Parent
Seller: Mark W. Erba
Date: 08/08/23

33 Chapel St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $442,500
Buyer: Janet L. Kelly
Seller: Sunwood Development Corp.
Date: 08/08/23

Chesterfield Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Nancy J. Bals
Seller: Joan C. Sarafib
Date: 08/09/23

120 Emerson Way
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $775,000
Buyer: Nishkruth Munshi
Seller: Donna M. Sugrue
Date: 08/10/23

48 Hickory Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $292,000
Buyer: Spencer FT
Seller: Deturck, Henry Michael (Estate)
Date: 08/16/23

125 Nonotuck St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $612,000
Buyer: Emily T. Hamilton
Seller: Brian Michaud
Date: 08/18/23

7 Rust Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $485,000
Buyer: Sinead A. Keogh
Seller: Patrick A. Fleming
Date: 08/08/23

220 Spring Grove Ave.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $460,000
Buyer: Kristin F. McCue
Seller: Nicole A. Fritz
Date: 08/11/23

1388 Westhampton Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Nicole C. Wofford
Seller: Elizabeth I. McCormick
Date: 08/16/23

81 Williams St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Ruth Francis
Seller: Heard, Erich E. (Estate)
Date: 08/18/23

85 Woodlawn Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $866,000
Buyer: Lucas Thatcher
Seller: Lori L. Paporello TR
Date: 08/18/23

PLAINFIELD

118 South St.
Plainfield, MA 01026
Amount: $759,500
Buyer: Ivan P. Zlatev
Seller: Marcelo Suarez-Orozco
Date: 08/11/23

37 South Union St.
Plainfield, MA 01070
Amount: $301,000
Buyer: Ry M. Patton
Seller: Martha J. Lynch
Date: 08/17/23

SOUTH HADLEY

32 Carriage Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $565,000
Buyer: Pawlowski IRT
Seller: Mark A. Roberts
Date: 08/14/23

2 Chatham Way
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $725,000
Buyer: Nicholas Provost
Seller: Ann M. Talarico
Date: 08/10/23

42 Doane Ter.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Sokharun Yim
Seller: Roger T. Duval
Date: 08/09/23

249 East St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Jason A. Foxwell
Seller: Tracy A. Sawyer
Date: 08/15/23

161 Granby Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $510,000
Buyer: Maksim Grachev
Seller: Robert F. Moineau
Date: 08/15/23

20 Highland Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: James W. Foley
Seller: Christopher R. Woloszyn
Date: 08/18/23

35 Lorraine Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $480,000
Buyer: Vanessa Magagnoli
Seller: Dean M. Rankin
Date: 08/08/23

120 Morgan St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $335,000
Buyer: Timothy Dietrick
Seller: Ryan M. Lewis
Date: 08/15/23

6 Pheasant Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $625,000
Buyer: Charles Q. Maney
Seller: Vincent A. Ferraro
Date: 08/15/23

Route 202
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $510,000
Buyer: Maksim Grachev
Seller: Robert F. Moineau
Date: 08/15/23

12 San Souci Dr.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $740,000
Buyer: Dakota J. Hebert
Seller: Michael S. Lussier
Date: 08/15/23

8 Skyline Dr.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Adam Miklius
Seller: Lawrence J. Sullivan
Date: 08/15/23

3 Valley View Dr.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $178,000
Buyer: Karen A. Lindsay
Seller: Lucid Development Inc.
Date: 08/14/23

SOUTHAMPTON

193 Brickyard Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $440,000
Buyer: Jacob N. Lennen
Seller: Kathryn L. Buttrick RET
Date: 08/16/23

154 County Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $158,000
Buyer: Foley Capital LLC
Seller: Martin P. Lusczynski
Date: 08/18/23

154 County Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Aleksandr Chuduk
Seller: Foley Capital LLC
Date: 08/18/23

WARE

8 Dugan Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Kara K. Bigda
Seller: John A. Kozlowski
Date: 08/11/23

WESTHAMPTON

82 Laurel Hill Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $750,000
Buyer: Noel Cody
Seller: Linnea O. Lagerstrom
Date: 08/17/23

56 Southampton Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $610,000
Buyer: Michael Canzoniero
Seller: Thomas Rice
Date: 08/15/23

86 Southampton Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $420,000
Buyer: Jovita B. Netto
Seller: Angela T. Derouin
Date: 08/07/23

WORTHINGTON

229 Cummington Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: I. M. Maurice LLC
Seller: Robert J. Wolff 2010 RET
Date: 08/11/23

Building Permits

By BusinessWest Staff September 13, 2023

Building Permits

The following building permits were issued during the month of August 2023.

CHICOPEE

Anthony Dube
336 Front St.
$33,077.15 — Roofing

Ryan Manning
15 Leonard St.
$7,391 — Replace nine windows

Procon Group LLC
850 Sheridan St.
$1,000 — Install one strobe in each of four new bathrooms

Rjalaa Holdings LLC
1643 Memorial Dr.
$3,967 — Insulation

Dave Vickers
34 Columba St.
$3,603 — Remove and replace four windows

EASTHAMPTON

Alain Benoist
311 East St.
$16,076 — Replace first-floor bathroom tub with shower, inspections for firesafing and/or insulation

City of Easthampton
Daley Field
$936,376.76 — Demolition

George Dion
37-47 Grant St.
$15,733 — Replace 17 windows

HADLEY

Frank Kostek
14 Lawrence Plain Road
N/A — Kitchen renovation

LEE

Open Door Church
87 Summer St.
$20,000 — Demolish old dormitory

NORTHAMPTON

Chen’s Management LLC
16 Crafts Ave.
$5,400 — Interior renovations

City of Northampton
212 Main St.
N/A — Build half-wall, add door

Florence Congregational Church
130 Pine St.
$24,700 — Insulation

Humhum LLC
15 Locust St.
$35,500 — Roofing

Oxbow Professional Park LLC
22 Atwood Dr.
$14,580 — Non-illuminated wall sign

Oxbow Professional Park LLC
22 Atwood Dr.
$5,964 — Illuminated ground sign

Oxbow Professional Park LLC
22 Atwood Dr.
$5,270 — Non-illuminated wall sign

Oxbow Professional Park LLC
22 Atwood Dr.
$2,688 — Illuminated ground sign

Smith College
College Lane
$91,798 — Kitchenette on first floor, new kitchenette and two office nooks on second floor

Smith College
25 Henshaw Ave.
$83,000 — Install backflow preventer with fire sprinkler control valves to supply annex and boiler building

Smith College
25 Henshaw Ave.
$80,512 — ADA/MAAB improvements, phase 1 of bathroom renovations

PITTSFIELD

163 South St. LLC
163 South St.
$30,000 — Rooftop replacement

John Barry
55 Fenn St.
$28,500 — Install vinyl flooring and floor base

Vincent Carchedi Sr., Josephine Carchedi
230 Fourth St.
$28,000 — Roofing

City of Pittsfield
330 North St.
$30,000 — Rooftop HVAC unit replacement

Five Forty Two Tyler St. LLC
534 Tyler St.
$3,880 — Install new fire warning system

Elie Hassoun
881 Dalton Ave.
$2,500 — Repair existing exterior stairs

Samuel Noyes
19 Wilson St.
$30,571 — Roofing

Pittsfield North 157 LLC
155 North St.
$14,000 — Sheetrock ceiling

SPRINGFIELD

575 Union Street LLC
311 Page Blvd.
$8,300 — Roofing

1277 Liberty St. LLC
1287 Liberty St.
$1,000 — Space for Halloween store

Behavioral Health Netwok Inc.
417 Liberty St.
$10,000 — Install new handicap ramp

Car Properties LLC
1130 Boston Road
$53,995 — Roofing

Samuel Castellano
2891 Main St.
$9,000 — Roofing

Holyoke Chicopee Springfield Head Start
33 Wilbraham Road
$850,000 — Roofing

Honore LLC
250 Worthington St.
$2,132,000 — Alterations to exterior storefront and masonry repairs, elevator modernization, rear service area repairs, exterior patio renovations, roof repairs

Mercy Medical Center
271 Carew St.
$1,005,779 — Alter interior space, USP 800 clean rooms, second-floor pharmacy

National Assoc. of Government Employees
1297 Page Blvd.
$60,000 — Roofing

Onyx Springfield Crossing LLC
1655 Boston Road
$350,000 — Partial demolition of portion of former Eastfield Mall used as movie theater

P&M Realty LLC
105 Verge St.
$84,987 — Roofing at Everett J. Prescott Inc.

Paul’s Crane
694 Berkshire Ave.
$29,995 — Roofing

Springfield Lodge 61 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks
440 Tiffany St.
$11,920 — Roofing

Another Step Forward in Springfield

By Editorial September 13, 2023

Opinion

While significant progress has been made in downtown Springfield in recent years, several issues and challenges remain, and many of them come together at the corner of State and Main streets and other properties near that intersection.

Indeed, this is the site of several mostly vacant and underutilized buildings in the shadow of MGM Springfield that were a big part of the city’s past, but have become an eyesore in the present and a huge question mark for the future.

Last week, that future became much brighter when the city named a preferred developer for a project to redevelop the so-called Clock Tower Building at State and Main, the Colonial Block just south on Main Street, and a smaller office building on Stockbridge Street.

McCaffery Interests Inc. plans to create more than 90 market-rate apartments in the three buildings, a $68 million project that, if it comes to fruition, could go a long way toward addressing some of those issues alluded to earlier.

One of them is housing.

At the local, state, and federal levels, this is the word you hear most often, and with good reason. There is a huge need for housing, and especially market-rate housing, in almost every community in Western Mass., especially Springfield. And while an additional 90 units won’t solve the problem, they will certainly be a huge step in the right direction.

Meanwhile, this project will bring new life to properties that stand in stark contrast to the gleaming casino across Main Street and to the progress seen at other addresses, especially Court Square, where another huge mixed-use project focused on housing is taking shape.

As mentioned earlier, these properties have played a big role in the city’s past, as home to both residents and businesses of all kinds, but they have been left behind, if you will, by neglect and huge changes in the office market.

Indeed, there is a now what amounts to a glut of office space in Springfield and questions about what will become of that space. McCaffery Interests has put some ambitious plans on the table to answer that question for at least three properties.

While helping to address the housing crisis and bring new life to these once-proud properties, this project will also bring additional momentum to the efforts to revitalize downtown Springfield and likely trigger efforts to redevelop many other vacant or underutilized properties in that area.

As we’ve written many times, there are several ingredients to the success of any downtown. The first is people. The second is businesses to support and serve those people. And one brings more of the other. More people means more restaurants, retail, and other service businesses, and these businesses, in turn, attract more people.

The ambitious project to redevelop these three properties should help generate this kind of chain reaction of progress.

It’s another big step forward for Springfield.

Community Spotlight

No Run-of-the-mill Project

Ludlow at a glance

Progress Report

Bottom Line

Tracking a Turnaround

Restoring History

Kicking Off a Campaign

Courses of Action

Getting Down to Business

Work in Progress

Overall, everyone who was nominated this year is a hero, but in the minds of our judges — the editors and management at BusinessWest — eight of these stories stood out among the others. The Healthcare Heroes for 2023 are

(click on each name to read their story):

Jody O’Brien,Urology Group ofWestern New England

Kristina Hallett,Bay Path University

Dr. Mark Kenton,Mercy Medical Center

Ashley LeBlanc,Mercy Medical Center

Ellen Ingraham-Shaw,Baystate Medical Center

Julie Lefer Quick,VA of Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System

Innovation in Health/Wellness:

Gabriel Mokwuahand Joel Brito,Holyoke Medical Center

Cindy Senk,

Movement for All

Tickets on Sale Now!

Healthcare Heroes Awards:

Presenting Sponsors

Partner Sponsors

We’re All Ears

Kernels of Wisdom

Art and Soul

Peaking Their Interest

Scaling the Heights

Economies of Scale

Mo-mentum

Serving Those Who Have Served

Helping Other Veterans

Finding Their Place

Space Exploration

Looking Ahead

Nurse Manager, VA Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System

Her Work Caring for Veterans Is Grounded in a Sense of Mission

A Passion for Patients

Cutting-edge Care

Patient Safety Associates, Holyoke Medical Center

Their Lifesaving Actions Shine a Light on a New Position at HMC

Not on Their Watch

Changing Lives, Saving Lives

Big-game Players

Clinical Psychologist; Assistant Professor of Graduate Psychology, Bay Path University

She Impacts Lives — and the Next Generation of Mental-health Professionals — for the Better

Connected to Kids

Heart of a Teacher

Chief of Emergency Medicine, Mercy Medical Center

He Considers Listening His Strongest, Most Important Talent

A Great Run

Safe at Home

Stepping Outside the Box

Pediatric Emergency Nurse, Baystate Medical Center

Her Passion for Behavioral Health Has Enhanced Care Across an Entire ER

Knowledge Is Power

Long-time Passion

Practice Manager of Thoracic Surgery, Nursing Director of the Lung Screening Program, Mercy Medical Center

She Has a Proven Ability to Take the Bull by the Horns

The Big Screen

Thinking Big

Personal Trainer and Owner, Movement for All

She Inspires Others to Improve Their Mobility — and Quality of Life

Brotherly Inspiration

Living Her Passion

Nurse, Urology Group of Western New England

During Her Long Career, She Has Made a World of Difference

Riding the Wave

Care Package

Still Making a Difference

Pulling Up to a New Home

Community Support

Helping to Meet a Need

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

Estate-planning Courses

Source to Sea Cleanup

Jody O’Brien,
Urology Group of
Western New England

Kristina Hallett,
Bay Path University

Dr. Mark Kenton,
Mercy Medical Center

Ashley LeBlanc,
Mercy Medical Center

Ellen Ingraham-Shaw,
Baystate Medical Center

Julie Lefer Quick,
VA of Central Western Massachusetts Healthcare System

Innovation in
Health/Wellness:

Gabriel Mokwuah
and Joel Brito,
Holyoke Medical Center