Page 351 – BusinessWest

Patient/Resident/Client Care Provider: Mary Paquette

By George O'Brien September 3, 2018

Healthcare Heroes

This Compassionate Leader Has Transformed Health and Wellness on the AIC Campus

Mary Paquette

‘Sex and Chocolates.’

Sounds like one of Hollywood’s late-summer releases. But instead, it’s one of the many intriguing new programs and initiatives launched by Mary Paquette, MS, FNP, in her role as director of Health Services at American International College.

And now that we have your attention — and we almost certainly do — we’ll tell you about it.

Not long after arriving at the college in 2012 to accept the challenge of resuscitating a moribund health-services facility that few students knew about or ventured to (for a host of reasons we’ll get into later), Paquette decided she needed to do some serious outreach.

And it would be undertaken with a number of goals — from introducing (or reintroducing) students to the health facility (known as the Dexter Center) to providing some education, to gaining some insight into the many issues and challenges confronting AIC’s diverse population, many of them first-generation college students.

“There were questions on everything from STD education to things you would think of with Dr. Ruth; I learned some things from these students, and it ended up being a lot of fun.”

So, as part of this outreach, Paquette and Millie Velazquez, office manager and medical assistant at the center, went into one of the female freshman dorms with a large fishbowl containing some questions they had already put in, some chocolates, and a thirst for more questions about sex from the students they greeted.

“If they were brave enough to ask a question, they got a chocolate,” said Paquette, who recalled, with a large dose of pride, that she and Velazquez left with considerably fewer treats than they arrived with. “There were questions on everything from STD education to things you would think of with Dr. Ruth; I learned some things from these students, and it ended up being a lot of fun.”

As noted, Sex and Chocolates is just one of many initiatives Paquette has introduced since arriving. Overall, she has taken the campus service that was traditionally ranked dead last in surveys of students and made it one of the more highly scored.

Far more importantly, she has taken health and wellness to a much higher plane on the AIC campus, providing not just Band-Aids and Tylenol — which is about all the ‘old’ center was known for — but also a welcoming, non-judgmental environment that has improved quality of life on the campus in myriad ways.

For all that, Paquette was named the Healthcare Hero in the category of Patient/Resident/Client Care Provider, which is among the most competitive, with nominees from across the broad spectrum of healthcare.

Mary Paquette and Millie Valazquez, office manager and medical assistant at the Dexter Center, have changed attitudes about the center, and created a healthier campus community, through programs like ‘Sex and Chocolates.’

And it’s a category Paquette has essentially devoted her life to, with AIC being only the latest stop in a 35-year career that has seen her take on a variety of roles in a host of settings. These range from director of Nursing at Ludlow Hospital to per-diem hospitalist at in the GI Department of the Eastern Connecticut Health Network, to assistant director of Health Services at Western New England University — the job that became the springboard to her post at AIC.

And there is a huge amount of overlap when it comes to the lines on her résumé, which Paquette explained quickly and effectively.

“I have a lot of energy, and I like to keep busy,” she said in a classic bit of understatement.

Indeed, she does, and at AIC this energy has translated into profound and very positive change, which was summed up by Robert Cole, the college’s vice president of Marketing & Communications, as he nominated Paquette to be a Healthcare Hero.

“Since arriving in 2012, Mary has almost single-handedly transformed the capabilities and perception of AIC’s Dexter Center for Health and Counseling Services,” he wrote. “She has worked tirelessly and passionately to reach students through new, campus-wide health programming and healthy-living promotion; expanded the scope and availability of Dexter’s services; and routinely works off hours to meet the emergency needs of students, student-athletes, faculty, and staff. She has done all this with limited medical staff and budget, and unlimited dedication, compassion, and extraordinary patient care and customer service.”

With that summation as the backdrop, we’ll explain how this transformation took place and what it means for all those — and we mean all those — on the AIC campus.

Sweet Success

The large Victorian home on Wilbraham Road that houses the Dexter Center has enjoyed a long history at the college and filled a number of roles.

It was once the president’s home, for example, and it has housed classrooms, a photography lab, and other facilities.

But when Paquette first saw it in the summer of 2012, she simply couldn’t believe that its role at that time was home to health services.

“It was falling down, the floors were this awful purple tile, it was filthy … I told Mark, ‘I wouldn’t come here for healthcare,’” she recalled, referring to Mark Berman, then vice president of Administration, who has since passed away. The building was in such poor condition that it was almost a deal breaker when it came to the position she was being offered.

Berman was neck deep in getting the dormitories ready for fall, but he promised Paquette that by October, she would see radical improvement in the Dexter Center. He made good on that pledge, but Paquette spent every weekend her first month on the job cleaning it out herself.

“There were ACE wraps that were disintegrating because they sat on shelves for long,” she recalled, adding that dirt on the floor wasn’t the only thing she cleaned out. There was also the receptionist on duty at the time who was so unfriendly, students hated coming to the facility.

But tidying up the Dexter Center and making it a far more welcoming — and less purple — place were only the first steps in a multi-layered process, and only the latest chapter in a long and quite rewarding career in healthcare.

So before returning to Sex and Chocolates and other endeavors at AIC, let’s go back … to the former Ludlow Hospital.

That’s really where the story starts, because, well, Paquette was born there and grew up only a few blocks away. She worked there as a nurse’s aide when she was 18 and in the ER while in college, and, after earning her bachelor’s degree in nursing at Elms College and spending the first several years of her career in the Boston area, that’s where she returned to.

She would eventually become the last director of Nursing at the facility, which would close its doors in 1994. But Paquette has never forgotten the mentorship she received there or the many connections she made that continued to benefit her throughout her career.

Ludlow’s closing prompted her to go back to school and earn her master’s degree in the Family Nurse Practitioner program at UMass Amherst in 1999, and, as noted earlier, she would put it to use in a number of settings over her long career as a care provider. They include Noble Hospital in Westfield, the Johnson Occupational Medicine Center in Enfield, Johnson Memorial Hospital in Stafford Springs, Hartford Hospital, and Mercy Medical Center.

Starting in 1999, though, her main employer would not be a hospital or medical center (although she would continue to work for several of them), but an institution of higher learning.

When Mary Paquette first saw the facility on Wilbraham Road that housed the Dexter Center, she couldn’t believe people came there for healthcare.

At Western New England University, she started as a provider — and there was only one at the health center at any given time. “So you just put the pedal to the metal,” he recalled. “But for me it was OK, because it was just like the ER atmosphere … you just go, go, go and see one patient after the other. The trick in that is being able to be efficient, but also make patients feel like you’re listening to them and not rushing them.”

Remember that thought later.

At WNEU, she was mentored by the director of Health Services there, Kathy Reid, who, Paquette said, “was open to anything and everything I wanted to do.”

That meant such things as adding IVs to the list of services, as well as suturing and other initiatives. “Over the course of 13 years, we built Western New England’s facility into an amazing clinic. And when they built the new Pharmacy building and they added a new health services [facility], we even had a little surgery suite … we took off more toenails in the fall from turf toe.”

Remember those thoughts as well.

Paquette said she loved her time at WNEU and had no desire to leave. But then, Brian O’Shaughnessy, then AIC’s dean of students and now vice president for Student Services, hired Reid as a consultant to evaluate an underperforming health-services department — what Paquette described as a glorified (maybe) “high-school nurse’s office” — and recommend changes.

In her report, Reid said, in essence, that the school needed to hire a director of Health Services. And she had the perfect candidate — her second in command — in mind.

Something to Chew on

As noted earlier, the Dexter Center simply wasn’t a popular, or busy, place before Paquette arrived. Summing up why, she said simply, “one, it wasn’t marketed, two, it didn’t offer much care beyond Band-Aids and Tylenol, and three, the it had a secretary who was a real grouch.”

So … she set about changing all that and more. One of the first things she did was hire Velazquez (a referral from her mentor, Reid) and broaden that position to one of office manager and medical assistant.

Through what Paquette described as “an over-the-top friendly personality,” Valezquez has changed the atmosphere in the center, making it more welcoming, more efficient, and far-more visitor-friendly.

Meanwhile, the two have together gone about greatly adding to its roster of services and doing that marketing that was a big missing piece.

With the former, they’ve added IVs and suturing, as happened at WNEU before, and also STD testing, safe-sex education, a bowl filled with condoms in the waiting room, counseling, ongoing education into how the healthcare system works, and, most importantly, no judgment.

Overall, Paquette said she wants to make students better healthcare consumers.

“I feel that a large part of my job is teaching students how to be good healthcare advocates,” she explained. “I want them to leave AIC with a better understanding of their own health and the tools they need to navigate the world of healthcare.”

Regarding the latter, Paquette knew it wouldn’t do any good to make all those other changes if students and other constituencies didn’t know about them. And she knew from her time at WNEU that the place to start was with the resident advisors in the dorms.

With their support, she went about creating what she called silly but also effective programs. Like Sex and Chocolates.

“When you’re doing a dorm program in the evening, you have to be entertaining,” she explained. “The healthcare piece of it … you slip that in when they’re not looking. It was more about them, the students, seeing Millie and I, and seeing that we’re friendly and we’re non-judgmental, but we also know what we’re doing.”

Paquette and Velazquez have initiated other programs with the same goals and underlying mindset, including ‘Cards Against Humanity; AIC Edition,’ a takeoff on the popular party game. Sprinkled in with the offensive, risqué, and politically incorrect ‘answer cards’ are several related to birth control, STDs, the Health Services department, and more.

“You sort of slide those questions in, the students get them, but they’re having fun, and they don’t realize that you’re educating them,” Paquette explained. “We’ve created lots of fun games like that.”

But there were other constituencies to connect with, she went on, starting with the athletes on campus. Each team has trainers, she noted, but there was a disconnect, if you will, between the students, trainers, and health services.

That’s ‘was,’ because Paquette set about improving communications and building bridges. And soon, athletes were finding the Dexter Center for suturing, screenings, and other services.

“I feel that a large part of my job is teaching students how to be good healthcare advocates. I want them to leave AIC with a better understanding of their own health and the tools they need to navigate the world of healthcare.”

“We have rugby here,” she noted. “In those first two years, I’d come in at least a dozen times at night, go to the athletic trainers’ room, throw some stitches in a kid’s head, and go home. My deal with the trainers was, they all had my cell phone, they could call, and as long as I wasn’t working one of my ER shifts, I’d come in; that’s how we won over athletics.”

Paquette and Velazquez have also won over commuting students, college employees, students who remain on the campus during the summer, and other constituencies. The health and wellness center that no one visited is now the facility everyone visits.

Stitch in Time

Paquette doesn’t just work at AIC; she has become, for lack of a better term, a huge booster.

On top of the cabinet in her office sit three large wooden block letters — ‘A,’ ‘I,’ and ‘C.’ And she has much more swag, as she called it, all bearing the school’s letters, logo (a muscular, mean-looking yellowjacket), and color — yellow (obviously).

The item she’s most proud of, though — perhaps even more than a full bowl of questions during a presentation of Sex and Chocolates — is a T-shirt given to her by the rugby team signed by all the players, many of whom had seen Paquette for some stitches.

Maybe more than anything else, that T-shirt shows just how much the health and wellness center has grown since Paquette arrived, and how it has ceased being a college service and instead become a powerful force on campus.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Health/Wellness Administrator/Administration: Celeste Surreira

By George O'Brien September 3, 2018

Healthcare Heroes

At the Soldiers’ Home, She’s a Nurse, Leader, Mentor, and Role Model

Celeste Surreira

Celeste Surreira was talking about her work, and, more specifically, the unique constituency she serves, when she abruptly stopped in mid-sentence.

Strains of “Anchors Away,” the fight song of the U.S. Naval Academy, had permeated the walls of her office, and she knew exactly what that meant: the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke was giving a Navy veteran a ‘farewell.’

Rising from her seat quickly, she invited BusinessWest to follow her to what she promised would be a solemn and immensely powerful ceremony. That was an understatement.

In the front lobby of the Soldiers Home sat a casket covered by a quilt, patterned specifically for a Navy veteran, that was made by one of the facility’s nurses. Behind it stood many family members. To the sides were Soldiers’ Home staffers, who, in many respects, are also ‘family’ for this individual — and all other veterans who come there.

Collectively, they assembled, with hands over their hearts, and heard about his life — not just about his service in the Seabees (the U.S. Naval Construction Battalions) during World War II, but about his family (three sons, 13 grand-children, and “eight, soon to be nine” great-grandchildren); the decades he spent as a commercial painter (he and his father helped paint the Soldiers’ Home when it first opened in 1952); his love for Holyoke, his long-time home; his affection for golf; and more.

Then came “Taps.” And many tears.

Walking back to her office, Surreira put the ceremony in its proper context, and in so doing helped explain why she came to the Soldiers’ Home in 2014 and why she is so passionate about the many facets of her work that she was named the Healthcare Hero in arguably the most competitive category — Health/Wellness Adminstrator/Administration.

“They go out the same door they came in — it’s our honor to them,” she said of the servicemen and women being given a farewell. “And that’s very important. When I worked in the hospital, death was something we hid, like it was like a failure; they [deceased patients] went out the back door. Here, death is a celebration of life; there’s no shame. They go out the front door.”

“When I worked in the hospital, death was something we hid, like it was like a failure; they [deceased patients] went out the back door. Here, death is a celebration of life; there’s no shame. They go out the front door.”

Surreira would speak often about the veterans she now serves as she talked about her career and her current work, because the clientele, if you will (they simply call them ‘veterans’ here), is truly unique, and this is reflected in everything from how services are delivered to how these individuals are addressed.

“I thought this was a really interesting population to have the honor to work with,” she said, adding that the Soldiers’ Home, a 265-room, long-term-care facility (which also has outpatient services and a domiciliary), represents a significant career shift for her, with most of her 33 years in nursing having been spent in the emergency room. But in many ways, the issues and challenges facing veterans at the facility and the providers caring for them mirror those of society in general as the population ages and people live longer.

“This is where healthcare is going,” she told BusinessWest. “The population is living longer with chronic diseases. This is the population with which we’re really going to have to make an impact if we’re going to manage the needs of the overall population over the next 30 years.”

In her role as assistant director of Nursing, Surreira has a lengthy job description, and considers herself — and, more to the point, she’s considered by others — to be a care provider, leader, teacher, mentor, and role model.

And she takes each of those responsibilities very seriously, especially the leader and role-model parts.

“Leadership and management are two different things,” she told BusinessWest. “You can manage, which means doing payroll or doing a schedule or telling someone what to do. Or you can lead, which to me means inspiring people to become leaders.

“You can’t lead if you don’t have emotional intelligence,” she went on. “People are just going to see you as the boss. And no one really follows the boss; they’re not inspired by bosses. I’ve always said, if you have to tell someone what your title is in order for them to know you’re the leader, then you’re not really the leader — someone else in the room is the leader.”

One of Surreira’s working definitions of a leader is that of an individual who can work with others to achieve positive change and improve quality of life for those being served, and as we’ll see, there are many examples of how she’s been able to do just that, and thus become a true Healthcare Hero.

Walking the Walk

They call it the ‘Walk Across America.’

This is a walking track of sorts at the Soldiers’ Home, located just outside the facility’s rehab area; 22 laps equals a full mile. There’s a mural covering a few hallways depicting different places across the country, hence the name, said Surreira, and different administrators are actually assigned to certain veterans to walk with them across America on days the veterans choose themselves.

Celeste Surreira says the Walk Across America (that’s the St. Louis panel within the mural behind her) is one of many initiatives aimed at improving the mobility of veterans at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke.

The track is one of several ‘places to move,’ as Surreira calls them, that have been created in recent years as part of a broad effort to enhance the mobility of the veterans at the Soldiers’ Home and thus improve quality of life and actually reduce the rate of falls.

As with most all initiatives at this facility, this was (and is, as such work is ongoing) a team effort — actually a team with several smaller teams within it, such as the one assigned the task of creating places to move, she told BusinessWest.

The Walk Across America is just one example of that positive change and improvement in quality of life mentioned earlier that Surreira has helped orchestrate since arriving at the Soldiers’ Home in 2014.

She had been working just outside Atlanta as an interim director of Emergency Services at Rockdale Medical Center, and was looking to return to Western Mass., where she spent much of her career.

Indeed, she started in the emergency department at Ludlow Hospital in 1985, then spent more than two decades at Mercy Medical Center, starting as an staff RN and eventually advancing to manager of the Emergency Department. Earlier this decade, there was a short stint as administrative director of Emergency Services at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

“I was looking at different positions up here, and I received a call regarding an opportunity at the Soldiers’ Home,” she recalled. “They were looking for a leader, someone who could come in and do some mentoring on leadership, and it sounded very interesting; it was a real change of pace for me to go into long-term care as well as geriatrics, but given my interest in leadership and veteran healthcare, a chance to work clinically, and all those things coming together, I thought that it would be a good opportunity for a change.”

And to work with an older population (most of the veterans are in their 80s and 90s) that, as noted earlier, reflects some of the larger, more complex issues facing all those in healthcare — specifically, not only caring for older individuals, but also helping them maintain independence and a high quality of life.

“Our focus is truly on how to promote a good quality of life for these older veterans,” Surreira explained. “We have 94- and 95-year-olds living very well.”

With this broad goal in mind, Surreira has created, and serves on, a number of process-improvement teams working on such matters as reducing the use of anti-psychotic medications, lowering the rate of falls, improving mobility, medication safety, and many others.

And as these teams address each of these areas, they do so with quality of life in mind, she said, using reduction of falls as an example. This could easily be accomplished by reducing one’s mobility, so he or she doesn’t get into positions where they can fall, Surreira went on. But this doesn’t equate to a high quality of life.

“This is where healthcare is going. The population is living longer with chronic diseases. This is the population with which we’re really going to have to make an impact if we’re going to manage the needs of the overall population over the next 30 years.”

“What we don’t want to do is promote the use of things like restraints and alarms, because they don’t allow people to move and self-propel,” she explained. “So what we try to do is advise them of safety and encourage their mobility; we want people to move, we want to take them for walks, we want to do everything we can to promote mobility while also reducing the risk of getting hurt from that fall if you do fall.”

To accomplish all this, Surreira leads the so-called ‘enhancing mobility team,’ which consists of several departments, including nursing, rehab, social work, facilities, and pharmacy working collaboratively to implement evidence-based interventions that will enhance mobility and reduce falls. This team has implemented a series of policies and procedures, including the introduction of a daily ‘fall huddle,’ interdisciplinary rounding, quarterly mobility screens, individualized care plans that include mobility goals, and regular review of polypharmacy.

As a result, the Soldiers’ Home has seen a confirmed reduction in fall-related injuries and a noticeable increase in the mobility of its population.

Taking the Lead

As noted earlier, Surreira’s position comes with a lengthy job description and list of responsibilities. And only a portion of them actually apply to the veterans being served.

The rest have to do with those other functions (for lack of a better term) that she carries out, including that of being a leader, a mentor, and a role model. Her ability to be all those things is a big reason why she was hired — and her desire to continually build upon those skills and add new layers to already considerable amounts of experience explains why she took it.

As she talked about being a leader, for example, she equated it to parenting.

“You mess up a lot, and then you learn how to be a better parent; it’s the same with being a leader,” she explained. “I think I’m a different leader now than when I started this journey, because it’s very humbling.”

Elaborating, she noted that one of the things she’s learned over the years is the importance of active listening.

“In order to hear the person, you can’t be thinking about your response already,” she said, citing a mindset held by all successful leaders. “You have to be totally focused on what they’re trying to tell you.

“You also need emotional intelligence, which means taking the time to know where that person is coming from and be queued into what they’re trying to communicate to you,” she went on. “Often, I tell people, ‘it’s not what they’re saying, but what they’re not saying; it’s not the words they’re saying, necessarily, but how they’re saying them. They may be saying something, but that’s not what they’re meaning or even intending.”

Surreira said mentoring takes place in many ways and on several different levels in her work at the Soldiers’ Home, including the formal teaching she does on subjects ranging from leadership to role-modeling.

“Mentorship from a leadership perspective takes place in a number of ways,” she explained. “Sometimes it takes place in just day-to-day interactions where you have opportunities to have a conversation with someone, provide someone with feedback … it’s all part of relationship building with those folks. Other times, it is more formal, such as the teaching I do.

As for the role-modeling, well, that part of it can really only happen as one adds layers of hands-on experience to their résumé, learns from previous mistakes, and develops a high degree of that necessary ingredient known as emotional intelligence.

“Even though someone may be handling a situation in a certain way, you can role-model a different way — that’s probably the most powerful thing to do,” she explained.

As an example, she cited a situation where there’s conflict going on and the discussion among individuals is getting quite heated.

“Managing yourself is probably the most important thing in those situations,” she said. “You manage your own reactions — the louder other folks may get, the quieter you get; the faster they talk, the slower you speak.

“Overall, mentoring involves building relationships and inspiring trust,” she went on, adding that ‘leading by example’ isn’t a formal line on her job description, but it’s a duty she carries out every day.

Waves of Emotion

Walking back to her office from the Navy veteran’s farewell, Surreira said the Soldiers’ Home obviously conducts many of these ceremonies. “Sometimes there will be two or three a day, and sometimes we’ll go a week without one,” she said, adding that, like most staff members, she tries not to miss a single one.

That’s because, as she said, at this facility, death isn’t something to be ashamed of; it’s not a failure. It’s part of a life being celebrated.

And improving the overall quality of that life has become the focal point of each individual and each team at the Soldiers’ Home.

Surreira’s leadership, mentoring ability, and passion for being a positive role have not only played a pivotal role in all this, they’ve made her a Healthcare Hero in administration.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Emerging Leader: Peter A. DePergola II

By George O'Brien September 3, 2018

Healthcare Heroes

In the Emerging Field of Bioethics, He’s a Leader and a Pioneer

Peter A. DePergola II

Oddly, he doesn’t actually remember where or when he got it.

But Peter DePergola’s copy of Rembrandt’s renowned The Return of the Prodigal Son looms large in his small office (it takes up most of the back wall) and, far more importantly, in his life and his work.

The painting, as most know, depicts the moment in the Biblical parable when the prodigal son returns to his father after wasting his inheritance and falling into poverty and despair. He kneels before his father in repentance, wishing for forgiveness and a renewed place in the family.

DePergola, director of Clinical Ethics at Baystate Health, the first person to wear a name badge with that title on it and the only clinical bioethicist in the region, says the painting — and the story of the prodigal son — provides a constant reminder of the importance of not judging others and providing them with what they need, not what they deserve. And that serves him very well in his work.

“The story is about sins and forgiveness, but what it teaches me about healthcare is that we should never treat our patients based on what we think they deserve morally, but on what they need, and only what they need,” he explained. “We don’t get to say, ‘you’re a murderer,’ or ‘you’re an adulterer,’ or ‘you’re an alcoholic — if you really wanted to stop, you can.’

“We have to meet them in the middle of their chaos, to sort of run out to them,” he went on, “and to treat them based on what they need and who they are, not on what we think they deserve.”

“It’s not that they don’t understand that medicine has its limits — I think they do. But they’re living in this larger narrative of ‘who am I if I don’t do everything I can for the person I love most?’”

‘Meeting them in the middle of their chaos’ very often translates into a time when decisions have to be made — difficult decisions — about what can be done for a patient and what should be done; about what is proper and what is needed (there’s that word again).

“There are plenty of things we can do, but shouldn’t,” he went on, adding that such dilemmas are becoming ever more common as the population ages and modern science finds new and different ways to extend life.

The issue he confronts most often involves what kind of life is being extended — and whether that kind of life should be extended. And within that broad universe there are countless other matters to consider, discuss, and debate — and they involve everything from raw science to individuals’ base emotions and perceptions about what is right, wrong, and proper.

“Family members will say, ‘I know this isn’t going well, but am I a loving daughter if I say this is the end? How do I think through this?’” he told BusinessWest as he recounted the type of conversation he has most often. “It’s not that they don’t understand that medicine has its limits — I think they do. But they’re living in this larger narrative of ‘who am I if I don’t do everything I can for the person I love most?’”

Overall, his work in the broad realm of bioethics involves everything from these end-of-life issues to the use of animals in research to potential conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment. DePergola summed it all up in intriguing fashion by saying “no one ever calls me when something good is happening.”

Despite this, and despite the difficulty of his work — not to mention the long hours and often unusual hours; he was recently called to Baystate at 1 a.m. — DePergola finds it rewarding on many levels.

He likes to say he helps people make sense of nonsense and not necessarily answer questions that can’t be answered, but enable people to cope with them.

“People will say, ‘I’ve lived a good life, and I’ve always done the right thing, and here I am, with six months to live. Why must I suffer? Why do I have to be in pain? Why do I have to be in the hospital?’” he noted. “And at the end of the day, I’d say, ‘I don’t know, it’s not fair, I don’t understand. But let’s not understand together.’

“You don’t have to go through not knowing alone,” he went on, hitting upon the best answer to the question of why his role now exists. “And that may be the only antidote to that question; I can’t tell them why bad things happen to good people, but I can be there with them when they’re asking that question and looking for answers and looking for compassion.”

For his multi-faceted efforts — many if not all of which fall into the category of pioneering — DePergola has, well, emerged, into not just a leader in his field, but a Healthcare Hero.

Work That Suits Him

There’s a white lab coat hanging on a hook just inside the door to DePergola’s office, and it’s there for a reason.

While not a medical doctor, DePergola is a member of a clinical team that interacts with patients and their families. The white coat isn’t required attire, and he didn’t wear it earlier on his career. But he does now, and the explanation as to why speaks volumes about the passion he brings to this unique job every day.

“When I used to come dressed in a suit to have these very important conversations with patients and families, I think it was intimidating in a way,” he explained. “I did it out of respect … you’re going to have the most intimate conversation a family’s ever had — what would you wear to that? You’d want to wear something that says, ‘I really care about this. and I care about you.’

“But it looked like I was a lawyer, and people couldn’t get past the outward appearance,” he went on. “Sometimes just a shirt and tie is too casual, but the combination of the lab coat and the tie seems to send the right message.”

There are other examples of this depth of his passion for this work, including his desire to understand the role religion plays in making those hard decisions described earlier.

“I knew that what I was getting into had a lot of value implications,” he explained, “and that the primary pathway into those values was religious commitments. So I got a master’s degree in theological bioethics so I could make sure that I understood what Hindus and Buddhists believed about end-of-life care the same as Orthodox Jews and Catholics, and what Muslims thought about autopsy, so I could meet them not just where they are clinically, but where they are biographically and in their values.”

As he talked about his career and what he was getting into, DePergola stated what must be considered the obvious — that he didn’t set out to be a bioethicist. That’s because this field hasn’t been around for very long — only since the early ’80s, by his estimates — and it’s especially new in the Western Mass. region. In essence, and to paraphrase many working in healthcare, the field chose him.

“Larger American cities — New York, Boston, Los Angeles — have had full-time clinical bioethicists since probably the end of the 1980s,” he explained, adding, again, that he’s the first in the 413. And in many respects, he helped create the position he’s in and write the lengthy job description.

To fully explain, we need to back up a bit.

After earning his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religious studies at Elms College (early on, he thought he might join he priesthood, but settled on a different path), and then a master’s degree in ethics at Boston University and his Ph.D. in healthcare ethics at Duquesne University, DePergola completed a residency in neuroethics at University of Pittsburgh Medical School and then a fellowship in neuropsychiatric ethics at Baystate, then the western campus of Tufts Medical School, in 2016.

“The patient is always the priority. In risk management, it’s the hospital first, then the patient. With me, it’s the exact opposite; I make sure everyone’s voice is heard.”

While completing that fellowship, he took on some duties in the broad realm of research ethics, a large subset of this emerging field, but this work was eventually expanded into a new leadership position at Baystate — director of Clinical Ethics, a role he said he helped create in partnership with the health system.

“I did a lot of convincing, and I sort of sold the problem,” he said.

“Medicine tells us what we’re able to, and the law tells us what we’re allowed to do. But neither one tells us what’s good to do. And how we navigate the mean between extremes? If we did everything possible for our patients, we’d be deficient, and there are plenty of things we could do without breaking any laws, but that wouldn’t be in itself good for patients. So we needed someone to step into a leadership role.”

In creating the position and its job description, he and members of Baystate’s leadership team borrowed from models already in existence at similarly sized healthcare systems, especially those at Maine Health, the Carolinas Health System, and the Henry Ford Health System.

DePergola said there are four main categories, or pillars, to his work: clinical ethics, research ethics, organizational ethics, and academic ethics, or ethics education.

The primary domain, as one might expect, is clinical ethics, and in that role, he meets with patients, family members, and healthcare professionals “as they navigate the moral terrain of life-and-death decision making at the beginning, middle, and end of life,” he explained.

“I see everyone — from patients and their families in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to our geriatric patients, to everyone in between, whether it’s a patient in infectious diseases or genetics or ob/gyn.

And, as he said, no ever calls him when anything good is going on.

Questions and Answers

As he talked about his work in bioethics and many of the difficult conversations he becomes part of, DePergola summoned a quote from Aristotle that he’s undoubtedly already used countless times in his short career.

“He said, in essence, that something is good if its fulfills the purpose for which it was made, and bad if it doesn’t,” said DePergola, adding that such a benchmark, if one chooses to call it that, should be applied to all aspects of healthcare, including everything from a feeding tube to any other step that might be taken in an effort to prolong life.

“If it’s not going to fulfill the purpose, is it good? We need to think about the logic of what it would mean to provide a clinical treatment without a clinical reason,” he went on, adding that such questions loom large in his field of work and often bring him to another difficult discussion — the one juxtaposing quantity of life against quality of life.

Such thought patterns help DePergola as he goes about his various duties, during which — and he makes this point abundantly clear — he advocates for the patient first, not the health system that employs him.

And this distinguishes his work from that of those in the broad realm of risk management.

“The patient is always the priority,” he explained. “In risk management, it’s the hospital first, then the patient. With me, it’s the exact opposite; I make sure everyone’s voice is heard.”

And not only heard, but understood, he went on, adding that the cornerstone of success in this field (if one can even use that word within it) is establishing trust.

Wearing a white coat instead of a suit coat is part of it, but a bigger part is understanding exactly where someone is coming from. And this comes from taking the time to understand their situation, their religious beliefs, and much more.

Even then, the decisions don’t come easy, he went on, adding that his work often comes down to helping parties decide between the better of two bad options and coping with questions that, as he noted, can’t really be answered.

Such sentiments are reflected in DePergola’s thoughts on other aspects of his work, especially his teaching — he’s an assistant professor of Medical Humanics at Elms College, where, in the small-world department, had Erin Daley, director of the Emergency Department at Mercy Medical Center and the first Healthcare Hero in the Emerging Leader category, as one of his students.

“I always try to emphasize to my students that the big questions of medicine that patients are asking have little to do with medicine, that the big problems in medicine have little to do with medicine,” he told BusinessWest. “They’re questions of meaning, purpose, identity, and value.

“They don’t show up on X-rays, you can’t write prescriptions for them, and we can’t bill for that,” he went on. “Medicine is very good at addressing ‘how’ questions — as in ‘how does ammonia work?’ — but it’s very poor at addressing the ‘why’ questions. And I think that, when we fail to connect with our patients in medicine, it’s because we’re giving ‘how’ answers to ‘why’ questions.”

Framing the Question

Returning to Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son, DePergola said there’s another reason why that painting resonates with him.

It has to do with how many times he has the same conversations with different people, such as the one about miracles, and walking them through the argument that there’s no logical connection between believing in a miracle and concluding that life-sustaining medical treatment should continue.

“You don’t offer life-sustaining medical treatment for miracles to occur, and I often dread having another one of these conversations,” he said. “But then, I remember that every time I have any of these conversations, it might be the 12th one of the day, but it’s the first for these families. They deserve for me to treat it as the most important and the only conversation, not the 12th.

“Again, I give them what they need,” DePergola went on, expressing sentiments that clearly explain why he’s an emerging leader, a pioneer, and a Healthcare Hero.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Community Health: Dr. Matthew Sadof

By George O'Brien September 3, 2018

Healthcare Heroes

This Pediatrician and Coalition Builder Has Helped Create a Healthier Community

Dr. Matthew Sadof

Most people who have been working professionally for nearly 40 years have had a number of desk chairs, especially as technology has advanced and the office has become more ergonomically correct.

Dr. Matthew Sadof has had exactly … one.

It was given to him upon completion of his residency at New York Hospital, and it’s been with him ever since. It’s a low, wooden chair with arms, and Sadof obviously likes how it looks and feels — for the most part, anyway. But the reason he keeps it is what’s written on the back: “Go and do thou likewise.”

That’s the school’s motto, but far more importantly, it’s Sadof’s approach to life and also his life’s work, as will be made clear as we explain why he is the Healthcare Hero in the Community Health category.

“One of the things that I’ve tried to practice my whole life is something called tikkun olam, which means to heal the world,” he told BusinessWest. “And that’s what I try to do. I’ve been sitting in this chair since I graduated. It’s my chair; I’ve had opportunities for other chairs, but I like this one.”

The Heroes award is only the latest of many to be bestowed upon Sadof, a pediatrician at Baystate Children’s Hospital, whose chair resides in a small office at the Baystate High Street Health Clinic, in the middle of one of Springfield’s poorest neighborhoods, as it has for the past 20 years.

“Dr. Sadof has demonstrated that a physician who is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of his patients must go beyond the office walls and work diligently to improve the health of the community.”

This office is, by his own admission, not at all asthma-healthy, with its carpeting, drop ceiling, and somewhat poor ventilation. Which is ironic, because he is perhaps best known for helping to lead an all-out battle against asthma in a city consistently ranked among the worst in the nation for asthma health.

His leadership role in the Community Asthma Coalition and related initiatives has dramatically improved the environment across Springfield and reduced hospitalizations dramatically, but he would be the first to note that, with the city’s poor housing stock, there is considerable work still to do.

However, there is more to Sadof’s story than helping children and families breathe easier, literally and figuratively. He has also been a passionate advocate for the underserved and the marginalized, working with medically fragile and technology-dependent children and their parents, who are often overwhelmed by their medical needs. Meanwhile, he has worked to address the social and medical difficulties faced by adolescents in Springfield, patients who often fall through the cracks as they age out of pediatrics and fail to connect with an adult-medicine provider.

As he sat down to talk with BusinessWest to talk about the many facets of his work — yes, in that chair from NYU — Sadof made it clear that, while he is honored to be named a Healthcare Hero, he stressed that whatever progress has been made in terms of making Springfield a healthier community has been a team effort, not the work of one man.

“I can’t over-emphasize that it’s not just me,” he said, referring not only to the asthma initiatives but a deep portfolio of projects he’s been involved with. “I work with lots of wonderful people; you need a whole community of people to really change a community.”

Still, Sadof has established himself as a clear leader in these efforts and a role model for the medical students and residents he teaches.

Dr. Laura Koenings, vice chair of the Education Department of Pediatrics at Baystate Children’s Hospital, who nominated Sadof for the Healthcare Heroes award, may have summed up his devotion to community — and his approach to achieving progress — best.

“Dr. Sadof has demonstrated that a physician who is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of his patients must go beyond the office walls and work diligently to improve the health of the community,” she wrote. “A role-model physician looks for gaps in the healthcare-delivery system and strives to bring better healthcare to the underserved, whether that is the infant with complex medical needs on a home ventilator and a gastronomy tube for feeding, or the teenager out on the streets without a medical home.”

Sadof continues to do all these things, and that explains why he’s a true Healthcare Hero.

Clearing the Air

Sadof said it wasn’t long after he arrived at the High Street Clinic that he began to realize the full extent of the asthma problem in Springfield.

“My very first week, there was a kid who came in who had really, really, really bad asthma,” he recalled. “So bad that I had to go on the ambulance and transport him to ICU. He needed a breathing machine — he needed to be intubated — and while I was there, I looked at his mother, and I couldn’t help but notice that she had a Band-Aid on her arm and a hospital bracelet on her wrist.

“I said, ‘what happened to you?’ he went on. “And her asthma was really bad. I asked her where she lived, and she went on to describe an apartment building that had cockroaches, rodents, leaky windows, and mold — all of which are very potent triggers for asthma.”

Dr. Matthew Sadof says he’s had one desk chair throughout his lengthy career and lives by what’s written on the back: ‘Go and do thou likewise.’

Thus began what might be called a crusade against asthma, as well as a pattern of not only treating patients but asking them where they live. And not only asking them where they live, but taking steps to do something about where they live and removing some of those triggers for asthma.

“We teach people how to clean with vinegar, baking soda, baking powder, and castile soap, and that’s made a huge difference,” he explained. “We also showed people how to store food properly and store garbage properly in a way that doesn’t promote the growth of rodents and insects.”

Before getting into more detail about his efforts to combat asthma and the many other aspects of his work, it’s necessary to explain how Sadof arrived at the High Street Clinic.

Our story starts back at medical school, where, by this third year, Sadof realized he wanted to spend his career working with young people.

“I knew that I liked to talk to people, and I knew I liked to work with young families,” he recalled. “And I knew I liked working with children because they’re growing, and there’s the possibility to make a real impact on the trajectory of someone’s life when you start early.”

He practiced in Pittsfield for 10 years, doing general pediatrics, before he and his family relocated to Philadelphia to “try something new,” as he put it. Things didn’t exactly work out there as he hoped, so the family decided to return to what they considered home.

A former colleague was working at the High Street Clinic at the time. Sadof asked her what the lay of the land was, and she mentioned that the clinic was looking for someone. And, long story short, Sadof became that someone.

“Something about this place just felt really good,” he told BusinessWest, noting that, 20 years later, he still feels the same way.

“There was a huge need for services,” he explained. “And there were bright students and residents that I could work with. And practicing and teaching medicine at the same time keeps you really sharp. They’re always asking you questions that you may not know the answers to, so we all look it up and learn it together.”

Finding answers to some of Springfield’s most vexing health problems has been Sadof’s M.O. since arriving on High Street, and, as noted, asthma soon become one of his top priorities.

But to address it, he knew the city needed to bring together a number of players to form a solid, united front against the disease. And it really started with that visit his first week on the job.

“That’s when I started thinking about how important it was for me to start to address some of the root causes of asthma, and about what I could do to build a bridge from the clinic to the community,” he recalled. “They weren’t calling it the ‘social determinants of health’ back then, but that’s really what we were doing.”

Within a year after arriving at High Street, Sadof became the medical director of the clinic, and around that same time, he was approached by a grant writer from what was then Partners for a Healthier Community (now the Public Health Institute of Western Mass.) to apply to be part of the National Collaborative Inner-city Asthma Study.

Fast-forwarding a little, the local group was awarded a grant, and a social worker was hired to be an asthma counselor, he went on, adding that parent groups were formed, individualized counseling was provided, and other steps were taken not only to treat people who were sick but to make homes more “asthma clean.”

In 2001, the Pioneer Valley Asthma Coalition was formed, and Sadof, who started in what he called an observer role, became its chair in 2004. In 2009, he help forged a partnership with Boston University whereby a stimulus grant from the national Institute of Environmental Health was secured to create something called the READY (Reducing and Eliminating Asthma Disparity in Youth) program.

“We trained community health workers to teach people how to keep their home asthma clean,” he explained, adding that there would be a series of five home visits in the course of six months. “And anecdotally, I could tell which families were in the program and which ones weren’t; we cut hospitalizations down dramatically and cut hospital days down dramatically.”

Care Package

But while Sadof is perhaps best known for his work to combat asthma, there are many other aspects to his practice, all of which relate directly to what’s written on the back of his chair.

Indeed, while recognizing a real problem with asthma, Sadof said he also quickly realized there was a large number of children with severe disabilities and families struggling to care for them. And he’s continuously looking for new and innovative ways to meet the many needs of both these children and their families.

“I have lots of children who are technologically dependent,” he explained. “These are children who are on ventilators at home, they have feeding tubes, they often require 24-hour care … they and their families require services, and they need help.

“From listening to these kids, I was always trying to figure out a better way to do things,” he went on, adding that he was approached in 2012 by officials at Boston University Medical School with the goal of developing a grant to help improve complex care.

Baystate and BU were eventually awarded a $6 million grant ($1 million each over three years) to develop something called the 4C program. That’s an acronym for Collaborative Consultative Care Coordination program, which was created to help parents and pediatricians coordinate care for the most medically complex children in Western Mass. Each word in that acronym is important, and collectively they explain what it is and how it works.

“We developed a couple of teams, with myself as the complex-care doctor, where we brought people in, took in all their data, and put it into a cloud-based care plan,” he explained. “These care plans lived on their phones, and they were accessible by any kind of electronic device and were accessible by their primary-care doctor and by the hospital and the families.

The consultative-care program created for each family consisted of a nurse care coordinator, a social worker, a so-called ‘family navigator,’ a nutritionist, and a psychologist, he went on.

“There’s been a huge influx of patients from Puerto Rico, people whose lives were blown away who are medically complicated and very fragile. People with heart defects, lung defects, neurological issues, and we’ve been working hard to keep them healthy. It’s great work and its very rewarding.”

“And we really improved the lives of lots of kids,” he said with a large dose of satisfaction evident in his voice. “We were able to decrease the cost of healthcare by a lot and improve the satisfaction of families. This was a consultative program where we worked with primary-care doctors to keep the care inside the patient’s medical home, close to where they lived; we worked with schools, we worked closely with housing to make sure we could make accommodations, we did home assessments and home visits. The idea was to try to support families through this work, and it was incredibly rewarding.”

He used the past tense because the grant funding ended at the close of 2017. The plan is to find a way to restore and continue the initiative through the new accountable-care program being created. Meanwhile, Sadof continues to care for children with complex needs, mostly without the same comprehensive teams made possible by the 4C program, and the number of patients in that category has swelled in the wake of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico almost exactly a year ago.

“There’s been a huge influx of patients from Puerto Rico, people whose lives were blown away who are medically complicated and very fragile,” he explained. “People with heart defects, lung defects, neurological issues, and we’ve been working hard to keep them healthy. It’s great work, and its very rewarding.”

There’s that phrase again. Sadof uses if often, and it speaks to the passion he brings to his work, which, by and large, involves a poor, very challenged constituency, and many of the sickest children in this region — and beyond it.

To explain that passion, Sadof related the story of his father, who had tuberculosis.

“I just have this vision of my grandmother bringing my father to a clinic, where his test came back positive,” he explained, noting that his father had two aunts who died from the disease. “I carry that picture of my father and my grandmother with me always … and I look at the mothers here, and I say, ‘100 years ago, this was my family.’

“And the test about what decisions I make is that ‘if this was my family, what would I want to do? What would I want done for my family?’” he went on. “It has to pass that test. And it’s not always the easiest answer, and it’s certainly not the fastest answer.”

It Sits Well with Him

For the last word on the honoree in the Community Health category, we return to Laura Koenings’ nomination:

“Dr. Sadof recognized early on that it takes a village, and not just the actions of a single physician, to improve the long-term health of the community,” she wrote. “This is why he has always been a coalition builder — helping to unify patients, families, community agencies, and government entities to work together for a healthier community. He also recognized that, in order to advocate for his patients and their families, he must understand their needs and bring their voices to the agencies and government entities that are part of his coalition.”

He has done all that, and that’s why, from the day he earned that chair, he’s been a Healthcare Hero. u

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Innovation in Health/Wellness: TechSpring

By George O'Brien September 3, 2018

Healthcare Heroes

This Unique Venture Exists at the Intersection of Innovation and Technology

Christian Lagier, managing director and co-founder of TechSpring.

Christian Lagier has a deep background in entrepreneurship, business operations, and strategic business development.

He’s been involved with startups and high-growth companies in Paris and Copenhagen, and he spent 10 formative years in Silicon Valley’s high-octane startup environment at arguably its zenith (the ’90s).

Thus, he’s an expert in … collisions.

That’s a word you hear quite often within the realms of innovation and entrepreneurship. Generally, it refers to the art and science (because it’s both) of bringing people together and making things — meaning products, services, and the companies to provide them — happen.

Soon after leaving the San Francisco area behind to come to Western Mass., Lagier became a key driver in an effort to bring collisions to a different, higher level, and to a sector where you don’t hear that word as much as you do in others — healthcare.

The result was TechSpring, a unique venture that is based in Springfeld. But its exact location, as Lagier likes to say, is at “the intersection of healthcare and technology.”

“We’re trying to bring these sides together in a place where we can democratize technology development, or bring people into the process.”

That phrase speaks volumes about not only what TechSpring is, but why, more than three years after it was launched, it has met or exceeded both expectations and goals. And why a panel of judges determined that it (meaning the sum of all its parts and the all the people behind it) is the Healthcare Hero in the highly competitive category called simply ‘Innovation in Health/Wellness.’

Summing it all up, Lagier, the venture’s managing director and co-founder, said TechSpring has realized a vision established four years ago to take external innovators into a partnership of sorts with Baystate Health, its 1 million patients, and thousands of providers to accelerate innovation in healthcare technology.

“We’re trying to bring these sides together in a place where we can democratize technology development, or bring people into the process,” he explained, “and do it in a way that’s aligned with the goals of an organization that is working hard to deliver high-quality, high-value care every day.”

In the process of democratizing the innovation process, TechSpring has become a real force within the region’s economy and, especially, its innovation sector. It serves as an innovation hub in every sense of that word, said Lagier, noting that brings people together in all sorts of ways.

Christian Lagier, seen here with team members at TechSpring, says the facility, and especially its kitchen, were designed to promote collisions.

First, as co-working space — there are about 80 people working there now — but also as a conference center and site for programs such as its monthly innovation open house, known as Tap into TechSpring.

“It was important to us as we were doing this project to have healthcare come out of the ivory tower, if you will,” Lagier explained. “We wanted to open the doors and create a public forum, a physical hub for all the people in Western Mass. and beyond who are working at that intersection of healthcare and technology.”

There is mounting evidence that this model works and should be emulated. For example:

• It has grown from one employee to eight;

• There have been more than 30 completed innovation projects, all with learning or operational outcomes;

• Tap into TechSpring, has attracted more than 4,000 participants since it was initiatied more than three years ago;

• The venture has received trade delegations and leadership visits from Israel, Denmark, Ireland, Singapore, Australia, and other countries;

• At any given time, there are between five and 10 projects in development or active execution; and, perhaps most importantly,

• TechSpring has generated more than $7 million in revenue or savings for Baystate Health.

Which means that the sizable investment made by the system in TechSpring has more than paid for itself.

Maybe the best example of how TechSpring works, and why it was named the hero in the Innovation category, is Praxify, an intuitive, easy-to-use mobile application designed to enhance the provider experience by bringing patient information directly into the palm of one’s hand.

“We heard clearly from our organization, and specifically from our physicians working at Baystate, that the electronic medical record system had grown unwieldy and that it was consuming too much time to get information in and out,” Lagier explained, adding that NTT, one of TechSpring’s innovative partners, introduced people there to a startup in India that had developed a mobile app that was user-friendly and fast to use.

When representatives of that company came to Springfield with their demos, they were introduced to roughly 30 Baystate doctors who, long story short, helped them refine the concept into something that works.

Thus, Praxify is an example of just how well the original vision for TechSpring has, in fact, become reality.

“When we started this project, it was big ideas and PowerPoint slides,” he told BusinessWest. “And you have this vision. Looking back on it four or five years later, after making many of these come to life and become real … that’s a great point of pride.”

Food for Thought

As he talked about collisions and the ongoing work to bring them about, Lagier said everything about TechSpring’s facility on the fifth floor at 1350 Main St. was designed with that goal in mind.

Even the kitchen. Or especially the kitchen, as the case may be.

With the old-fashioned water cooler pretty much a thing of the past, the kitchen is the place where people gather now, he told BusinessWest, adding that, in addition to politics, sports, and what TV shows they’re binging, people at TechSpring also talk about what they’re doing.

And they listen to other people talk about what they’re doing, and when there’s two or three or four people having such conversations, this is how collisions take place. So the kitchen was designed to promote this kind of activity.

“It’s large, open, and has seating,” Lagier explained. “This is the place where people connect informally and begin chatting, and where a wonderful thing happens every day at TechSpring — someone finds an opportunity to help someone else, and that’s what we need to accelerate change in healthcare.”

Kitchen design is one of the few things not on Lagier’s résumé. As for what is, well, it’s an interesting mix.

Out of high school, he actually worked as a foreign-language tour guide in bustling Copenhagen (he’s fluent in six languages, including Danish, French, and English). He also worked as a deck hand on an offshore oil rig in the North Sea and hitchhiked his way around the world for a year.

He eventually settled down and earned master’s degrees in economics and business administration from Copenhagen Business School and Université Catholique de Louvain in Brussels and then went to where the action was.

“I moved to Silicon Valley to seek adventure and the application of technology to real-world problems,” he said, hitting upon what could be considered a theme to his career. “I was there in ’95, which was an exciting tine to be in Silicon Valley.”

After starting out in management consulting, Lagier held management positions in companies such as Memolane, Vivino, and Proxicom. He spent a decade in Silicon Valley, but decided, in collaboration with his wife Allison, who had ties to this region, that Western Mass. (Williamsburg in Hampshire County, to be exact) was the place to raise a family.

“It was a lifestyle choice for us,” he said, adding that, while he’s lived in some fast-lane places — Paris, Copenhagen, and San Francisco are all on that list — this is home, and the mailing address he’s most fond of.

Fast-forwarding a little, Lagier worked in administration at Smith College for a few years. Just over five years ago, had lunch at Max’s Tavern with Joel Vengco, chief information officer for Baystate Health. It was a lunch that would eventually pave the way for TechSpring and begin to change both the innovation and healthcare landscapes in this region.

“Joel, like me, has broad experience from different geographies and parts of life, and when he came here, he had a vision for an opportunity that presented itself to a region like this one and an organization like Baystate to be a better participant in the transformation of healthcare that we all know is necessary,” he explained. “He presented this vision to me of creating a small and nimble organization that could facilitate the collaboration between external technology innovators and a full-size, real-life health system.”

That vision represented something very different from anything that existed at that time, he went on, adding that there was no real model for TechSpring and that those who launched it created a new model. But it was also something very necessary given the way technology was advancing and healthcare was evolving.

“We all know that healthcare needs to change,” he explained. “We know that part of the solution is process and people, and we know that technology needs to support these changes that are necessary. TechSpring is an effort to help those two sides — the people and the technology — come closer together in solving these problems.”

While doing that, there are broader goals as well, he said, adding that, from the beginning, those involved with TechSpring clearly understood that innovation had to “pay off,” as he put it, meaning there had to be a direct line of sight to the value that comes from innovation.

“We talked a lot about how this can’t be science experiments, and it can’t be long-term R&D — there have to be some concrete outcomes from this, and also financially,” he explained. “We had also set the goal of TechSpring being self-funded, and we’ve achieved that goal.”

Getting the Idea

At the core of this unique model, made possible by a $5.5 million grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, TechSpring becomes a consulting company of sorts, said Lagier, one that supports external technology innovators that have ideas for effective solutions in healthcare and helps them collaborate more closely with healthcare professionals and even patients, and then brings all these parties together in the technology-development process.

Over the years, the list of innovative partners has grown and now includes such companies as:

• Cerner, the leading provider of electronic-medical-record (EMR) and population-health systems worldwide;

• Imprivata, a Boston-based company focusing on solutions that make access to IT systems easier for employees and patients;

• NTT Data, a worldwide leader in systems integration and delivery of technical solutions;

• Kordova, a Boston- and Springfield -based startup focused on creating cost visibility in surgery supplies;

• athenahealth; a Boston-based provider of EMR systems; and

• Firefly Labs, a local startup originated at Baystate Health that has created a solution that makes case reporting and the accreditation process easier for surgery residents.

Connecting such innovators with a large health system like Baystate sounds simple and rather obvious, but such collaboration between these two worlds has mostly been missing, and is still missing in many markets.

“There’s been too much technology that has been developed and sort of pushed into healthcare,” he went on. “It’s our ambition to turn this around and have it be more of a pull from users, the healthcare professionals and patients, who say, ‘these are the solutions that we need,’ and then enabling the technology innovators to solve for that.”

“He presented this vision to me of creating a small and nimble organization that could facilitate the collaboration between external technology innovators and a full-size, real-life health system.”

While doing that, the broad goal is to create those aforementioned collisions.

“They’re a key piece of innovation theory,” Lagier explained. “Innovation is not linear — it’s not something you can plan out or mastermind. Innovation depends on a lot of coincidence, but, as Pasteur said, ‘chance favors the prepared mind.’ At TechSpring, we’ve created an environment that is conducive for coincidences to happen.”

And there were a number of coincidences and collisions behind Praxify, which was born, as most innovative concepts are, out of a need to solve an identified problem.

“To this day, this industry has a challenge — that doctors are spending too much time at the computer, and that takes away time that they can spend with a patient,” said Lagier. “There are many facets to that challenge, and we put that challenge out into the world, saying, in essence, ‘what solutions are out there that we can bring to our physicians that might improve this problem?’”

As noted earlier, a startup in India had a solution — or the makings of a solution. And to refine its concept, the company worked in tandem with doctors at Baystate.

“Rather than sitting in a conference room or drawing something up on whiteboards, we said, ‘first, you have to experience real healthcare,’” Lagier noted. “And they got to just follow a physician and watch over his or her shoulder and get direct feedback — ‘this works for me,’ or ‘this doesn’t work for me.’”

With that feedback, rapid prototyping ensued, he went on, adding that the innovators went back and said, in essence, ‘is this what you’re looking for?’ Some said yes, some no, and more collaboration followed.

A prototype was developed, validated at Baystate, and put into production for a pilot user group comprised of 80 physicians. The development was so successful and promising that the startup was acquired by athenahealth, another of TechSpring’s innovation partners, for $63 million.

For Lagier, the key takeaway from the example of Praxify is how the collaborative model — bringing innovators together with healthcare providers to accelerate new-product development — works not just in theory, but in reality.

“I had dozens of physicians who were energized by the process — just having a voice, just having an opportunity to be part of the technology-development process,” he told BusinessWest. “That they got an app out of it that they could use and that made their life better was a bonus.”

Healthy Collaboration

As Lagier noted, there have been a number of delegations from different states and different countries that have come to the TechSpring suite to see how the unique concept works — and how it might work for them.

The kitchen is usually part of the tour because that’s where a good number of collisions happen — collisions that can lead to practical solutions to the issues and problems facing those providing healthcare in today’s challenging and always-changing environment.

Those tours — a world apart from those Lagier led before busloads of tourists in Copenhagen — represent one of the best indicators of the success of the TechSpring model and its ability to bring innovators and healthcare providers and patients together in collaboration — something that’s needed to solve these complex problems.

As much as anything else, they show why all those at TechSpring are Healthcare Heroes.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Collaboration in Health/Wellness: The Consortium and the Opioid Task Force

By George O'Brien September 3, 2018

Healthcare Heroes

This Unique Initiative Has a Simple Mission: to Save Lives

The Consortium and the Opioid Task Force

Larry Thomas remembers not knowing exactly what to say or how to respond.

He had just been encouraged to apply for a job as a peer coordinator and recovery coach for something called the Recover Project, a recovery support center operating in downtown Greenfield under the umbrella of the Western Mass. Training Consortium and funded by the Bureau of Substance Abuse Services in Massachusetts. Thomas paused, because the last job he held was as part of a work-release program operated by the Department of Corrections.

“I had never had a job as a free man, applying on my own,” he explained. “When they posted the job, people said I should apply. I said, ‘maybe I should, but I don’t even have a résumé.’ I did apply, but I was scared to put down the last place I worked, because I was still in jail.’”

Thomas, in applying and then earning the job, essentially put his past behind him and focused on solidifying his future, which is, by and large, what he encourages others to do as a recovery coach. He takes his ‘lived experience’ — that’s a phrase you’ll read often in this article — and puts it to work helping others combating addiction and trying to put their lives back together.

Thus, he’s become part of a huge, multi-faceted, truly groundbreaking collaboration forged by the Western Mass. Training Consortium and the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region.

Actually, he was part of it before he became an employee, as we’ll see.

But first, by ‘huge collaboration,’ we mean more than 300 public and private partners, representing law enforcement, the healthcare community, the court system, a host of nonprofit agencies such as the Recover Project, addiction specialists, and addicts themselves. Collectively, these partners have one overriding mission — to save lives.

Sahern Ahern says she learned that, when it comes to addiction, a community has to make change from the inside out.

And they are doing just that by effectively bringing an entire community together to combat a problem that that is prevalent across the country, but especially in rural areas like Franklin County.

As John Merrigan, register of Franklin Probate and Family Court, recalls, in the summer of 2013, all those players were essentially confronting the opioid epidemic separately and in their own ways — and not making much headway, really. By the end of the year, they were confronting it together, collaborating, communicating, building bridges, combining resources, and fighting the problem not by locking people up but by using lived experiences, peer-to-peer counseling, and even massage and acupuncture to help them find a pathway (another word you’ll read often) to treatment and recovery.

As they talked with BusinessWest about the collaboration at the Recover Project’s facility on Federal Street in Greenfield, the many assembled players spoke with one voice about the power of such peer-to-peer counseling and the even greater power of a community coming together to address a problem that has touched everyone in that community directly.

Sarah Ahern, another peer leader and recovery coach, lost two family members to overdose, and remembers feeling a wide range of emotions, but especially anger at a system she felt had failed miserably to prevent such a tragedy.

“I’m that person who decided to bang on the doors from the outside, because I was really angry, and I saw the system was broken,” she recalled. “But someone told me — and I’m pretty sure it was someone here at the Recover Center — you can’t make change that way; you have to make change from the inside out.

“So I started attending task-force meetings,” she went on. “And I met all kinds of wonderful people who are just trying to figure out a solution.”

“I’m that person who decided to bang on the doors from the outside, because I was really angry, and I saw the system was broken. But someone told me — and I’m pretty sure it was someone here at the Recover Center — you can’t make change that way.”

‘Creating change from the inside out.’ That’s one way of describing what this collaboration is doing. But there are many others.

David Sullivan, Northwestern district attorney, had his own way.

“Going back five years, there was recognition on my part, and also by [Franklin County] Sheriff Christopher Donelan, that there needed to be a fundamental shift in the approach to addiction,” he said. “We needed to look at this as a chronic disease and not be looking toward incarceration and criminal sanctions. So the emphasis has been on treatment and recovery, and we’ve put a lot of resources into moving in that direction.”

Deborah McLaughlin, coordinator of the Opioid Task Force, may have summed it up best when she said, “people creating these terrible drugs have no shortage of creativity on their end, so we have to respond in kind to keep ahead of this as much as we can.”

In most all ways, this collaborative effort is creative and truly cutting-edge in its approach to combating opioid and heroin addiction. And it is becoming a model that other community task forces are trying to emulate. Indeed, individuals and groups from across the Commonwealth as well as other New England states, New York, and Ohio have reached out to learn more about this collaboration and its unique approach.

The crisis is far from over, said all those we spoke with. But they were also in agreement that the energy and, more importantly, the hope created to date is fueling general optimism in a region where that commodity has been in short supply in recent years.

And for generating that optimism, all those involved in this collaborative are true Healthcare Heroes.

Coming Together

Anthony Bourdain, the colorful host of the Parts Unknown series who tragically took his own life earlier this year, came to Franklin County in the fall of 2014 to learn about the task force and the many players involved in this collaboration.

He immediately sensed that it was something different and something special, and described the collaborative as a grass-roots response — people coming together to find a “community-based solution to what is finally being recognized as a public-health crisis rather than just a criminal-justice problem.”

He would go on to say, “‘war on drugs’ implies us vs. them, and all over this part of America, people are learning that there is no ‘them’ and only ‘us.’ And we have to figure this out together.”

Nearly four years later, those words seem prophetic. The nation now considers opioid addiction a public-health crisis, and the many players involved in this collaborative effort in Franklin County clearly understand that there is only ‘us.’

Indeed, in a small community like this, almost everyone has a family member, friend, or co-worker who is addicted to opioids or has overdosed. And this closeness to the problem, this familiarity with tragedy, certainly helped bring people together behind that mission to save lives, said Merrigan.

“The district attorney, the sheriff, and myself, who had worked closely together on a number of initiatives in the past, really saw our community being uprooted by the opioid epidemic,” he explained, flashing back roughly five years. “We saw it within our families, within our neighborhoods, and we knew we had to respond and convene members of the law-enforcement community, the medical community, the court community, and the recovery community.”

That response started with a phone call he placed to Linda Sarage, then the director of the Recover Project, and a request — more like a plea — to start a dialogue, something that didn’t exist between the two entities before that call.

Larry Thomas says he was hesitant to apply for a position as recovery coach, because the last time he held any kind of job, he was still in prison.

“He introduced himself to me,” said Sarage, noting that there was some irony in the fact that an introduction was needed. “he knew of the work that the Recovery Project had been doing — we been doing some re-entry work at the jail and some re-entry work in the community that really put the importance of recovery out there.”

Those initial talks led to many more and eventually what D.A. Sullivan called an epiphany about the importance and power of recovery communities to finding a long-term solution to the addiction problem.

“You can’t incarcerate your way out of this crisis,” said Sullivan. “I think that people have come around to this, although others still need to be convinced. It’s absolutely clear to all of us that, with really good treatment and recovery, people can lead productive lives and not be wrapped up into the criminal-justice system; the last thing I want to see is people going to court and going to jail — I’d rather see them go to treatment and find that pathway to recovery.”

Which brings him to the subject of lived experience and recovery coaches like Larry Thomas, who are, Sullivan said, some of the real keys to changing the equation in this ongoing battle.

“Five years ago, we were flat-footed — we did not know how to approach this problem. Our system was built for alcohol situations and domestic-violence situations, and the one thing we’re seen across the spectrum — medical, the court community, the recovery community — is the peer-mentor piece,” he explained. “That lived experience, as opposed to a probation officer in the court system, has many advantages. A recovery coach can approach someone who’s struggling; it’s people helping people, and that’s the bottom line, because there’s no magic bullet otherwise to help us cope with this.”

This is what the architects of the collaborative had in mind, said Mary Lou Sullivan, executive director of the Western Mass. Training Consortium, a Holyoke-based agency which has a stated mission of “creating conditions in which people with lived experience pursue their dreams and strengthen our communities through full participation.”

And each word in that phrase is important, she said, starting with that word ‘conditions.’

“A lot of what’s happened in our society is that people are looked at as if they’re broken and they need to be fixed,” she explained. “And we feel like a lot of that is response to life and what’s going on in the world. The opposite of addiction is connection; you can’t separate out people and say, ‘what can we do to tinker with you and fix you?’ That’s a fundamental flaw in the way we go about things.

“So we try to turn the tables on that,” she went on, adding that the next key part of that phrase is ‘lived experience.’ Everyone has it, she said, and there are proven benefits to bringing people together who can share common experiences, whether its addiction, domestic violence, or significant health issues.

Then, there’s the ‘strengthen our communities through full participation’ part of that phrase, she told BusinessWest, echoing Sullivan and others when she said that the community is much stronger when people like Larry Thomas are involved with helping others and not incarcerated.

“It doesn’t serve us to have all these people in jail that we do in this country,” she said. “It would serve us much better if these people were part of the community.”

Parts of the Whole

As she talked, as others did, about the many ways the collaborative is changing the fight against addiction and generating momentum and progress, McLaughlin said groups working together can achieve much more than individuals and groups working independently of one another.

“We’ve been able to do things we wouldn’t be able to do ourselves,” she said, offering as examples everything from a ‘Building a Resilient Community’ event that focused on the role of trauma in one’s life, to a toiletry drive for individuals in recovery — an initiative that involved five locations, with donated items distributed to nine different organizations — to a recovery-friendly resource fair called ‘Where to Turn?’ involving more than 30 nonprofit agencies from the Greenfield, Franklin County, and North Quabbin areas.

And those represent just the tip of the iceberg, she said, adding that there have been a host of other initiatives ranging from a ‘bowling for recovery’ event to a program focused on recovery during the holidays.

Collectively, these events and others show how the community is coming together in this fight and grasping Bourdain’s wisdom when he said, “there is not them and only us.”

“There’s a groundswell of support for individuals impacted by opioid-use or substance-abuse disorder,” she said. “There’s support for families, there’s support for individuals, and I think we want to find out more about what it means to be a recovery-friendly community so that people feel that they are welcome here.”

This support takes many forms, from peer-to-peer counseling to a theater program, to the People’s Medicine Project, an emerging program of the consortium. This is a small but committed group of alternative-health practitioners, gardeners, social-justice advocates, and community members who believe that all people have a right to wellness and an empowered connection to their health.

Leslie Chaison, director of the project, said one of its main goals is to focus attention on the problem of pain and, more specifically, the over-prescription of opioid medications and the need to help people discover alternatives.

“We offer alternative therapies to people in recovery,” she said, adding, however, that the project has been hampered by a lack of funding and has been kept alive by the task force. “We have multiple therapies in our clinic, including acupuncture, massage, homeopathy, craniosacral therapy, herbal consults, and more.”

Through a grant from the task force, the project forged a partnership with Greenfield Community Acupuncture that has enabled a number of early-stage recovery individuals to receive acupuncture treatment for their pain.

“The feedback has been really great,” she said, adding that the project’s regular clinic, housed at the Recover Project and staffed by volunteers, has brought a variety of treatments to people in need.

Count Thomas in that group, and as one of the believers.

“We needed to look at this as a chronic disease and not be looking toward incarceration and criminal sanctions. So the emphasis has been on treatment and recovery.”

“Every Tuesday, they set this up back here,” he said referring to a space within the Recover Project. “There were lights and low music and all this stuff. I remember saying, ‘what is all this?’ and walking out; it took me a while to trust and just make an appointment.

“But I came to trust,” he went on. “And I have full-body massages, herbal medicine … they gave me tea, and it worked better than the medicine I was getting from CVS.”

Summing up the collaboration and the progress made to date, Sullivan said the most notable change has come in breaking down barriers and putting people in the same room — either literally or figuratively.

“In Franklin County, I think there were more silos than there were barns,” he explained. “This is really about good people communicating with other and working on solutions. It’s a big problem, and it still exists, but we’re seeing progress.

“It’s about having that day-to-day conversation with providers — ‘how do you link people up? How does a family find a place for a person to go for treatment? Where do they go for recovery?’ It’s all about these great conversations that are happening now that weren’t happening in the past.”

Bottom Line

Linda Ahern, that angry individual who started banging on doors from the outside out of frustration with a broken system, became emotional as she started talking about battling the problem from the inside — and about the progress made collectively.

“I’m just really proud of what we’ve done together with all our strengths and all the connections that we have,” she said, “and to really welcome people with lived experiences, and not in a token kind of way, but in a ‘your-voice-really-matters’ way.

“We’re setting precedents that are being looked at across the country,” Ahern went on. “I talk to people from all over who say ‘wow, you did that? — share it.’ And that’s what we do; we share the information so that someone in a state that’s not as progressive can do the same things that we are.”

With that, she spoke for everyone in the crowded room. Anthony Bourdain wasn’t there, of course, but in a way, he was — still reminding people that there’s ‘only us.’

Those involved in this massive collaboration don’t need such a reminder; they live and breathe it every day.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Lifetime Achievement: Robert Fazzi

By George O'Brien September 3, 2018

Healthcare Heroes

He’s Spent a Half-century in the ‘Helping Profession’

Dr. Robert Fazzi

There’s more than a little irony attached to the fact that Bob Fazzi’s office has a window that looks out on what was the main gate to the old Northampton State Hospital.

Indeed, Fazzi, the Healthcare Hero in the Lifetime Achievement category, has spent his life working diligently to keep individuals out of institutions like the massive mental-health facility that once dominated the Northampton landscape in myriad ways, and make them part of the community — the one word that probably best defines every aspect of Fazzi’s life and work.

He was doing such work back when his career was getting started as he joined the organization known as Downey Side, which focused on helping to keep delinquent youths out of juvenile institutions and get them into group homes where many layers of support were available.

It was the same when he became the first director of the agency now known as the Center for Human Development. Back then, it was called the Center for the Study of Institutional Alternatives, a name that spoke volumes about its purpose.

And it’s the same, although on a different level and scope with Fazzi Associates, the company he started 40 years ago and incorporated in 1995. Its stated mission is to make a real difference in healthcare by strengthening the quality, value, and impact of home care, hospice, and community-based services.

Fazzi Associates has been a leader and a pioneer in this sector, developing products and services — including the industry’s first home-health patient-satisfaction services — as well as research to make agencies stronger and better able to serve their patients.

The company has grown steadily over the years, so much so that it has had to relocate to larger quarters several times. With the last such move, Fazzi scouted a number of sites, including Tower Square in Springfield, but opted to stay in the community that by then had become home — but in a much different setting.

And in a poetic sort of way, that new mailing address, 11 Village Hill Road, just a few hundred yards from where the state hospital’s administration building, ‘Old Main,’ once stood, represents a lifetime of work well done.

And done in what Fazzi referred to as the “helping profession.”

That’s the term he applied to not only the home-care field, but hospice and the broad human-services spectrum, all touched in one way or another by the company he launched — and the man himself.

Jim Goodwin, the current president and CEO of CHD, who was hired by Fazzi in the late ’70s, describes him as a tireless advocate for those in need, a true leader, visionary, motivator, consensus builder, and manager who was ahead of his time in many ways.

“Today, you hear about CEOs being trained to hire people smarter than they are, to hire people that know things they don’t know,” said Goodwin. “He was one of the first people to actually do that; he hired people like that and made himself successful before that kind of thinking was popular; he put together all the component parts and put the right people around him.”

Fazzi, who noted that he was influenced by a number of mentors in his life, including Father Paul Engel, founder of Downey Side, Paul Doherty, one of that agency’s early board members, and many others, said he’s tried to take the values they’ve impressed upon him and pay it forward, if you will, while also becoming a mentor and inspiration to others.

“I had some great mentors in my life — some people who influenced in my life in a very positive way,” he said. “I’ve tried to do the same for others.”

This manifests itself in a number of policies, formal and informal, at Fazzi Associates. For example, the firm gives away 10% of its profits every year to nonprofit organizations, and has a policy of giving every employee 16 paid hours to volunteer at any nonprofit health, human-service, or anti-poverty organization.

As he talked with BusinessWest, Fazzi was embarking on another new chapter in his life and career. Indeed, after a lengthy search for the right partner, he recently sold the company he founded to Mediware Information Systems Inc., a portfolio company of TPG Capital and a leading supplier of software solutions for healthcare and human-service providers and payers.

He will serve in a strategic advisory role with Mediware, and also be one of the founding board members of ElevatingHome, a new organization created to elevate the role, impact, and influence of the home- and community-based healthcare field.

So, while he’s not exactly retiring, he’s moving in that direction, a step that’s providing some anxiety about what comes next, but also a chance to reflect on his work and his career, which he did for BusinessWest.

At Home with the Idea

While Fazzi is proud of his mailing address, the team assembled to work there, and its many accomplishments, he’s equally proud of something else: how much mail gets delivered there every day.

Indeed, in a community that boasts institutions such as Smith College and Cooley Dickinson Hospital, more pieces are probably delivered to Fazzi Associates than any other location in Northampton.

That’s because those home-health patient-satisfaction surveys, among others developed by the company, must be sent there for processing rather than to the specific agency being evaluated.

“We get almost 1 million pieces of mail a year from patients,” he noted, adding that surveys cannot be completed online at this time. “We compare agencies by how well they do with patients.”

The volume of mail is one qualitative measure of not only how much Fazzi Associates has grown over the years, but also how Fazzi’s career has evolved and touched ever more lives over the decades.

And, as noted earlier, Fazzi may not have known early on what direction his life and his career would take, but he did know he would be getting involved with his community in many ways.

Bob Fazzi has been described by others as a visionary, motivator, mentor, and manager who was in many ways ahead of his time.

“I came from a strong, community-oriented family,” he recalled, noting that he grew up in the Forest Park section of Springfield. “My parents were involved with the church, they were involved with different things within the community; we were always involved.”

During college, he said he was “lost,” as many people who attended in the late ’60s were, but still managed to get involved with a number of groups and organizations, many with community-minded missions and reasons for being.

After college, he had planned on going into AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), and thought he had been accepted into that program, but it was so disorganized, as he recalled, that six months later he still wasn’t sure.

While waiting to hear from VISTA, Father Engel invited him to get involved with Downey Side, and he did, living in a number of group homes and working as a community organizer.

He spent only a few years with the program, but its mission, and Engel’s approach to carrying it out, had an indelible impact on Fazzi’s career track and approach to life itself.

“I mention Downey Side all the time, even though I was only there two or three years, and that was a long time ago,” he recalled. “Father Engel was really evangelistic about it, saying, ‘we’ve got to get these kids out of these institutions.’ He was always saying, ‘these kids don’t belong here — we have a moral responsibility to help them.’ That really resonated with me.”

Fazzi eventually left Downey Side to be the first director of the Center for the Study of Institutional Alternatives, which was somewhat of a radical concept back then, he noted, although there was plenty of data to back up that basic premise — and data would be the foundation for the work that would dominate the rest of his career.

The new center started with one program, something similar to Downey Side’s in that the goal was to help keep young people out of institutions, but its mission quickly expanded, he noted, citing as one example that the families of these young people were often challenged by a host of issues, so programs were developed to assist them.

“We found that, in some cases, some of the parents were dealing with severe mental illness; they were up at the state hospital,” he said, referring to the facility in Northampton. “So we began to get involved with the Department of Mental Health.

“The value piece was the key,” he went on. “The value was the least-restrictive alternative; where’s the best place to service people in the least-restrictive manner?”

The answer to that question was “in the community,” he went on, adding that what became CHD was a clear leader in the movement to place individuals with behavioral-health issues in residences within the community.

And while the concept made sense on many levels, there were many individuals who didn’t want such residences in the neighborhoods.

Goodwin remembers some fierce battles with residents in Springfield and West Springfield in particular, and that Fazzi stood his ground and fought hard for those he was working to serve.

“I mention Downey Side all the time, even though I was only there two or three years, and that was a long time ago. Father Engel was really evangelistic about it, saying, ‘we’ve got to get these kids out of these institutions.’ He was always saying, ‘these kids don’t belong here — we have a moral responsibility to help them.’ That really resonated with me.”

“He took a lot of risks,” Goodwin recalled. “In the beginning, when we first opened group homes, there were terrible battles with neighborhoods; people would come out and threaten him and throw things at him. But he always stuck to his guns and worked hard with people in the community to get them to understand the value of community-based programming.”

By the late ’70s, Fazzi knew he wanted to start a new chapter in his career — one that would build on those that came before — and focused on consulting work in realms such as home health and hospice care.

“I felt I wanted to be involved in healthcare, but not the human-service side,” he explained, adding that his doctorate is in organizational behavior and he considered himself proficient at planning and organizational change. His plan was to take those skills and put them to work in consulting to other agencies involved in healthcare.

In Good Company

To say that starting and then growing Fazzi Associates into a business that now employs more than 40 people was a learning experience would be an understatement.

And it started with the first bill he sent.

“I did some consulting work for an agency in Worcester, and they paid me $500,” he recalled. “I sent them a bill, and I called myself ‘Management Consulting’ — very clever; I really stood out with that. He sent it back saying I either had to incorporate or have my name in the title.”

He was set to incorporate but found out that this cost $1,000, twice what he made for the first job. So he opted for plan B and just put his name on the invoices moving forward.

In time, though, and not much of it, ‘Fazzi’ would become more than the name on the bill. It would become synonymous with excellence and innovation in the home-care and hospice realms as the company developed new products and services to help clients better serve their customers and measure their performance.

So much so that, when Fazzi finally decided to incorporate in 1995, and was mulling a name change while doing so, advisors told him the name ‘Fazzi’ had too much name recognition and too much clout for him to consider a change. So he didn’t.

Fazzi recalled that, while he started out working for other people, he always considered himself entrepreneurial.

At CHD, for example, he said the agency was funded by the state, which was often if not always behind in its payments. “I remember having to put my house up in order to carry the organization, and there were other people who did the same thing; if you believed in it, that’s what you did.”

With Fazzi Associates, he started out doing planning and training, with most of the early clients involved with home care and hospice. But the scope of services quickly grew, as did the client list.

While doing organizational-improvement work, home-care agencies would often ask if they were doing a good job, he recalled, adding that he replied, in general terms, that he wasn’t the one to be answering that question; clients should be. And when he asked those agencies if they had patient-satisfaction surveys, most all of them didn’t. And the ones who did lacked that one that would be considered valid.

So Fazzi created one, and before long it was providing them to hundreds of agencies. Then, when the Department of Health and Human Services created the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS), Fazzi made sure his company became an expert on the subject and began offering OASIS education.

In 2009, responding to the industry’s need to optimize operations to focus on patient care, Fazzi introduced outsourced medical coding, and is now the largest coding company serving the home-health and hospice industries. Through its operational consulting division, the company has helped hundreds of agencies by putting in place best practices in structure, clinical and operational practices, and supervisory models.

Still another contribution Fazzi has made involves conducting scientific best-practice research and then giving that information away for free to the entire industry. The first such study, titled “Collaborating to Compete: A National Study of Horizontal Networks,” was released in 1996. Others to follow included the National Home Care Re-engineering Study, the National Best Practices Improvement Study, and the National Quality Improvement Hospitalization Reduction Study.

“We’re absolutely indebted to our industry — we’ve been in this field since 1978 and believe we have a responsibility to give back to our industry,” he explained. “We feel the best way is to provide every agency in the country with insights on best practices that will make them stronger and more viable.”

Transition Stage

While doing that for his industry, Fazzi wanted to do the same for his company, so he put in place a succession that has Tom Ashe, one of five major partners in the company, succeeding him as CEO.

That leaves him with a problem of sorts.

“I love coming to work every day — I can’t wait to get up and go to work,” he said, adding that, like others facing the transition to retirement, he’s somewhat — OK, maybe a little more than somewhat — apprehensive about what the next phase of his life will be like.

He doesn’t know exactly what he’ll be doing, but it’s a pretty safe bet that that he will stay involved within the helping profession and find new ways to put his vast experience, energy, and compassion to work helping others.

That’s what he’s been doing for a lifetime, and with very positive results for the community known as Western Mass. And for evidence of that, all he needs to do is look out the window toward the gates of the state hospital that no longer exists.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

MGM’s Opening Notable for What Happened — and Didn’t Happen

By George O'Brien September 3, 2018

MGM Springfield

For Starters…

Alex Dixon, seen here at MGM Springfield’s South End Market, says ‘normal’ isn’t something to expect at the facility for some time.

The long-awaited opening of MGM is now being talked about in the past tense. It was, as most everyone predicted it would be, a momentous event in the city’s history. But thanks to some careful planning, it was not the disruptive force that some were anticipating.

Alex Dixon came away with a few observations — and a few questions — after MGM Springfield’s first weekend of operation late last month.

In that latter category … well, he was wondering out loud if that fruity libation ‘Sex on the Beach’ is the official drink of Greater Springfield. It must be, he concluded, because the bars on the premises ran out of some or all of the ingredients needed to make it — vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, and cranberry juice — so some people had to drink something else. And usually did.

But for a while, it was also a challenge to get something involving Coca Cola. “We ran out at one point,” said Dixon, general manager of the facility. “We managed to get some more, but we were out for a while.”

“We ran through so many different scenarios, and none of them came to be; we’re as excited for what happened as we are for what didn’t happen.”

As for observations … he said the company may have to take some steps to help some employees with their feet.

“We’re looking right now into getting some foot care for a lot of our employees,” he said several days after the opening. “People were on their feet more in the past 72 hours than they’ve been in a long time. So we’re looking to store some Epsom salts or some foot care, because people need to take care of their feet.”

OK, those were observations more of the tongue-in-cheek variety. Getting more serious — although he was quite serious about those foot problems — he said the long-awaited opening for MGM, meaning not just not opening day but those first several days, were noteworthy not just for what happened — huge crowds and general excitement for the region’s new, $960 million toy — but also for what didn’t happen.

And with that, Dixon summoned the contrived phrase ‘carmageddon.’ That’s not in the dictionary, but if it were, ‘gridlock’ would be listed as a synonym. Some people were predicting something approaching that, meaning Big E-like traffic jams and parking issues, during the first few days. Anxiety was such that some downtown Springfield-based businesses actually closed their doors or altered their schedules in the wake of some predictions. There were electronic signs on I-91 alerting motorists that MGM was opening on Aug. 24, and therefore they should expect delays.

But, for the most part, none of that happened, and what looked to the untrained eye to be a somewhat slow start for the casino was actually the fruits of some careful planning, said Dixon.

Elaborating, he said MGM officials made arrangements with the Big E for casino patrons to park there for free and be shuttled over. And then, in the countless media interviews that took place leading up to and just after the opening, those same officials kept urging people to park across the river to take advantage of that option.

Long story short, they did, and with positive results for area commuters and businesses downtown and elsewhere.

As for hard numbers on MGM’s opening day and first weekend, Dixon didn’t have any at press time. So he qualified things as best he could.

“It was phenomenal,” he said of the opening and the weekend that followed. “And the big jubilation is that we did it — and by ‘we,’ I mean literally the entire community, meaning the city, the Commonwealth, and all the different agencies we’ve been working with to coordinate things. We ran through so many different scenarios, and none of them came to be; we’re as excited for what happened as we are for what didn’t happen.

“We need to get people rested up because this is a marathon, although we had a sprint initially. People need their rest.”

“We did very well in terms of volume — we’re still tabulating the numbers,” he went on. “But we didn’t have the side effects that can potentially come with too many cars, too many pedestrians, and too many issues.”

Looking ahead, and, more specifically, addressing the question of when something approaching normalcy might descend on MGM Springfield, Dixon said it will be a while before that happens.

Indeed, while the week days after the opening were far less hectic, the Labor Day weekend (with Stevie Wonder appearing at the MassMutual Center on Sept. 1) was fast approaching, with Enshrinement weekend for the Basketball Hall of Fame coming the following week, and the Big E to open on Sept. 14.

“I don’t think we’ll see ‘normal’ for some time yet,” said Dixon with a huge smile on his face, implying that not normal is good, as in really good.

For this issue, BusinessWest talked with Dixon about MGM’s long-awaited opening and got a behind-the-scenes look (sort of, but not really) at what was happening, and, as he noted, not happening.

General Manager Alex Dixon didn’t have specific numbers, but he said volume at MGM Springfield those first few days met or exceeded expectations. Getty Images

Crowd Control

In the days leading up to the opening, there were many MGM employees working long days and often long nights as well, said Dixon, who put himself in that category.

So one of the many items on his to-do list as general manager in the days immediately following the opening was to make sure that those who needed to caught up on their rest.

“That Sunday was focused on really looking at people’s days off, to make sure that, if they couldn’t take a full day, they could at least take some hours off,” he explained. “We need to get people rested up because this is a marathon, although we had a sprint initially. People need their rest.”

After that first weekend, most certainly needed some rest, he went on, adding that the facility was at or near full capacity for many stretches, especially Friday and Saturday nights.

For the most part, the hundreds of employees, many wearing their uniforms for the first time, came through it well, despite what were for some 16-, 18-, even 20-hour days for those at the top levels.

As the bartenders, waiters, and waitresses serving up Sex on the Beach drinks — or not, as the case may be — they had some very long nights, but few seemed to be complaining, said Dixon.

“I heard anecdotally that someone said they made more in three hours than she did in three weeks at her last job,” he said. “That’s not only heartwarming, but it gives an indication of the sheer volume we encountered, and our restaurants were far busier than any of us could have imagined.”

Flashing back to opening day, he said that he and his team handled the different waves of visitors smoothly, but made some adjustments on the fly. The first wave comprised of the thousands who assembled on Main Street in advance of the 11 a.m. opening — some were on the street before 6, said Dixon, adding that the first order of business that day (literally and figuratively) was to get those people into the building safely and in an orderly fashion in order to reopen Main Street to traffic.

The first order of business for those at MGM Springfield was to get the throngs on Main Street who gathered on the morning of opening day into the facility safely and in an orderly fashion.

That all happened according to plan, he went on, adding that the next wave was a mixed group that included large numbers of workers spilling out of the downtown office buildings and walking the few blocks to the casino. Another wave came through that night, again filling the casino to something approaching full capacity.

As for the adjustments, or tweaks, as Dixon called them, they included everything from reconfiguring the ling lines for people looking to sign up for the M Life Rewards program to devising ways to handle all the traffic at the brick-oven pizzeria at the Cal-Mare restaurant.

“The pizza counter was wildly successful, and we needed more space, we needed another point of sale to handle everyone,” he noted. “That brick-oven pizza was just a hit, so we made some adjustments.”

Getting back to that phrase ‘carmageddon,’ Dixon said it didn’t happen on opening weekend, and that shows, by and large, that it’s not likely to happen on a large scale.

When asked if that was a good thing, he said it was — for MGM, the region, and its business community.

“Through this big peak, we’ve shown that there’s not an over-arching impact to the business community in a negative way, such as slowing down commerce to the rest of the city,” he told BusinessWest. “We’re just really proud of the planning we did in advance, with the city, West Springfield, and the Big E; that investment in the shuttles really paid off.”

And the investment grew in size, because the shuttle service, originally to be offered only on opening day (Friday), was extended through the weekend in yet another attempt to control the impact of the casino’s opening on the region and its businesses.

Drinking it In

When pressed, Dixon said he doesn’t know what goes into a Sex on the Beach drink and wouldn’t know how to make one.

“But apparently half of Springfield does, because that’s must have been the most popular drink,” he said with a laugh, adding that besides stocking on up on peach schnapps and whatever else might be needed, he and his team will continue to make tweaks and adjust as necessary, because ‘normal,’ as he noted, isn’t something likely to be seen at MGM for a while.

And as he also noted, this is a marathon, even though it started with a sprint.

George O’Brien can be reached at [email protected]

Country Bank Aims for a Google Feel in Its Headquarters

By Joseph Bednar September 3, 2018

Banking and Financial Services

Collaborative Culture

President Paul Scully

When Country Bank sought to overhaul its space on South Street in Ware a few years ago — a former mill building that houses about 110 employees — its leaders banked on what they call a collaborative culture, where low cubicles, glass walls, and comfortable, casual meeting spaces all aim to promote better communication and interaction, and a work environment that appeals to the young professionals that comprise the bank’s future.

Walking down the wide main hallway of Country Bank’s headquarters in Ware, you notice certain things. The central, glass-walled café. Conference spaces with names like ‘Integrity Room’ and ‘Prosperity Room,’ reflecting the bank’s values. The occasional beach ball.

Wait, what?

“Someone said to me, ‘what’s the deal with the beach balls?’” bank President Paul Scully said. “Well, we had them at a company event, and they ended up in the hallway. And when you’re walking down the hall and someone’s coming toward you and there’s a beach ball there, what do you do? You kick it.”

It can be an icebreaker of sorts, he went on, as the roughly 110 employees who work in the former mill building on South Street — almost half of the entire Country Bank organization — don’t necessarily all know each other. But it’s also, well, kind of fun.

“For people who visit, it’s unexpected,” said Shelley Regin, the bank’s senior vice president of Marketing, who estimated about 40 such balls reside somewhere in the building. “Normally, the hallway’s full of beach balls, but they make their ways into the offices, too.”

While fun to kick around, Scully said, the balls also promote interaction, a concept which was, frankly, the driving force in a recent, multi-year renovation of Country Bank’s main office. It’s the reason cubicles were lowered, solid walls were replaced by glass, and some of the gathering spaces feature couches rather than traditional chairs.

“When we moved in here 13 years ago, everyone had a cubicle as tall as me, and you couldn’t see one another,” he told BusinessWest. “That didn’t foster good collaboration. And there was no daylight because the work stations were so tall, they blocked the daylight.”

Scully had a catchy description of what the renovation aimed to reflect — “Google comes to Ware” — and explained why that type of culture is important.

One of the casual meeting spaces at Country Bank, is meant to spur creative thinking in an informal setting.

“We love the fact that we are in a mill town and that we’re a flourishing business here. But how can we attract the talent we need? We’re a $1.6 billion bank with 14 locations and growing — and we need to have Millennial talent to help move it forward. And they’re not going to want to hide in a cubicle and come out twice a day, for lunch and to leave. We said, ‘let’s really look at what is happening in workspaces that’s breeding collaboration and fun, and people just working together as a whole unit.’”

Like the low cubicles, the glass promotes more openness as well, Regin said.

“They put me behind glass walls so they can keep an eye on me,” Scully joked, before noting that his office used to be tucked away in a corner, as opposed to its current spot at the end of that main hallway. “You never went there unless you had to. It didn’t do anything for collaboration, nor did it allow me really to be a part of things. Now, right here, at my desk, this is the hub.

“We’re a $1.6 billion bank with 14 locations and growing — and we need to have Millennial talent to help move it forward. And they’re not going to want to hide in a cubicle and come out twice a day, for lunch and to leave.”

“The glass just opens everything up,” he went on, “and it supports the philosophy that we’re all equal components of the organization, and it’s not like you have to be behind a closed wall to do important things. We do have shades that come down. But if you put the shades down, everyone’s going to want to know what’s going on in Paul’s office, so you might as well just have them up and let them see.”

For this issue’s focus on banking and finance, BusinessWest paid a visit to Ware to learn how Country Bank is using its thoroughly 21st-century space — and several touches of fun that go well beyond the stray beach ball — to better position itself as an employer of choice at a time when competition is high for young talent.

Milling About

When Country Bank moved its headquarters in 2005 from Main Street to 44,000 square feet of former mill space on nearby South Street, it had options to relocate in another town, but the bank’s leaders felt it important to remain an economic engine in the community it had called home for more than 150 years.

“We looked at adding onto the main office, which was a Band-Aid approach, and then this fell in our lap,” Scully said of the former American Athletic Shoe plant, famous for its ice skates. “It was a very large employer, and had maintained the building meticulously. We have a lot of space here. You could easily say we could use half of it, but it works well for us; it allows us to have a big area for innovation and technology, and we have a whole education facility as well.”

The first renovation, to make the space suitable for bank operations, took place 13 years ago, and included those high cubicles and some decidedly unattractive color schemes and décor.

“Everything was kind of a pale yellow,” Scully said. “I started to walk around one Saturday and said, ‘this is awful. The color tones aren’t energizing. You can’t see anything. Let’s bulldoze it down and make it something where people are going to come in and say it’s is a really cool space.’

“It’s a great company, too, which is more important than being a cool space,” he was quick to add. “But you have to have those two together in order to really have it become a destination.”

As opposed to 2005, however, the latest renovation, which began around 2015, took place while people were working in the building — and often shifting around to accommodate the changes. “I moved five times in a year,” Regin said.

One of the casual meeting spaces at Country Bank, is meant to spur creative thinking in an informal setting.

“Really, the key piece was that group that moved into the first section that was done,” Scully recalled. “They were going to make it or break it for us, because if they said, ‘oh, it’s awful,’ we were doomed. Like anything else, when you say you’re going to change something, people immediately think of 1,000 reasons why it’s not going to work. It’s like Who Moved My Cheese? — ‘you’re throwing me off, you didn’t ask my input.’

But when that first group of employees settled in, they were more than satisfied. “Within the first week, they invited everybody in the building for brunch on a Friday because they were so excited about their space. We didn’t pay them for that. I think it spoke to just how much they loved it.”

The renovation stretched over two years because of the need to work around each department. In addition to the collaborative elements, the building also features a conference center with state-of-the-art multi-media equipment, an expansive IT space, and a number of small activity rooms. A gym was considered at one point, but Scully worried that it might turn into wasted space if interest waned, and besides, there’s a gym around the corner that Country didn’t want to siphon business from.

He had reservations about the central café as well, but that has proven to be a big hit. The fridge is stocked with fresh fruit all week, and Fridays feature a brunch with pastries or a yogurt bar. Then there are the Friday-morning games, like Hangman or Pictionary, that began with a few employees sneaking away from the brunch.

“We would all be hanging in the café, and one of the departments would go in a conference room and close the doors every Friday, and that wasn’t really working with me,” Scully recalled. When he found out they were using the short morning break to play games, however, “I said, ‘how about if you do that for everybody?’ They said, ‘really? We can do that?’”

Paul Scully says visitors are often surprised to see a bank based in an old mill building.

So now, employees get an e-mail telling them what that Friday’s game is, and anyone is welcome to join in. It’s as much a way to get people talking and collaborating as are the small meeting spaces decked out with couches.

“When you go into a conference room, so often people think there’s a protocol of behavior, in the way you interact with one another,” Scully said. “It’s different when you’re sitting on a couch, bouncing ideas around. That’s what we really wanted to do — have it so people can think in an innovative fashion and look at things totally differently.”

Have a Ball

If visitors and new employees are surprised by the culture being fostered inside the building, he added, the exterior can be unexpected, too.

“I had a gentleman come in last week, and I explained, ‘OK, we’re in a mill building. And you’re going to think, this can’t be it. But you’re in the right place.’ And he said to me, ‘Scully, you’ve explained to us your building before, but this is not the typical bank,’ and I said, ‘at many levels, we’re not the typical bank.’ And that’s fine with us.”

He recalled speaking with someone who had also renovated a mill some years ago. “When I explained about the beach balls, he said, ‘beach balls?’ I couldn’t decide at that time whether we had just lost his confidence in us as a bank or not. But that wasn’t the case at all. The next day, I Federal Expressed him a bunch of beach balls and got a text from him the following day saying, ‘where’s the pump?’ I have every reason to believe those beach balls are flying through the air at his office as well.”

Banking, admittedly, has a staid reputation, and it’s not necessarily a field young people get excited about, he noted. But it is an industry where the culture is changing, and banks with an ear toward what Millennials prefer — when it comes to collaboration, flexibility, and even fun — will have an edge in attracting them.

“We would all be hanging in the café, and one of the departments would go in a conference room and close the doors every Friday, and that wasn’t really working with me.”

“This isn’t about a space,” he said. “It’s about the present and the future. Clearly, my generation is the minority this building, which is great. The Scully generation can’t be the generation that dictates how we’re going to do business. We want to be able to attract young talent and then unleash them, and let them think about how to do things differently.”

In that sense, the physical space is critical, Regin said. And it’s working. “A few years ago, most of our people who worked here were very local — 20 minutes to a half-hour away — and now they’re coming an hour. When they come to this space and realize what Country Bank has to offer, they’re willing to travel that hour, or even longer.”

In a job market where banks have to compete for talent, she added, Country Bank has plenty to offer when it comes to culture. “When people walk in here and see there’s a collaborative atmosphere, that’s important. That’s what people are looking for, especially the Millennial segment — they want to be at a place where they feel valued and there’s room for growth. It’s a destination, not just a job, where they sit in their cube all day and don’t see anyone.”

Scully agreed. “It’s important to have a place where, if someone is comparing their options, hopefully they say, ‘hey we like the option of coming here.’”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

As It Marks 10 Years, Architecture EL Seeks Projects with Impact

By Joseph Bednar September 3, 2018

Architecture

Decade of Design

Kevin Shea (left, with Richard Morse) says Architecture EL built its extensive portfolio of projects largely on direct-design work.

When Kevin Shea launched his own architecture firm after almost two decades working for someone else, it wasn’t exactly a great time to start a business — particularly one in a construction-related field.

It was 2008, actually, right at the start of the Great Recession, which would significantly dry up building activity for the next few years.

“We started at the bottom, but we got lucky, and we worked hard and delivered good client service — the things you want to build on as a new business,” said Shea, who has grown his firm, Architecture EL, from a solo practice to a six-person operation. “Now were seeing some of the firms that survived and hung on — some older, respected firms — start to close up or retire, which puts us in a good spot; we’re well-established at this point, and we can take on the work and fill in the gaps.”

As the East Longmeadow-based firm celebrates its 10-year anniversary in October, Shea can look back at an eclectic blend of projects, ranging from affordable housing to municipal work; from a children’s museum to a country club.

“We started at the bottom, but we got lucky, and we worked hard and delivered good client service — the things you want to build on as a new business.”

“We have a good, diverse mix of work,” he told BusinessWest. “We’ve done some restaurant work locally; we’re looking at significant renovations to Elmcrest Country Club, which had a couple of fires last year; and we’re looking at more affordable housing and some private residential.”

For example, the E. Henry Twiggs Estates, a 75-unit affordable-housing project in the Mason Square neighborhood of Springfield, is being developed by Home City Housing. “We’ve worked through phase 1 with Home City on Twiggs, and now phase 2 is almost slated to begin at the end of the year, so that’s represented a lot of our office time lately,” he said.

Two of the residences in the E. Henry Twiggs Estates, an affordable-housing development in Springfield.

“We’ve gotten to grow with some good work in housing, especially the affordable-housing sector,” he went on, citing other upcoming work, such as a project with Community Builders, a nonprofit that has become a significant force in the affordable-housing market from Boston to New York. “We’re in the early throes of conversations to do a 70-unit multi-family renovation in Western Mass. — it’s not contracted yet, but well along in the talks. That’ll be nice.”

While developing a strong base in multi-family housing, Shea said his firm has built a diverse portfolio in other areas as well, with recent and upcoming projects including a childcare center in Monson, a fire-station addition in Hampden, and an accessibility project at Hatfield Town Hall, following more extensive design work several years ago on that town’s municipal offices.

“You never know what we’ll be up to,” said Richard Morse, a consultant at the firm — and sometimes, the work can be very outside the box. Take, for instance, a planned project to design a veterans’ memorial on North Main Street in East Longmeadow, in front of the Pleasant View Senior Center, a stone’s throw Route 83 from Architecture EL’s office.

“That’s a relatively modest commission in terms of dollars, but it’s important to us here in East Longmeadow,” Shea said. “A veterans group came to us; they have an agreement for a piece of land in the front yard of the senior center, so we’re in the early stages of a design project for a memorial.”

Morse noted that the project is in the fund-raising stages, but there have already been conversations about what it will look like.

“They came to us with a shopping list, and we’re bringing to it a sense of space and respect and contemplation — and we have to do that in front of a building along a busy street,” Shea said. “We don’t just want to build a chunk of stone; we want to create a space where people come and reflect. That’s one that we’re really honored to have a chance to with these veterans. It’s a nice project, and we’re happy to be doing it close to home, right here in town.”

Unrolling the Future

Shea has always wanted to be an architect, having told the story on occasion of seeing old blueprints lying around his house as a child and being fascinated by what they represented. Architecture ended up fitting his personality, with its blend of hands-on and creative work, mechanical and artistic skills.

So after graduating from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, he took a job with a small architecture firm for 18 years before deciding in 2008 to strike out on his own.

Architecture EL — the acronym stands for Environment Life — was built on the idea of direct design. It’s more common than ever, in fact, to partner with owners and contractors in the design and construction of a building, whereas, decades ago, those elements were far more often bid separately.

The firm’s recent projects include restaurants, affordable housing, municipal facilities, and many others.

“I think the trend is toward more hands-on work, more design-build, more working with the trades in the field,” he said. “We see a little of the traditional drawing on spec and bidding to three or five contractors. But we see more of the construction-management side of things, where a developer wants to partner with us and a favorite contractor or builder and basically pull together architects, engineers, and contractors to get an efficient, affordable team.”

That has always been his preferred model, he added. “The nice thing is, you usually get to the point pretty quickly. The contractor is at the table, and you can move from design to construction pretty efficiently.”

With friendly cooperation among all parties, Morse said, “we can be the bridge between the client and the contractor because that gets kind of lopsided without our involvement. We’re able to have dialogue with the builder and come up with ways to control cost and schedule.”

The ‘EL’ in the company’s name doesn’t stand for East Longmeadow, as some may assume, but, as noted earlier, for Environment Life, concepts reflected in the types of work Shea takes on. Green building was on the rise when Architecture EL was born, but it’s become in many ways standard practice, reflected in both customer demands and Massachusetts building codes.

But Shea said he’s not interested in the bare minimum. “On the environmental side, we keep digging further into energy and good design, to deliver not just code compliance but a healthy, safe, well-constructed building. That piece never goes away.”

The ‘life’ piece is a more general idea, but it gets into the whole experience of a space and the specific ways it will benefit the lives of those who live in and use it, whether it’s residents benefiting from affordable housing; the kids who will benefit from an accessibility-improvement project at the Wilbraham Children’s Museum; or the employees of Marcotte Ford who work in that company’s commercial truck center, built in 2015, or its new headquarters, which opens this month.

“We don’t specialize in custom, single-family residential, but it seems that those who end up here need someone to help solve a problem. A lot of times, they have a house, a budget, a program, and can’t figure out how to put it all together.”

“Even a private residential project, that’s very intimate for the client,” Morse said. “You’re designing space where they’ll spend a good portion of their lives, so that always makes our work interesting and impactful.”

Shea agreed. “We don’t specialize in custom, single-family residential, but it seems that those who end up here need someone to help solve a problem. A lot of times, they have a house, a budget, a program, and can’t figure out how to put it all together. It’s nice to work with those people. Those projects can be fun.”

Answer Man

Whether designing a municipal project, a place of business, or a home — or a multi-home development — Shea has never stopped seeing his role as focusing on a client’s environment and life, and coming up with solutions that enhance both.

“We’ve been busy for quite a while, and we seem to be staying busy. Clearly the economy is moving along,” he noted. “We’ve seen a lot of smaller single-family projects creeping up, three or four at a time. These are people who aren’t just hiring a contractor, they want to make sure they get to a good solution. People are looking to invest in the design time up front.”

Morse said the team is cautiously optimistic that the good times will persist.

“We’ve been lucky, and we’ve been busy,” Shea added. “We’ve been growing steadily, though we’re not looking to grow too much. We just want to keep working hard for our clients. That’s what keeps them coming back.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Financial, Physical, and Educational Improvement Is in the Palm of Your Hand

By Joseph Bednar September 3, 2018

Technology

Better Living Through Apps

Today’s smartphone apps are countless, with uses ranging from entertainment to enrichment. In the latter category, apps help users manage their personal finance, improve their fitness, and give their brains a workout. With that in mind, here are some of the more popular and well-reviewed apps available today.

It’s hard to imagine, but there was a time when everyone couldn’t access virtually all the world’s information in their hand at a moment’s notice. Besides the accumulated knowledge available on a smartphone, myriad apps are available to help users with a wide range of tasks, from managing their finances to tracking their fitness goals to getting an education in various topics.

For this year’s roundup of what’s hot in technology, BusinessWest checks in on what the tech press is saying about some of the most popular smartphone apps.

Money Matters

Smartphones have put a world of personal finance in people’s hands. For example, Intuit’s Mint gives users a real-time look into all their finances, from bank accounts and credit cards to student loans and 401(k) accounts. The budgeting app has attracted more than 20 million users, and it’s easy to see why, says NerdWallet, which identifies the popular service as one of the best budgeting and saving tools available.

“The free app automatically syncs to bank, credit card and investment accounts, pulling data with little effort on the part of the user, and provides free credit-score information. It’s a tool for reluctant budgeters — many people fall into that category, and they’ll be happy keeping tabs on their spending with this service.”

As its name notes, You Need a Budget, or YNAB, “makes no bones about the fact you need to manage your money rather than the other way around,” according to PC World, noting that the popular program, which started life more than a decade ago as manual-input desktop software, is now a subscription-based web app that can sync with users’ financial accounts.

“YNAB includes customizable reports that break down your income and expenses by category, account, and time frame,” the publication explains. “Its greatest strength, however, is its huge community of devout users who freely share their tips on the app as well as the larger enterprise of personal budgeting. The home site is also rich with support resources ranging from help docs to weekly videos to podcasts, all with the aim of helping you get and keep your finances in order.”

For people who find it difficult to track their expenses while trying to reach their savings goals, Wally might be able to help, by giving users a total view of their finances.

“Wally’s interface is simple and easy to navigate, which makes setting your budget and entering expenses a breeze. The app delivers plenty of features without crowding the screen,” Bankrate notes, adding, however, that “what you put into Wally is what you get out of it. The app makes it simple to track your expenses in the hope that you’ll stick to your budget and reach your goals, but it largely depends on the user being diligent in uploading every expense. If you can do that, Wally will be a tremendous aid in helping you reach your savings goals.”

Finally, Acorns is modernizing the old-school practice of saving loose change, rounding up the user’s purchases on linked credit or debit cards, then sweeping the change into a computer-managed investment portfolio.

“Acorns goes after its target market — young, would-be investors who have little money to invest — by waiving management fees for up to four years. College students are ripe for this kind of service and could wind up with a nice little pot of money after four years of rounding up,” Nerdwallet says. “We’re behind any tool that encourages mindless, automatic saving. If you don’t have to think about saving, you’re more likely to do it.”

No Pain, No Gain

What if physical wellness tops one’s priority list? No fear — there are countless apps for that, too, providing users with information on what they’re eating, how to exercise, and how to stay committed to better habits.

One of the most popular nutrition apps is MyFitnessPal, which offers a wealth of tools for tracking what and how much the user eats, and how many calories they burn through activity, explains PC Magazine. “Of all the calorie counters I’ve used, MyFitnessPal is by far the easiest one to manage, and it comes with the largest database of foods and drinks. With the MyFitnessPal app, you can fastidiously watch what you eat 24/7, no matter where you are.”

Added BuiltLean, “MyFitnessPal is not a one-size-fits-all app. Personal diet profiles can be changed to fit a person’s specific needs, whether they are on a strict diet or have certain recommendations from their doctor or dietitian. The program calculates caloric need based on height, weight, gender, and lifestyle.”

Seven-minute workout challenges have become popular for their ease of use, and the 7 Minute Fitness Challenge app is among the more popular apps promoting this activity.

“I like that the video instructions are led by both male and female trainers, and they do a great job guiding you through each exercise via video, audio, image and text,” notes a review in USA Today. “When you upgrade to the paid version, you can also track your weight and visualize your progress, which might help you stay motivated. It also shows a calendar of all of your workouts and lets you see them at a glance. I’ve had this app for three years now, and they do a great job of updating it regularly to add new exercises and respond to user requests.”

Strong offers many features found in scores of other apps — creating custom routines, logging workouts, and tracking weight over time — but does some things that are particularly useful, according to the Verge.

“Each time I start a new workout for my arms or legs, Strong notes how much I lifted the previous workout. It does so automatically, and it’s amazing how such a simple thing has had such a powerful effect on me,” the reviewer notes. “Bumping that number up over time has become a game to me, and it’s pushed me to gently ramp up the difficulty level on my exercise more than anything I’ve tried short of a personal trainer. The first time I successfully did 40 push-ups, I could scarcely believe it. Previous apps I used required me to update my routines manually; automating that has made all the difference.”

What about emotional wellness? There are plenty of meditation apps available for that. For example, “the moment you open the Calm app, you might feel a sense of … calm. Relaxing sounds of falling rain play automatically in the background, but you could also opt to be greeted by a crackling fireplace, crickets, or something called ‘celestial white noise,’” according to Mindful.

The relaxation continues with Calm’s free meditations — 16 in total, lasting from three to 30 minutes. “Like many other apps, you can set a timer for silent meditation or meditate to intermittent bells,” the site notes. “For nighttime relaxation, Calm features four free ‘sleep stories’ — bedtime stories for adults on everything from science fiction to scenic landscapes to help you transition into slumber.”

App-lied Learning

Countless popular apps focus on education and learning for all ages. For kids, the Children’s MD blog recommends Khan Academy, which collaborates with the U.S. Department of Education and myriad public and private educational institutions to provide a free, world-class education for anyone.

“It’s incredibly easy to use, there are no ads, and it’s appropriate for any school-aged child that knows how to read,” the blog reports, noting that Khan Academy started as a math-learning site but has expanded to many other subjects, from art history to economics. “My kids will spend hours looking at computer-science projects that other kids have shared and incorporating ideas into their own programs. The Khan platform combines educational videos with practice problems and project assignments.”

Meanwhile, Brainscape promises to help students learn more effective ways to study with their classmates, while helping teachers track and create better study habits for students. “This app is a very effective way of using and creating flashcards in a digital manner,” Education World notes. “It’s not much different in terms of creating flashcards and learning from them; however, one cool feature is the ability to set up study reminders, which slightly deters you from procrastination.”

However, the publication notes, the paid content “is a bit of a turnoff from the app, but not to worry — it makes up for it with the ability to create your own digital flashcards. Once the cards are created, you can go through the questions and guess the answer before revealing it, just like normal flashcards.”

Meanwhile, Photomath focuses on, well, math, and does it well, Digital Trends reports. “For high-school students who just need a bit more guidance on how to isolate ‘x’ in their algebra homework, Photomath is essentially your math buddy that can instantly solve and explain every answer. Simply snap a photo of the question (you can also write or type), and the app will break down the solution into separate steps with helpful play-by-play, so that you can apply the same principles to the rest of your homework.”

For older students and adults, The Great Courses is one of the more venerable services out there, created by the Teaching Company during the 1990s with the goal of gathering educational lectures on a video format.

“What helped the Teaching Company to grow more and more famous is their strong ethic toward a lifelong learning, meaning that, for them, learning is not only a short-term journey with an end, but more of a lifelong adventure during which anyone should keep gathering knowledge,” Gria.org notes. “Users have access to an entire online digital video library, but they also get other supports, such as CDs and DVDs or hard-copy materials such as workbooks and guidebooks.”

In short, whatever you’re looking to improve in your life, as the famous ad slogan notes, there’s an app for that.

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Lenox Looks to Further Boost Quality of Life

By Joseph Bednar September 3, 2018

Community Spotlight

The former Cranwell Spa & Golf Resort is undergoing a $60 million renovation and expansion by the Miraval Group.

As its town manager, Christopher Ketchen is certainly bullish on Lenox.

“If you’re moving to the Berkshires, Lenox has clearly got to be on your radar for many reasons,” he told BusinessWest, adding that he’s one of the more recent converts. “I made the move here myself from the Boston area four years ago. I’m originally from Alford, and when I moved back to this area, I chose to live in Lenox.”

Lenox may be known mainly — and deservedly — for its cultural and recreational attractions, from Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, to Shakespeare & Co., to the town’s collection of rustic inns and bed and breakfasts.

But a different sort of economic energy has been bubbling up in recent years, from the small businesses, hotels, and motels springing up along the Route 7 corridor to an ongoing, $60 million expansion and renovation at the former Cranwell Spa & Golf Resort. The Miraval Group, a subsidiary of Hyatt Hotels, purchased the property in 2016 for $22 million and plans to transform it into a high-end wellness resort.

Then there’s the new Courtyard by Marriott, which opened last year and features 92 rooms with panoramic views, an indoor pool, a large patio with firepits, a restaurant, and a 12,000-square-foot event space. Meanwhile, the 112-room Travaasa Experimental Resort at Elm Court, which straddles the Lenox and Strockbridge line, is moving forward as well.

Other projects in recent years include the relocation of Morrison’s Home Improvement Specialists Inc. from Pittsfield and its adaptive reuse of a blighted building that had been vacant for 10 years, an apartment conversion at the Walker Street Residences by the Allegrone Companies, and the construction of Allegrone’s headquarters and co-working office space using green design and technology in a building on Route 7.

Chris Ketchen says Lenox is a draw because of its schools, healthy finances, cultural offerings, and a host of other factors.

“The hospitality industry is probably the biggest economic driver locally,” Ketchen told BusinessWest. “Miravar, the Cranwell development, is still in progress, Elm Court is still in progress, Marriott is up and running. As far as new projects coming in the door, there’s nothing else on that scale today, but that could change tomorrow.”

Moving On Up

In some ways, Lenox doesn’t need the kind of business growth other towns and cities do, because its strengths have long lay in both tourism for visitors and quality of life for residents.

“The town has gotten a fair amount of regional and national recognition in recent years for the schools and for the town’s financial practices,” Ketchen said, noting that Lenox is just one of two Massachusetts municipalities west of the Connecticut River whose finances have AAA ratings from Standard & Poor’s, the other being Great Barrington.

Meanwhile, “our schools are knocking it out of the park year after year in terms of their recognition at both the federal Department of Education and various statewide rankings. The high school ranked number four by U.S. News & World Report, the annual benchmark rating a lot of districts measure themselves by, so a very attractive place for families to locate and make a home.”

Lenox at a glance:

Year Incorporated: 1767
Population: 5,025
<strong>Area: 21.7 square miles
County: Berkshire
Residential Tax Rate: $12.14
Commercial Tax Rate: $14.98
Median Household Income: $85,581
Median Family Income: $111,413
Type of Government: Board of Selectmen, Open Town Meeting
Largest Employers: Canyon Ranch, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Kimball Farms

* Latest information available

Not wanting to rest on its laurels, Lenox residents recently approved an appropriation to work with regional agencies to update the town’s comprehensive master plan. “The Planning Board is undertaking that as we speak,” Ketchen said, “and we’ve created a housing production plan through the affordable housing committee, so we’re tackling those issues in a thoughtful way moving forward.”

The state seeks 10% of housing units in any town to be affordable, but in Lenox, the current level is just over 7%, based on the 2010 Census.

The town has also been undertaking significant infrastructure improvements in recent years, the latest announcement being a $9 million, federally funded widening and improvement of a stretch of Walker Street, in addition to water and sewer improvements there.

“We’ve been investing heavily in infrastructure through aggressive capital-improvement programs,” Ketchen said.

To address an aging population — the median age of residents is 51, reflecting a trend in other towns in the Berkshires — town officials created a first-time-homebuyers program in 2016 in partnership with four banks that offers up to $10,000 in down payments to qualified applicants. They also changed zoning requirements to make it easier to build new apartments and condominiums or convert older housing stock into appealing residences, as well as adopting a Complete Streets policy that will make the town eligible for state funds to improve connectivity for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Meanwhile, to address a dearth of of market-rate apartments in Lenox, Allegrone Companies completed a renovation last year of the 1804 William Walker House, transforming it into eight market-rate apartments.

The Whole Package

To encourage companies to move to Lenox or expand, town officials have been focused on a five-year open-space plan that was adopted several years ago.

“With our proximity to employment centers in Pittsfield and also Springfield and Albany, there are options for workers who want to make Lenox their home.”

“We have an open-space and recreation plan that was really well-conceived by the Conway School in conjunction with our Land Use Department, and we’re a few years into executing that plan to preserve open space,” Ketchen said, noting projects like a major improvement to Lenox Town Beach at Laurel Lake last year. In addition, the Berkshire Natural Resources Council, the regional land trust, has been working to develop a regional trail network with a long section passing through Lenox.

Add it all up, Ketchen said, and this town of just over 5,000 residents has plenty to offer.

“With our proximity to employment centers in Pittsfield and also Springfield and Albany, there are options for workers who want to make Lenox their home — and it’s a wonderful place to make a home,” he told BusinessWest. “The town is well-managed financially. We have outstanding schools, libraries, and community center. For a town of our size, we’re providing a lot of services for residents of all ages. Our public-safety and public-works operations are some of the best in the business.”

He added that the town’s tax rates are low — $12.14 for residents and $14.98 for businesses — and relatively stable from year to year.

“Couple that with the employment opportunities and the outstanding municipal and educational programs, the arts and cultural amenities of the region, and the recreational opportunities — put that together, and you have a very attractive package.”

Joseph Bednar can be reached at [email protected]

Future Tense: Third Installment of Series Focuses on Changes in the Workplace

By George O'Brien September 3, 2018

Features

Jim Barrett was talking about the future of work, market disrupters, and, more specifically, the skills that employees will need in the future. And to get his points across, he repeatedly referenced the F-35 stealth fighter jet recently introduced into service by the Air Force, Navy, and Marines.

“The pilot has a helmet that is custom-sculpted to their head,” Barrett, managing partner of the Holyoke-based accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, explained. “They put the visor down, and they see, through cameras, 360 degrees around the plane. They’re not really using their vision anymore; they’re looking straight ahead and seeing the screen in front of them.

“Years ago, when these planes touched down, people would run out to the tarmac and say, ‘how much fuel do you need? How much ammunition do you need? Is there anything wrong?’ And they’d do all the tests,” he went on. “This new jet actually has the ability to send back information to the base about how much fuel it’s used, how much ammunition it’s used; it does a self-diagnosis of what it needs such that, when the pilot touches down on the deck, there are people already lined up with the exact parts it needs and the exact amount of ammunition. They eliminated all the time and people it took to gather all that information.”

The moral to that story? Essentially, the same thing is happening in the workplace, said Barrett, adding that, in the future — and even now, for that matter — people will need a different set of skills to succeed in the workplace.

Using his sector, financial services, as an example, he said that, years ago, people would spend large chunks of time gathering and analyzing data. “Now, machines are going to do that for you,” he went on. “So you’ll need people who can make determinations about what data is relevant, because the data is already going to gathered and analyzed.”

Barrett will get into much greater detail about all this at the third installment of BusinessWest’s Future Tense series, created to help business owners understand the future and be better prepared for it, on Sept. 20.

Fast Facts:

What: Future Tense lecture series, the third installment
When: Sept. 20, starting at 8 a.m.
Where: Tech Foundry, 1391 Main St., Springfield, 9th floor
For More Information: Call (413) 781-8600
To Register: Visit businesswest.com/lecture-series

He will be joined by Mark Borsari, president of wire-brush manufacturing firm Sanderson MacLeod, who will discuss change and innovation through lean concepts and focus on resulting cultural considerations and the broad impact on competitiveness.

Barrett and Borsari will wrap up the series, which has drawn a wide range of business owners and managers to Tech Foundry’s facilities to hear about arguably the most vexing topic in business — the future.

In the first installment, Delcie Bean, founder of Paragus Strategic IT, talked about how technology — in such forms as artificial intelligence, driverless cars, and 3-D printing, will change not only the workplace, but society as a whole. In the second installment, wealth-management advisor Amy Jamrog presented a program titled “What Got You Here Might Not Get You There: Mistakes Business Owners Make Before and After Retirement.”

The third installment will have many focus points, said Barrett, but especially the market forces and market disrupters that will shape his sector, but also all industries.

And, as noted earlier, to succeed, people will need a different skill set.

“It’s not analyzing the data as much as determining what to do with it,” he explained. “It’s about making better decisions with the date you have, as opposed to gathering and analyzing it.”

The program will begin at 8 a.m. with registration and a continental breakfast. There will be then be remarks from sponsors — Paragus and the Jamrog Group — followed by the presentation and a discussion. Tickets are $25 each, with the proceeds going to Tech Foundry.

For more information, call (413) 781-8600. To register, visit businesswest.com/lecture-series.

Freedom Credit Union to Merge with WSFCU

By Columnist September 3, 2018

Banking and Financial Services

Expanding the Footprint

Glenn Welch

Although many Freedom Credit Union members have ties to West Springfield, Glenn Welch said, the institution has never had a physical branch there.

But that will soon change, following the announcement that Freedom has agreed to a merger with West Springfield Federal Credit Union (WSFCU), bringing the West Side institution under the Freedom umbrella.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to extend our products and services to West Springfield, an area where we do not have a branch but where many of our members live and work,” said Welch, Freedom’s president and CEO. “We promise our members accessibility to us, whether it’s at a branch location or through mobile banking. This merger delivers on that promise.”

Freedom, which is headquartered in Springfield and serves members in the four counties of Western Mass. with 10 branches, was originally chartered as the Western Massachusetts Telephone Workers Credit Union in 1922 and renamed in 2004. It currently has $491 million in assets with 28,000 members who live, work, or attend school in Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, or Berkshire county.

West Springfield Federal Credit Union, which was initially chartered in 1960 as the West Springfield Municipal Employees Credit Union before its name change in 2003, has nearly 3,000 members and more than $29 million in assets.

Welch noted that WSFCU members will have access to many new products and services, including member business lending, use of 55,000 surcharge-free ATMs across the worldwide Allpoint Network, and robust mobile-banking products and services. All employees of WSFCU will become part of the Freedom Credit Union family. The West Springfield Federal Credit Union location will remain open at 58 Union St. and conduct business as Freedom Credit Union.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to extend our products and services to West Springfield, an area where we do not have a branch but where many of our members live and work. We promise our members accessibility to us, whether it’s at a branch or through mobile banking.”

“The additional products, services, and opportunities available to both our members and the employees who serve them is a win-win proposition,” said Ann Manchino, manager of West Springfield Federal Credit Union. “We are excited for a new chapter in our history and to be part of the Freedom Credit Union family.”

The merger will require regulatory and member approvals, and is anticipated to be complete by the end of 2018.

Pending regulatory approval, Freedom Credit Union will have 11 total branches, including three offices in Springfield and locations in Feeding Hills, Ludlow, Chicopee, Easthampton, Northampton, Turners Falls, and Greenfield.

Credit unions are cooperative financial institutions owned by their members. As a not-for-profit organization, Welch noted, Freedom Credit Union returns its profits to its members in the form of high rates on deposit accounts, low rates on loans, and low or no fees for its services.

Celebrating Some True Heroes

By Editorial September 3, 2018

Opinion

Editorial

With MGM Springfield dominating the 24-hour news cycle like nothing that came before it in local business history, it’s sometimes easy to momentarily forget about all the other positive, even transformational things going on within the local economy.

We said ‘momentarily,’ because this issue should help readers put the new casino aside for just a moment and appreciate, again, the depth and diversity of the region’s economy and all it takes to make this region as special as it is.

Specifically, we’re talking about the Healthcare Heroes for 2018. And there’s plenty to talk about.

Healthcare Heroes is a recognition program created by BusinessWest and its sister publication, the Healthcare News, and launched last year to shine a bright spotlight on a sector that is sometimes overlooked. Indeed, BusinessWest has other recognition programs — Forty Under 40 and Difference Makers — but, historically, those working within the broad realm of health and wellness have not been well-represented by those programs, making it clear that something distinct for that sector was needed.

One of the goals with Healthcare Heroes was to create a vehicle for relaying some of the many amazing stories taking place within this industry, stories that convey energy, compassion, innovation, forward thinking, and, above all, passion — for finding ways to improve quality of life for those that these people and agencies touch every day.

It was that way in 2017 with the inaugural class of Heroes, and it’s the same this year with the winners of seven carefully crafted categories. The stories are many things, but most of all, they’re inspiring, which was yet another goal of this program. Each story is different, but the common denominator is the passion brought to what they do.

That’s what Mary Paquette brings to her role as director of Health Services at American International College. She has completely transformed that service, once one of the lowest-rated in surveys of students, into one of the highest.

It’s also what Celeste Surreira, winner in the ‘administration’ category, brings to the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke every day. She’s spent most of her long career in healthcare working the emergency room, but made this dramatic career shift because it represented a chance to be on the front lines dealing with the larger issues emerging in healthcare today.

And it’s what Dr. Matthew Sadof has brought to his pediatric practice for decades now. A passionate advocate for the underserved and the marginalized, he has dedicated his career to healing patients and — through his work with the Community Asthma Coalition and other initiatives — making the Springfield community a better, healthier one.

Peter DePergola II is the Hero in the Emerging Leader category, and fittingly so. He has emerged as not only a leader but a true pioneer in the field of bioethics. There are many facets to his work, especially those incredibly hard talks he must have with patients, families, and healthcare providers about end-of-life issues.

Speaking of pioneers, that term also applies to Robert Fazzi. He likes to say he’s spent his entire career — nearly a half-century of work — in the ‘helping professions,’ culminating in his work with company, which, for 40 years, has been on the cutting edge of developments in the home-care and hospice sectors.

That phrase cutting-edge also applies to the winner in the Innovation category, TechSpring. Launched more than three years ago, this venture, in the words of its co-founder Christian Lagier, exists at the intersection of healthcare and technology, and has forged unique collaborative efforts between innovators, healthcare providers, and even patients to bring new developments to the market.

Lastly, in the category called Collaboration in Health/Wellness, a large, powerful collaboration led by the Western Mass. Training Consortium and the Opioid Task Force of Franklin County and the North Quabbin Region has been changing — and saving — lives through a host of innovative initiatives.

Together, and also individually, these stories are powerful — powerful enough to take your eyes off the new casino for a minute and understand just some of the many other awesome things taking place in this region.

A Step Forward in Opioid-abuse Fight

By Columnist September 3, 2018

Opinion

By Cheryl Fasano

Last year alone, drug overdoses killed 72,000 Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that record number reflects a 10% increase from the year before. In Massachusetts alone, there were more than 2,000 deaths due to overdose in 2017. It’s an epidemic that we, as a community, must fight.

Gov. Charlie Baker recently signed into law new legislation that expands opioid-addiction treatment in Massachusetts. The new law has been described as “the most aggressive and progressive” in the country, and, given the crisis of opioid abuse in the Bay State, this approach is most welcome.

One aspect of the law that Mental Health Associates (MHA) believes deserves special recognition is a new set of standards and an established credentialing process for recovery coaches. A recovery coach is someone who has received specialized training to provide guidance and support for people who are just beginning their recovery and are especially vulnerable to relapse. Importantly, a recovery coach also has lived experience with addiction and is in long-term recovery.

When it comes to getting clean and staying clean, a recovery coach has ‘been there’ and ‘gets it’ in a way only someone who has experienced addiction understands. A recovery coach is a critical resource for an individual in recovery.

“You’ve got to find some way to help people stay in the game and stay clean once they get clean,” Baker said. “Creating a credentialing framework and making it possible for services to be reimbursed [by insurance] is a huge part of how we ultimately win this fight.”

MHA applauds the governor and state Legislature on the passage of this crucial new legislation. It makes us even more hopeful for the people we are helping through our recovery-support programs, which, for years, have included the very type of recovery coaches state law now recognizes and standardizes with regard to training and credentialing. The law’s provisions should help make the services of a peer recovery coach available to more people struggling to overcome their addiction.

So, overall this is great news, but it doesn’t mean we are in the clear. To win the war against opioid addiction, we must fight every battle relentlessly. We must improve education so people of all ages understand the life-threatening risks involved with opioids.

We must help people struggling with addiction to get the help they need to get clean and stay on their road of recovery. By working collaboratively, we can challenge the opioid epidemic and prevail — but we can’t let up.

Cheryl Fasano is president and CEO of Mental Health Associates.

Income-tax Benefits from Charitable Contributions after the TCJA

By Columnist September 3, 2018

Banking and Financial Services

Giving Some Insight

By Terri Judycki

Terri Judycki, CPA, MST

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has resulted in many changes for taxpayers. One area in particular is charitable giving.

For those who regularly make charitable contributions, changing philanthropic giving habits may result in greater tax benefits. This article will explore various strategies for maximizing the tax benefit of charitable giving under the new law.

The TCJA increases the standard deduction to $12,000 for a single taxpayer and $24,000 for a married couple filing a joint tax return. In addition, the itemized deduction for taxes has been capped at $10,000 for all combined state and local tax payments. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that these changes will reduce the number of taxpayers who itemize deductions by more than half.

To maximize the benefit of the higher standard deduction, consider bunching charitable contributions in alternating years. For example, if a married couple with no mortgage ordinarily gives $12,000 to charity each year, they will likely take advantage of the $24,000 standard deduction ($12,000 to charity plus $10,000 in state and local states is less than the $24,000 standard deduction). If, instead, they give $24,000 every other year, they will use the $24,000 standard deduction in the ‘off’ year and $34,000 in itemized deductions in the year with the gifts ($24,000 charitable contributions plus $10,000 state and local taxes), resulting in lower taxable income without any increase in cash expenditures.

From the charity’s perspective, though, this could leave some budget challenges.

Another way to bunch deductions without bunching the charities’ income is through the use of a donor-advised fund (DAF). DAFs are funds controlled by 501(c)(3) organizations in which the person establishing the fund has advisory privileges as to the ultimate distribution to charities.

In our example above, the married couple might establish a DAF with $24,000 in one year and direct or ‘advise’ that donations be made to specific charities over time. Amounts used to establish the DAF are deductible charitable contributions when transferred to the sponsoring organization.

“For those who regularly make charitable contributions, changing philanthropic giving habits may result in greater tax benefits.”

Whether the idea of bunching appeals to you or not, don’t overlook the benefits of gifting appreciated stock to charity. The stock must have been held for more than a year to take advantage of this planning opportunity. The charitable deduction is the fair market value on the date gifted. Gifting the stock instead of cash avoids income tax on the appreciation.

For example, if a taxpayer wants to make a gift of $10,000 to a charity and sells stock worth $10,000 for which he paid $7,000, he would have a $10,000 deduction and $3,000 taxable gain. If, instead, he directs his broker to transfer the stock to the charity, he is still entitled to a $10,000 deduction, but does not report the $3,000 gain.

Finally, taxpayers age 70½ or older have another option available. An individual who is 70½ or older on the transfer date can direct the trustee of his IRA to distribute directly to a qualified public charity. The distribution is called a qualified charitable distribution (QCD). The amount transferred counts as a distribution for purposes of meeting the minimum distribution requirement but is not included in the taxpayer’s income.

There are a few requirements. The charity cannot be a private foundation or a donor-advised fund. No more than $100,000 can be donated by an account owner each year. The gift to the charity must be one that would have been entirely deductible if made from the taxpayer’s other assets — for example, the donor should obtain adequate substantiation from the charity, and the donation should not be one that entitles the donor to attend a dinner, play golf, or receive any other benefit.

In our example above, the couple who makes a QCD from IRAs for the $12,000 each year reduces taxable income by $12,000 and still uses the standard deduction.

Another possible advantage is the effect the reduction may have on other taxable items. Depending on the taxpayer’s total income, reducing adjusted gross income could result in reduction of the amount of Social Security benefits that are taxed, an allowed loss from certain real-estate rentals, or a reduction in the net investment income tax (if the amount of excess AGI exceeds the net investment income).

Reducing income may also result in lower Medicare premiums that are based on income for higher-income taxpayers. In addition, some states do not provide deductions for charitable donations, but do follow the federal treatment of excluding the QCD from income.

These changes may result in tax savings that could be used to make an even larger donation to a favorite charity.

Terri Judycki is a senior tax manager with the Holyoke-based public accounting firm Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.; (413) 322-3510; [email protected]

Picture This

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

Picture This

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

Investing in People

MHA’s Leadership Series, which is open to all members of management in the mental-health agency, delivers a leadership curriculum specialized for human-services professionals. The comprehensive training is designed to support supervisors and directors within their roles. Twenty-six supervisors recently graduated from MHA’s Leadership Series 2018. A second Leadership Series is scheduled for the winter of 2019. “Employee training is essential to the success of any organization. Supervisor training and development can have a profound effect on employee retention, as well as recruitment,” said Cheryl Fasano, MHA president and CEO. “The investment MHA has made in our Leadership Series will benefit the organization for the long run. Investing in our most important resources, our human resources, is a priority.”

Court Dockets

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

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 DISTRICT COURT
Bottling Group, LLC d/b/a Pepsi Beverages Co. v. Silon Corp. d/b/a Little Caesar’s and Khalid Drihmi
Allegation: Breach of contract: $5,285.62
Filed: 8/6/18

Matthew Katz, D.M.D. v. Richard T. Miller
Allegation: Breach of contract, unfair and deceptive act: $5,000
Filed: 8/21/18

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Joseph Vass v. Fuel Services Inc.
Allegation: Negligence, breach of warranty: $73,691
Filed: 7/24/18

Custom Eco Friendly, LLC d/b/a Direct Green Bags v. Definery, LLC
Allegation: Money owed for goods sold and delivered: $33,659
Filed: 7/31/18

Harry Mills v. McDonald’s Corp.
Allegation: Negligence; slip and fall causing personal injury: $152,099.25
Filed: 8/2/18

John A. Crafts v. CSX Transportation Inc.
Allegation: Negligence causing personal injury: $71,024
Filed: 8/2/18

Charlaine and Robert Howlick v. Mohamed Hamdani, M.D. and New England Surgical Group, LLP
Allegation: Medical malpractice: $982,000
Filed: 8/6/18

Karla Garcia v. Habit Opco Inc., Habit Opco LLC, Acadia Healthcare Co. Inc., Jessica Fortier-Goss, and Gary Frankoski
Allegation: Employment discrimination: $25,000+
Filed: 8/11/18

Maria Rogers v. Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. and Alija Guster
Allegation: Motor-vehicle negligence causing personal injury: $34,522.62
Filed: 8/14/18

Donna M. Robichaud, personal representative of the estate of Carlo L. Russo v. Loomis Senior Living d/b/a Loomis Lakeside at Reed’s Landing, Loomis Communities Inc. d/b/a Loomis Corporate Management, and Mary Meffen
Allegation: Wrongful death: $500,000+
Filed: 8/14/18

Carol Chapdelaine v. Aspen Dental and Patrick Dermesropian, DDS/Patrick Dermesropian, LLC
Allegation: Dental malpractice: $45,030+
Filed: 8/15/18

Noreen Mazza Plourd v. Walmart Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores East, LP
Allegation: Negligence; slip and fall causing injury: $50,000
Filed: 8/16/18

Agenda

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

Agenda

Family Business Center Dinner Forum

Sept. 12: The next dinner forum of the Family Business Center of Pioneer Valley will be held at the Delaney House in Holyoke, and the main presenter is Robert Frank, professor of Management and Economics at Cornell University. Frank will discuss how the field of behavioral economics helps business owners (and all humans) understand our irrational decisions, behaviors that run counter to our own interests, and what we can do about it. Owners and managers who are members or interested in a closer look may contact Ira Bryck at (413) 835-0810, or learn more at fambizpv.com.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Sept. 13: The abundance of recent high-profile sexual-harassment complaints has completely changed the public perception of this persistent problem. Sexual harassment is no longer a silent epidemic which is by and large being ignored. Posts stating the phrase ‘#metoo’ have created camaraderie among individuals who are choosing to speak up and stand up. However, despite the nation’s growing awareness about the prevalence of sexual harassment, as business owners and human-resources professionals, the problem probably isn’t all that surprising. Clearly, the perfunctory sexual-harassment policies and bland pro forma sexual-harassment trainings are not working. As business leaders, we need to approach sexual harassment in the workplace from a new perspective. You’re invited to join a roundtable discussion on how we can profoundly change our approach to sexual harassment in the workplace. The event will take place from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Royal, P.C., 270 Pleasant St., Northampton. Advance registration is required, and seating will be limited. The cost is $30 per person. Mail your payment and make your check payable to Royal, P.C., 270 Pleasant St., Northampton, MA 01060.  E-mail Heather Loges at [email protected] to register or if you have any questions about this workshop.

‘The Basics of Starting a Business’

Sept. 17: The Mass. Small Business Development Center Network’s Western regional office will offer a free workshop, “The Basics of Starting a Business,” four times this fall. Presented by Allen Kronick, senior business advisor with the MSBDCN’s Western Mass. office, will focus on business fundamentals, from startup considerations to business-plan development to funding sources. It is designed for owners of existing businesses as well as those who are planning to start one. Oresta Varela, Springfield brand manager of the U.S. Small Business Administration, will also present “SBA Advantage,” an overview of the SBA’s programs and services. The program will be presented on Sept. 17, Oct. 1, Nov. 5, and Dec. 3 in the STCC Technology Park, Scibelli Enterprise Center, Building 101, third floor. Pre-registration is required; register at www.msbdc.org/wmass/training.

No Kid Hungry Golf Tournament

Sept. 17: The sad reality is that one in six kids in the U.S. goes hungry every day. No Kid Hungry is a national nonprofit organization created to alter that reality. Through its fundraising efforts, No Kid Hungry supports school breakfast programs, after-school meal programs, summer meal programs, and food-skills education programs to help parents sustain nutrition efforts. Each dollar raised by No Kid Hungry provides 10 meals to at-risk children and supports education programs for parents. No Kid Hungry Golf, a local affiliate, will sponsor a golf tournament at Longmeadow Country Club to raise money to help feed these hungry kids. A number of businesses and organizations have already joined the effort as sponsors. Participants can register to golf, be a sponsor or donor, or come to the cocktail hour/dinner and auction. For more information or to register, visit www.nokidhungrygolf.com or contact Dr. Fred Kadushin at [email protected] or (413) 893-9677.

Future Tense Lecture

Sept. 20: The third installment of the BusinessWest lecture series Future Tense, titled “Change Considerations: An Examination of Lean Process, Market Disruption, and the Future of Your Business,” will take place on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Tech Foundry, 1391 Main St., ninth floor, Springfield. The lecture, open exclusively to CEOs and business owners, will be delivered by Mark Borsari, president of Sanderson MacLeod. The cost is a $25 donation to Tech Foundry. Event sponsors include Paragus IT, the Jamrog Group, and Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C. See story on page 9 for more information about the program. To register, visit businesswest.com/lecture-series.

‘Hacks for Your Hindrances’

Sept. 21: The Family Business Center of Pioneer Valley (FBCPV) will present a workshop by business coach Julia Mines, called “Mindset: Hacks for Your Hindrances.” Attendees will learn how to gain some control over their amygdala, set better boundaries, be more courageous, stop procrastinating, and increase their self-esteem and happiness. Attendance is free for members and strategic partners of the FBCPV and $30 per person for others, who are owners and key managers of Western Mass. closely held and family owned companies. Contact Ira Bryck at [email protected] to register or for more information.

Source to Sea Cleanup

Sept. 28-29: Registration is now open for the Connecticut River Conservancy’s (CRC) Source to Sea Cleanup. This annual event, now in its 22nd year, has grown into New England’s largest river cleanup, winning an American Rivers award for most miles cleaned in 2017. There are three ways for volunteers to get involved in the Source to Sea Cleanup this year: report a trash site in need of cleaning, find a cleanup group near you to join, or organize and register your own local cleanup group. For more information or to register for the event, visit www.ctriver.org/cleanup. The annual Source to Sea Cleanup is a two-day river cleanup coordinated by CRC in all four states of the 410-mile Connecticut River basin. Volunteers remove trash along rivers, streams, parks, boat launches, trails, and more. If your group wants to get involved but needs a cleanup site, if you have questions, or if you know of a trash site in need of cleaning, contact CRC Cleanup Coordinator Stacey Lennard at [email protected]. Learn more about the event at www.ctriver.org/cleanup.

Drone Pilot Certification Course at HCC

Sept. 29 to Oct. 20: Holyoke Community College (HCC) will again offer a hands-on program for individuals who want to become FAA-licensed drone pilots. “Flying Drones for Profit, Public Safety, and Commercial Applications” will run on four consecutive Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the main campus of HCC, 303 Homestead Ave., Holyoke. The course will prepare individuals to take the Federal Aviation Administration Remote Pilot in Charge exam, which they must pass to become licensed drone operators. All classes will be taught by Larry Harmon, co-director of the GeoGraphics Laboratory at Bridgewater State University and an industry consultant on small, unmanned aircraft systems. The lecture portion of the course will meet in the HCC Kittredge Center for Business and Workforce Development on the main campus. Students will fly drones outside on the college sports fields. The course focuses on all content required to pass the FAA test, including regulations, national airspace system rules, weather, aircraft loading, aircraft performance, and flight operations. The cost for the four-week, non-credit course is $315. Space is limited. Drones will be provided for use in class. Participants can bring their own, but that is not necessary.

Luncheon Program on ‘Grand Bargain’

Oct. 2: Nancy Creed, president of the Springfield Regional Chamber, and John Regan, executive vice president for Government Affairs for Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), were part of a team, including the state’s other major business groups, that worked for months to negotiate a legislative compromise on minimum wage, sales tax, and paid family and medical leave to avoid the ballot box on these three issues. At a luncheon event from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Log Cabin in Holyoke, Creed and Regan will discuss how the comprehensive legislative compromise on paid family and medical leave, sales tax, and minimum wage (the ‘grand bargain’) came to be and the impact it will have on the business community. The program will explain the process and what it could mean for future hot-button issues. Creed and Regan had two of just seven seats at the table, and Creed was the single voice representing the Western Mass. business community. The Springfield Regional Chamber program is presented in partnership with 1Berkshire, AIM, and the Greater Easthampton and Greater Northampton chambers of commerce, and sponsored by Sullivan, Hayes & Quinn. Reservations cost $30 for members of the Springfield Regional Chamber, the Greater Easthampton and Greater Northampton chambers of commerce, and 1Berkshire, and $40 for general admission, and may be made online at www.springfieldregionalchamberchamber.com.

Healthcare Heroes

Oct. 25: The second annual class of Healthcare Heroes will be honored at the Starting Gate at GreatHorse in Hampden. Healthcare Heroes, a recognition program involving the Western Mass. healthcare sector, was launched last spring by HCN and BusinessWest. The program was created to shed a bright light on the outstanding work being done across the broad spectrum of health and wellness services, and the institutions and people providing that care. The winners, in seven distinct categories, are profiled in this issue of BusinessWest and the September issue of HCN, and will be feted at the Oct. 25 gala. Healthcare Heroes sponsors include American International College (presenting sponsor), Baystate Health/Health New England (presenting sponsor), National Grid (partner), and supporting sponsors Renew.Calm, the Elms College MBA program, Bay Path University, and Mercy Medical Center and Trinity Health Of New England.

Chamber Corners: Upcoming Events

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

Chamber Corners

GREATER CHICOPEE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.chicopeechamber.org
(413) 594-2101

• Sept. 6: CEO Luncheon, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., hosted by Collegian Court, 89 Park St., Chicopee. A quarterly luncheon series where CEOs tell of how they rose to their positions. September’s luncheon will feature Jim Goodwin of CHD. Series sponsored by Polish National Credit Union. Cost: $30 for members, $35 for non-members. Sign up online at www.chicopeechamber.org/events or call (413) 594-2101.

• Sept. 13: Business After Hours, 4:30-6:30 p.m., hosted by Red Fez, 70 Exchange St., Chicopee. Series presented by Polish National Credit Union Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members. Sign up online at www.chicopeechamber.org/events or call (413) 594-2101.

• Sept. 19: Salute Breakfast, 7:15-9 a.m., hosted by Tru By Hilton, 440 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Chief greeter: Tony Cignoli. Keynote speaker: state Rep. Joseph Wagner. Series sponsored by United Personnel, Westfield Bank, Holyoke Medical Center, Polish National Credit Union, Gaudreau Group, Spherion Staffing Services, PeoplesBank, and Interstate Towing Inc. Cost: $23 for members, $28 for non-members. Sign up online at www.chicopeechamber.org/events or call (413) 594-2101.

• Sept. 28: Chamber Seminar: “Authenticity in Leadership,” 9-11 a.m., hosted by Residence Inn, 500 Memorial Dr., Chicopee. Presenter: Lora Wondolowski of Leadership Pioneer Valley. Presented by Westfield Bank. Cost: $15 for members, $20 for non-members. Sign up online at www.chicopeechamber.org/events or call (413) 594-2101.

GREATER EASTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.easthamptonchamber.org
(413) 527-9414

• Sept. 13: Networking by Night, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Northampton Country Club, 135 Main St., Leeds. Sponsored by Tunnel 7 and Fran’s Fine Editing. Food and door prizes will be available, as well as a cash bar. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members. Pre-registration is suggested. For more information and to register, visit www.easthamptonchamber.org or call the chamber at (413) 527-9414.

• Sept. 23: Breakfast, 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., hosted by Springfield Country Club, 1375 Elm St., West Springfield. The Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce joins with other area chambers to provide information concerning the nursing ballot initiative. There will be a continental breakfast and networking beginning at 7:30 a.m., folllowed by a panel discussion beginning at 8 a.m. For more information and to register, visit www.easthamptonchamber.org or call the chamber at (413) 527-9414.

• Sept. 28: Women & the Art of Risk, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., hosted by the Log Cabin Banquet & Meeting House, 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke. A women’s leadership event featuring workshops, discussions, and career-development opportunities, all led by distinguished women from the Pioneer Valley. Hear personal and professional stories of how taking calculated risks led these women to new adventures and made them stronger leaders. The keynote speaker is Dr. Valerie Young, an internationally recognized expert on impostor syndrome. Cost: $119, or $875 for a table of 10. Pre-registration is a must. For more information, a schedule of the day’s events, and to register, visit www.easthamptonchamber.org or call the chamber at (413) 527-9414.

GREATER HOLYOKE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.holyokechamber.com
(413) 534-3376

• Sept. 12: Coffee with a Cop, 7:30-9 a.m., hosted by Fiesta Café, 305 Main St., Holyoke. The Chamber of Commerce invites Holyoke’s new chief of Police, Manny Febo, to join us for a meet and greet over coffee and light refreshments in the heart of downtown Holyoke. The event is free of charge.

• Sept. 19: Chamber After Hours, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Gateway City Arts, 92 Race St., Holyoke. Join us for our first After Hours of this fiscal season. The team down at Gateway City Arts is excited to host this networking event in its Biergarten and Bistro. Cost: free to members who register in advance, $10 at the door and for non-members.

• Sept. 21: Now in its 30th season, the chamber and Holyoke Community College present Leadership Holyoke, to be held over a series of eight days. Faculty members from HCC will participate as instructors and facilitators, and community leaders will participate as speakers and discussion leaders. Cost: $600 for all eight sessions. Sign up at holyokechamber.com.

• Sept. 28: Women and the Art of Risk, hosted by the Log Cabin, 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke. A women’s leadership event, in conjunction with the Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce, featuring workshops, discussions, and career-development opportunities, all led by distinguished woman from the Pioneer Valley. Hear personal and professional stories of how taking calculated risks led these women to new adventures and made them stronger leaders. Sign up at easthamptonchamber.org.

GREATER NORTHAMPTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.explorenorthampton.com
(413) 584-1900

• Sept. 13: September Arrive @ 5, 5-7 p.m., a networking event hosted by Family Legacy Partners, Round Hill Road, Northampton. Sponsored by Coldwell Banker Upton-Massamont. Cost: $10 for members.

Oct. 2: October Arrive @ 5, 5-7 p.m., a networking event and chamber open house hosted by the Greater Northampton Chamber of Commerce. Sponsored by Pioneer Training. Cost: $10 for members.

GREATER WESTFIELD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.westfieldbiz.org
(413) 568-1618

• Sept. 10: September Mayor’s Coffee Hour with Westfield Mayor Brian Sullivan, 8-9 a.m., hosted by Governor’s Center, 66 Broad St., Westfield. Free and open to the public. To register, visit our website at www.westfieldbiz.org/events or call (413) 568-1618 so we can give our host a proper head count.

• Sept. 12: September After 5 Connection, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Stanley Park, 400 Western Ave., Westfield. Media sponsor: BusinessWest. Member Spotlights are Ideal Health & Body and Pro & Local Detailing. Refreshments will be served, and a 50/50 raffle will benefit the chamber’s scholarship fund. Bring your business cards and make connections. Cost: free for members, $10 for non-members (cash or credit paid at the door) Sign up online at www.westfieldbiz.org/events. For sponsorships or registration questions, e-mail [email protected] or call (413) 568-1618. To register, visit www.westfieldbiz.org/events.

• Sept. 20: Workshop: “Cybersecurity for Cloud-based Solutions: Emphasis on Endpoints in the Data Center,” 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., hosted by Tekoa Country Club, 459 Russell Road, Westfield. Presented by Norhals Group LLC, Carbon Black, and VMWare’s Cloud Force Security. Continental breakfast and lunch will be served. Cost: $45. For sponsorships or registration questions, e-mail [email protected] or call (413) 568-1618. To register, visit www.westfieldbiz.org/events.

• Sept. 21: September Breakfast, 7-9 a.m., hosted by 104th Fighter Wing ANG, 175 Falcon Dr., Westfield. Platinum event sponsor: Baystate Noble Hospital; gold sponsors: Savage Arms, United Bank, and Westfield Gas & Electric; silver sponsor: A Plus HVAC Inc; bronze sponsors: Armbrook Village, Governor’s Center, Micro Abrasives Corp., and Rehab Resolutions. Join us to hear from keynote speaker Tim Brennan, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. Immediately following breakfast, we will take the 2019-20 directory centerfold photo, and those who have the time can take a tour of the base. Cost: $25 for members, $40 for non-members. For sponsorships or registration questions, e-mail [email protected] or call (413) 568-1618. To register, visit www.westfieldbiz.org/events.

• Sept. 28: Workshop: “Social Media in the Workplace,” 8:30-10 a.m., hosted by Holiday Inn Express, 39 Southampton Road, Westfield. Presented by attorney Timothy Netkovick of Royal, P.C. Cost: free for members; $3 for non-members (paid in advance). For sponsorships or registration questions, e-mail [email protected] or call (413) 568-1618. To register, visit www.westfieldbiz.org/events.

FRANKLIN COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.franklincc.org
(413) 773-5463

• Sept. 28: Monthly Breakfast Series, 7:30-9 a.m., hosted by Franklin County Technical High School, 82 Industrial Blvd., Turners Falls. Full breakfast will be served during the program, which will feature the kickoff of the United Way of Franklin County’s fundraising campaign. Register at franklincc.org or e-mail [email protected].

PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S CHAMBER
www.springfieldregionalchamber.com
(413) 787-1555

• Sept. 13: Professional Women’s Chamber Season Kickoff Luncheon, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., hosted by the Munich Haus, 13 Center St., Chicopee. Sponsors: BusinessWest and HCN. Lisa Mullins, host of WBUR’s All Things Considered, will headline the luncheon. Cost: $35 for members, $40 for non-members, $99 for luncheon season pass. Registration will be available soon on the PWC website at www.professionalwomenschamber.com.

SOUTH HADLEY & GRANBY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.shgchamber.com
(413) 532-6451

• Sept. 13: Lunch & Learn: “Marketing Your Small Business,” noon to 1:30 p.m., hosted by Yarde Tavern, 3 Hadley St., South Hadley. Ryan Mahoney, an account manager at Hibu, will facilitate this discussion about how best to promote your business with the resources you have, whether you are a one-person business or someone who works at a much larger company. We will order individually off the Yarde Tavern menu at noon, and plan to start the discussion about 12:15 p.m. Cost: $10 for members, $15 for non-members. To register, visit www.shgchamber.com and go to this event on the calendar.

WEST OF THE RIVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
www.ourwrc.com
(413) 426-3880

• Sept. 18: September Legislative Breakfast, 7-9 a.m., hosted by Chez Josef, 176 Shoemaker Lane, Agawam. Join us as we listen to an informative panel discussion with our elected officials. State senators, state representatives, and local mayors will update guests on all things politics. The presenting sponsor is Horizon Services; premier sponsors include the Insurance Center of New England, Health New England, Polish National Credit Union, and Republic Services; and preferred sponsors include Reliable Temps, Spherion Staffing, Westfield Bank, and Partners Restaurant & Catering. Register online at www.westoftheriverchamber.com.

YPS OF GREATER SPRINGFIELD
springfieldyps.com

• Sept. 13: Vote the Valley: The New Springfield, 5-7 p.m., hosted by Mahogany Room at Symphony Hall, 34 Court St., Springfield. Join us for an in-depth update from Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno on the current state of Springfield. We will highlight the advances and opportunities for young professionals in the area and those who work with them. For sponsorship and partnership opportunities, e-mail Ashley at [email protected].

People on the Move

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

People on the Move

Amanda Mercier

Amanda Mercier of the Gaudreau Group recently achieved the Registered Employee Benefits Consultant (REBC) designation from the National Assoc. of Health Underwriters (NAHU), which views this designation as the highest form of recognition in the health-insurance industry, demonstrating Mercier’s commitment to educational leadership within the insurance profession. The REBC designation distinguishes Mercier as an elite practitioner in her field. The program analyzes group benefits with respect to the ACA environment, contract provisions, marketing, underwriting, rate making, plan design, cost containment, and alternative funding methods. The largest portion of this program is devoted to group medical expense plans that are a major concern to employers, as well as to employees.

•••••

In recognition of another record-breaking season for the business, the Springfield Thunderbirds announced that three staff members will take on new roles for the 2018-19 season. Thunderbirds President Nathan Costa announced the promotions of Steve Kunsey to senior manager of Business Development and Nicole Taylor to Business Development & Special Events executive. Additionally, Frank Grimaldi will take on a new role as Ticket Operations and Retention executive. Kunsey and Taylor were key members of the Thunderbirds’ sponsorship sales staff during the 2017-18 season. That department reached a new pinnacle with more than $1.2 million in corporate cash for the first time in Springfield AHL history, including 177 corporate accounts — the second-highest total in the AHL. Grimaldi will take on his new role after previously serving as an account executive in Ticket Sales. He will oversee the Thunderbirds ticketing system, with a focus on digital ticketing and data collection.

•••••

Caryl Connor

For the third year in a row, Caryl Connor of the Mortgage Department of Greenfield Savings Bank has been named the area’s top mortgage originator by number of loans, according to the journal Banker & Tradesman. The report also ranked Connor the area’s number-two loan originator by total dollar amount of loans, and the number-six loan originator in the state based on number of loans.

•••••

Robinson Donovan, P.C. announced that seven attorneys were listed in The Best Lawyers in America 2019. They include:

• Jeffrey Roberts: corporate law; trusts and estates;

• Jeffrey McCormick: personal-injury litigation (defendants); personal-injury litigation (plaintiffs);

• James Martin: franchise law; real-estate law;

• Nancy Frankel Pelletier: personal-injury litigation (defendants);

• Patricia Rapinchuk: employment law (management); and litigation (labor and employment. She was also named Lawyer of the Year in the field of litigation (labor and employment);

• Carla Newton: family law; and

• Richard Gaberman: corporate law; real-estate law; tax law; trusts and estates.

•••••

Isaac Fleisher

Bacon Wilson announced that Isaac Fleisher joined the firm as an associate on the firm’s business and corporate team. As an accomplished transactional attorney, Fleisher has broad experience in all aspects of business representation, for legal matters ranging from mergers and acquisitions to business formation and financing, real-estate transactions including land use and zoning issues, copyright work, and mediation and arbitration. He also has experience representing clients in the rapidly expanding solar-energy and cannabis industries. Earlier in his career, Fleisher worked as in-house counsel for a prominent musical theater licensing agency in New York City, and as a legal fellow for the New York state attorney general. He serves on the board of the Lander-Grinspoon Academy in Northampton, and is a member of the Hampden County Bar Assoc. pro bono advisory board.

•••••

Thirteen lawyers from Bulkley Richardson were recently selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America for 2019. These 13 lawyers were recognized in 19 unique areas of practice. They include:

• Peter Barry: construction law;

• Michael Burke: medical malpractice law (defendants); personal-injury litigation (defendants);

• Mark Cress: bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law; corporate law;

• Francis Dibble Jr.: bet-the-company litigation; commercial litigation; criminal defense (white-collar); litigation (antitrust); litigation (labor and employment); litigation (securities);

• Daniel Finnegan: administrative/regulatory law; litigation (construction);

• Robert Gelinas: personal-injury litigation (defendants);

• William Hart: trusts and estates;

• Kevin Maynard: commercial litigation; litigation (banking and finance); litigation (construction);

• David Park: corporate law;

• Melinda Phelps: medical-malpractice law (defendants); personal-injury litigation (defendants);

• John Pucci: bet-the-company litigation; criminal defense (general practice); criminal defense (white-collar);

• Elizabeth Sillin: nonprofit/charities law; trusts and estates; and

• Ronald Weiss: corporate law; mergers and acquisitions law; tax law.

In addition, Pucci and Sillin were each named 2019 Springfield, Mass. Lawyer of the Year in their respective practice areas — criminal defense and trusts and estates, respectively — by Best Lawyers, in partnership with U.S. News Media Group. Lawyer of the Year rankings are awarded to only one lawyer per practice area in each region.

•••••

Dr. Yannis Raftopoulos

Dr. Yannis Raftopoulos, a board-certified bariatric surgeon and weight-management specialist at Holyoke Medical Center, has been selected to give a podium presentation at Obesity Week 2018 in Nashville, Tenn. in November. Obesity Week is an international event focused on the basic science, clinical application, surgical intervention, and prevention of obesity. By combining both the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) and the Obesity Society (TOS) annual meetings, Obesity Week is the largest obesity meeting in the world, bringing together world-renowned experts in obesity to share innovation and breakthroughs in science. Raftopoulos will present his findings on effectively assisting patients in losing 10% of their body weight before bariatric surgery. With a sample size of nearly 1,400 patients, out of which 190 patients were from Holyoke Medical Center, patients who are able to lose more than 10% of their body weight before bariatric surgery had substantially better results after two years post-surgery than those who did not lose weight or lost less than 10% of their body weight. This is the first time that such effective weight loss prior to surgery has been reported and additionally has been linked to better weight loss after surgery long-term.

•••••

Dr. Steven Nguyen

Facial Cosmetic & Maxillofacial Surgery, P.C. announced that Dr. Steven Nguyen, an Atlanta native, has joined the oral-surgery practice. Nguyen earned his DMD degree at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston. He also completed a general practice residency at Jacobi Medical Center in Bronx, N.Y. Afterward, he was accepted into the six-year MD integrated Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency Program at the Mount Sinai Downtown/Jacobi Medical Center in New York City, and received his MD degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Nguyen practices the full scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery procedures, including repair of oral-facial trauma, orthognathic surgery, general anesthesia and IV sedation, wisdom-teeth removal, bone grafting and dental implants, management of oral pathology, treatment of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disease, minimally invasive salivary gland procedures, as well as traditional dentoalveolar surgery. He maintains certifications in BLS, ACLS, PALS, and ATLS.

•••••

David Henry, a Christmas tree grower and owner of the Henry Co. Insurance, has been named chairman of the board of Eastern States Exposition. A trustee of the ESE since 1983, Henry has served as a member of its board of directors since 2005, and has been secretary since 2012. Henry has been an independent insurance agent for 50 years, specializing in life, disability, and long-term care. He has been named to the Senior Agent Hall of Fame and the Million Dollar Round Table. In October 1978, Henry purchased the Scituate, R.I. farm that had been in his family for more than 160 years, the land where he began growing Christmas trees at the age of 12 as an FFA project. Under Henry’s leadership, the property became the largest Christmas tree farm in Rhode Island. With help from his wife, Linda, Henry tends to between 90,000 and 100,000 Christmas trees on the 131-acre farm that bears his name. Simply called Henry’s Christmas Tree Farm, the sprawling land has been in his family since 1851. The Eastern States Exposition has been an important part of Henry’s life for more than 50 years. He attended the Big E as an FFA member and served as the Rhode Island state FFA president.

•••••

Dr. Laki Rousou

The American Lung Assoc. announced that Dr. Laki Rousou, program director of the Lung Cancer Screening Program at Holyoke Medical Center, was named a LUNG FORCE Hero for his commitment to making a difference in the community for individuals living with lung cancer. Rousou is a thoracic surgeon at Holyoke Medical Center. He trained in general surgery at New York University Langone Medical Center and completed a research fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/West Roxbury VA Hospital – Harvard Medical School. He then completed his cardiothoracic surgery residency at Yale New Haven Hospital/Yale Medical School. Rousou is board-certified in general surgery and thoracic surgery with broad expertise in diseases of the chest and abdomen. His particular interests are on lung cancer and minimally invasive/robotic surgery for the treatment of thoracic surgical diseases. As an official LUNG FORCE Hero, he will become a storyteller for the American Lung Assoc. and a voice for awareness, research, and education on lung cancer.

•••••

Webster Bank announced that Tim Patneaude has been promoted to executive vice president. Patneaude serves as chief operating officer for HSA Bank, a division of Webster, and has a broad range of responsibilities, including information technology, banking operations, professional services, project management, and continuous improvement. Since joining HSA Bank in 2015, he has made significant improvements in process, measurements, and focused execution across the organization, resulting in superior performance. Patneaude earned a bachelor’s degree in information systems at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

•••••

Whittlesey announced that Tom Davis, CPA, CFE has been named a manager in the firm’s Holyoke office. In this role, he is responsible for expanding and managing assurance and advisory engagements. Davis has more than eight years of experience in providing accounting, tax, and advisory services to manufacturing and distribution, retail, renewable energy, construction, and nonprofit organizations. Over his career, he has managed client relationships, made process improvements, and analyzed data to provide actionable insights for his clients. Davis formerly served as audit manager for a national public accounting firm. He is a graduate of Boston College and has an MBA in accounting from the University of Phoenix. Whittlesey also announced the promotions of Abbie Gamache, Joshua Labonte, Kristie Nowik, and Bryan Santiago to senior associate.

Company Notebook

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

Company Notebook

American Women’s College Offers Food Industry Management Degree

LONGMEADOW — The American Women’s College at Bay Path University announced the launch of its bachelor of science degree in business: food industry management, now enrolling. The university’s fully online food industry management major prepares students for a wide array of positions within the industry. The program covers core business fundamentals and combines them with a solid foundation in food science. Business topics include accounting, marketing, operations, and management. The major areas of food science, such as food processing and safety, are also covered and have been adapted for flexible online learning through the university’s digitally enhanced learning model, SOUL (Social Online Universal Learning), which uses data-driven intervention strategies to help mitigate achievement gaps. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, foodborne illness hits one in six Americans every year. That’s why Sara R. Milillo, senior academic director of the program, believes it’s more important now than ever for professionals in the food industry, all along the chain “from farm to fork,” to understand the business and safety principles for success. Milillo earned her Ph.D. in food science with minors in education and microbiology at Cornell University. She has authored numerous publications, including papers and book chapters, on food science and safety. Prior to being named senior director of Core Curriculum & Science at the American Women’s College at Bay Path University, Milillo served as director of math and science for the college.

Bay Path Named Among Fastest-Growing Colleges in Master’s Institution Category

LONGMEADOW — The Chronicle of Higher Education has recognized Bay Path University in its Almanac of Higher Education 2018-19 as one of the fastest-growing colleges in the U.S., currently ranked 13th in the category of private nonprofit master’s institutions, with a 118.1% growth rate over a 10-year period (2006-16). Bay Path was the only institution of higher education from Massachusetts on the list, and the only women’s college in New England ranked in this category. Bay Path offers a range of educational options in response to the shifting needs of prospective students and the changing 21st-century workplace. According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report for 2018 that cites the top 20 fastest-growing careers, several professions require master’s degrees, including marriage and family therapists, physician assistants, post-secondary nursing instructors, and genetic counselors, among others. Bay Path offers graduate degrees in these areas, and the recently launched MS in genetic counseling has earned distinction as the first all-online program of its kind in the country.

Holyoke Community College Readies New Biotech Center

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College (HCC) will open its new Center for Life Sciences on Sept. 4, for the start of the fall 2018 semester. The 13,000-square-foot facility, on the first floor of HCC’s Marieb Building, features a suite of new biotechnology classrooms and labs and what is believed to be the only ISO-certified instructional cleanroom at any Massachusetts community college and one of very few at any college or university in Western Mass. The cost of the $4.55 million project, including new equipment, was covered by a $3.8 million grant from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, supplemented by $750,000 from the HCC Foundation’s Building Healthy Communities Campaign, which also paid for the construction of the college’s Center for Health Education on Jarvis Avenue. Once it’s fully operational, the cleanroom will have a certification rating of ISO 8, which means air quality of no more than 100,000 particles per cubic foot. Inside the cleanroom will be a hooded biosafety cabinet where the sterility will increase to ISO 7, or no more than 10,000 particles per cubic foot. Grant funds and donations also paid for new equipment, including a high-end, research-grade, fluorescent microscope, like those used in the pharmaceutical industry; a micro volume spectrophotometer, used to measure small amounts of genetic material; and an electroporator for genetic engineering.

Blue Sox Named 2018 Perfect Game Collegiate Summer Team of the Year

HOLYOKE — The Valley Blue Sox have been named Perfect Game’s 2018 Collegiate Summer Team of the Year. Led by Manager and Director of Baseball Operations John Raiola, the Blue Sox paced the league with a 30-12 regular season record before winning all four of their postseason games en route to a second straight NECBL championship. Following the season, Raiola was named the recipient of the 2018 Joel Cooney Award, given to the NECBL’s Manager of the Year. Holyoke native and starting pitcher Endy Morales of Southern New Hampshire University) was named to the All-NECBL First Team. Morales posted a 5-0 record and a 1.12 ERA in 40 innings pitched. His lone postseason start came in Game 1 of the NECBL Championship Series, where he held the Ocean State Waves to one run over seven innings. Morales also received the Robin Roberts Award following the season, given to the league’s best starting pitcher. Starting pitcher Cooper Bradford (North Florida), first baseman Tyler Kapuscinski (Marist), closer Ricky Reynoso (Pacific), and shortstop Jaron Robinson (Murray State) were all named to the All-NECBL Second Team. The Blue Sox led the league with five All-NECBL selections this summer.

Holyoke Medical Center Expands Services in Chicopee

CHICOPEE — Holyoke Medical Center has expanded services to a new facility on Memorial Drive in Chicopee for primary and specialty physician services, lab draws, X-rays, ultrasound, and CORE physical therapy. The primary-care services, provided by HMC affiliate Western Mass Physician Associates, have already opened and began treating patients at 1962 Memorial Dr. in mid-June. This office relocated from 262 New Ludlow Road in Chicopee. The office is accepting new patients and will begin offering walk-in services this fall. To make an appointment, call (413) 552-3250. The Holyoke Medical Center lab-draw station relocated on Aug. 6 from 260 New Ludlow Road to an adjoining space of Western Mass Physician Associates at 1968 Memorial Dr. in Chicopee. In addition to lab services, this space will also offer X-ray and ultrasound services, which previously required patients to go to the hospital campus in Holyoke. HMC CORE Physical Therapy also opened today on Aug. 6, and is located within the same complex at 1970 Memorial Dr. This service relocated from 138 College St. in South Hadley, and will offer a renovated space and new equipment to support the rehabilitation needs of the community. To make an appointment, call (413) 532-9913.

Elms College Ranks in Top 30% Of ‘Best Colleges for Your Money’

CHICOPEE — Elms College ranks in the top 30% of colleges in Money magazine’s list of Best Colleges for Your Money 2018. To determine this year’s value rankings, Money reviewed each institution’s graduation rates, tuition charges, family borrowing, and alumni earnings, in addition to 22 other factors. The colleges on the list each demonstrate educational quality, affordability, and alumni success. “The fact that Elms is the top-ranked school in the Greater Springfield area — ranked higher than nearly all other Western Massachusetts colleges — is a testament to our mission of transforming lives through education, which calls us not only to prepare students with a liberal-arts curriculum and professional studies, but also to remain affordable and therefore accessible,” said Harry Dumay, president of the college.

Briefcase

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

Briefcase

Gov. Baker Signs Groundbreaking Alzheimer’s Legislation

BOSTON — Gov. Charlie Baker recently signed the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s and Dementia Act, a first-of-its-kind bill that unanimously passed both the House of Representatives and the Senate earlier this year. More than 130,000 people are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease in Massachusetts, and those individuals are being cared for by more than 337,000 family and friends. According to the Alzheimer’s Assoc., Massachusetts will spend more than $1.6 billion in 2018 in Medicaid costs caring for people with Alzheimer’s. The governor signed the legislation shortly after approving $100,000 for public awareness about the disease in the most recent FY19 budget. There are five major areas of focus within the bill: establishing a comprehensive state plan to address Alzheimer’s disease within the Executive Office of Health and Human Services, while also establishing a permanent advisory council to help coordinate government efforts and ensure that public and private resources are maximized and leveraged; requiring curriculum content about Alzheimer’s and other dementias be incorporated into continuing-medical-education programs required for granting the renewal of licensure for physicians, physician assistants, registered nurses, and licensed nurse practitioners; ensuring proper notification of an Alzheimer’s or dementia diagnosis to the family or legal guardian and providing information on available resources to both the patient and family; improving cost-effectiveness and patient and caregiver experience in acute-care settings by requiring all state hospitals to implement an operational plan for the recognition and management of patients with dementia or delirium accountable to the Department of Public Health; and establishing minimum training standards for elder protective services social workers, to ensure protection from abuse and exploitation for elders with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Big Y Combats Opioid Crisis with Deterra System

SPRINGFIELD — Big Y Pharmacy and Wellness Centers, along with all Big Y supermarkets, are now carrying the Deterra Drug Deactivation System at all stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut. This is a drug-disposal pouch which allows people to easily and effectively dispose of unused or expired medications, even opioid painkillers, at home. Anyone can use a Deterra pouch to deactivate drugs, including pills, liquids, and patches. Each Deterra pouch contains activated carbon, which firmly bonds to pharmaceuticals, rendering them inert and unavailable for abuse. The Deterra pouch is the only environmentally sound, in-home drug-disposal system that permanently deactivates drugs. Big Y hopes to help combat the opioid crisis by stocking these deactivation kits in all its stores to provide customers with a safe and reliable way to keep unused medications from being diverted to abuse. Currently, the pouches are on sale for the introductory price of $3.99 for each pouch, which has the capacity to deactivate up to 45 pills, six ounces of liquid, or six patches.

Unemployment Holds Steady in July

BOSTON — The state’s total unemployment rate increased to 3.6% in July from the June rate of 3.5%, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development announced. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ preliminary job estimates indicate Massachusetts added 4,800 jobs in July. Over the month, the private sector added 5,900 jobs as gains occurred in education and health services; professional, scientific, and business services; construction; manufacturing; and trade, transportation, and utilities. From July 2017 to July 2018, BLS estimates Massachusetts has added 66,800 jobs. The July unemployment rate was three-tenths of a percentage point lower than the national rate of 3.9% reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Job estimates show the Commonwealth has gained over 51,000 jobs since December and 213,600 jobs since January 2015. These job gains, alongside low unemployment rates and labor-force growth, are signs of the continued health of the Massachusetts labor market,” Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta said. The labor force increased by 27,100 from 3,758,900 in June, as 24,700 more residents were employed and 2,400 more residents were unemployed over the month. Over the year, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased one-tenth of a percentage point from 3.7% in July 2017. The state’s labor force participation rate — the total number of residents 16 or older who worked or were unemployed and actively sought work in the last four weeks — is up four-tenths of a percentage point over the month at 67.3%. Compared to July 2017, the labor force participation rate is up 1.8%. The largest private-sector percentage job gains over the year were in construction; professional, scientific, and business services; leisure and hospitality; and other services.

Incorporations

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

Incorporations

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

CHICOPEE

Dessant Transport Inc., 486 Front St., Chicopee, MA 01013. Vitaliy Babich, same. Trucking.

GREAT BARRINGTON

Guts Grit Glamour Inc., 15 Berkshire Heights, Great Barrington, MA 01230. Julie Lewit Nirenberg, same. Supports women veterans in their efforts to re-enter civilian society and workplace as successfully as possible.

LANESBOROUGH

Heart2heart Ministry, 11 Summer St., Lanesborough, MA 01237. Keith A. Evans, 78 Springside Ave., Pittsfield, MA 01201. Preach and teach God’s word through faith base services.

MONSON

Fumi Realty Inc., 39 Cote Road, Monson, MA 01057. Mark Pafumi, same. Real estate investing.

PITTSFIELD

D&F Cleaning Services Inc., 10 Brown St., Pittsfield, MA 01201. Fabiana Maria Ferreira, same. Cleaning services.

Doni Carissimae Corporation, 82 Wendell Avenue Ste 100, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Liping Yu, 67 Yuequan West Road, Pujiang, ZJ, 322200. Clothing, accessories.

Duta Enterprises Inc., 132 Fenn St., Pittsfield, MA 01201. Oana Duta, 48 Alpine Trail, Pittsfield, MA 01201. Landscaping and lawn mowing services.

SOUTH HADLEY

DMP Land Management Inc., 134A Main St., South Hadley, MA 01075. Dominic Pelletier, same. Log broker.

SPRINGFIELD

Friendship Missionary Baptist Church Incorporated, 68 Church St., Springfield, MA 01107. Shawn Devorce, 144 Vine St., Hartford, CT 06112. Church and religious activities.

WEST CHESTERFIELD

DHB Construction Inc., 360 Ireland Street Po Box 86, West Chesterfield, MA 01084. Robert Boland, same. Construction.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Brothers Express Inc., 53 East School St., West Springfield, MA 01089. Bayramali Shakhanov, same. Trucking.

Doing Business As Certificates

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

DBA Certificates

The following business certificates and trade names were issued or renewed during the month of August 2018.

BELCHERTOWN

ATI Physical Therapy of Western Massachusetts
25 Bridge St.
Robert McKenzie

Oasis Senior Advisors, Unit 91
121 Barton Ave.
Eric Aasheim

DEERFIELD

Cumberland Farms
31 Elm St.
Cumberland Farms Inc.

Oddfellow Coffee Co.
31 South Main St.
David Nielsen

HADLEY

Household Solutions
64 North Maple St.
Lynn Nester

Wildaness Woods
10 Hadley Place
Frank Wilda Jr.

SPRINGFIELD

A to Z Construction
33 Luden St.
Gregory Preston

A.C. Painting
33 Fresno St.
William Carter

Algarin Trucking
118 Carnavon Circke
Omar Algarin

The Braider’s Touch
186 State St.
Charlie Santiago

Columbia Gas of Massachusetts
104 Brookdale Dr.
Baystate Gas Co.

D & F Food Service Inc.
355 Belmont Ave.
Aleandro Mirabal

Guac This Way
One MGM Way
Blue Tarp Redevelopment, LLC

The Hair Connection
1142 State St.
Nicole Sanders

Hernandez Pavers
131 Larkspur St.
Ermie Hernandez

Home Metro Realty
208 Belmont St.
Metro Apartments, LLC

Lux Permanent Cosmetics
888 Sumner Ave.
Rebeca Ruiz

Magnetiq Convenience Store
178 Oakland St.
Benjamin Blake

Magnifica T
1245 Dwight St.
Valerie Gonzalez

Paulino Jewels
81 Robert Dyer Circle
Joel Paulino

Perez Landscaping & Snow Removal
1157 Sumner Ave.
Edwin Perez

R-K Historic Homes
1090 Worthington St.
R-K Historic Homes

Sublime Plus Inc.
152 Belmont Ave.
Usman Malik

Tropical African Market
810 Main St.
Nana Lawrence

Tubac Miguelitois Construction
31 Spruce St.
Miguel Tubac

VisionMerge Productions
32 Fairfield St.
Bridgette Baldwin

WESTFIELD

A & D Homes
126 Old Stage Road
David Okhrimenko

Absolute Mechanical
47 Jeremy Dr.
Vitaliy Kazimirov

Germaine’s K-9 Kuties
22 Church St.
Germaine Ruffo

Kismet Brewing Co., LLC
66 South Broad St.
Richard DeSousa

MBB Professional Services
592 Loomis St.
Maryann Burke

Purdy Property Management
8 Brentwood Dr.
Craig Purdy

River Song Farm
2 Delancey St.
Ann Barone

Shoe Repair & Alterations
4 School St.
Sergey Klimenko

Ski’s Landscaping
708 North Road
Mike Szewczynski

T & T Cleaning Service
6 Crestwood Circle
Therese Trottier

WSULiving, LLC
127 West Silver St.
WSULiving, LLC

WEST SPRINGFIELD

413 Seal Coating
1353 Riverdale St.
George Armani

Amedisys Personal Care
138 Memorial Ave.
Associated Home Care

Bowlen’s Carpentry
19 Overlook Dr.
Thomas Bowlen

Century 21 A-1 Nolan Realty, LLC
776 Westfield St.
Patrick Nolan

Express Brows & Beauty Style
520 Main St.
Pam Mehta

Frank’s Auto Repair
25 Sumner St.
Agostino Frank Demaio

Gargun Apartments Co.
33 Birnie Ave.
Vladimur Gargun

Imperial Barber Shop
715 Main St.
Eric Ruiz Adorno

K.M. Curran Co.
201 Park Ave.
Kenneth Curran

Red Light Lounge
125 Capital Dr.
Barry Tabb

Shallot Thai Cuisine
1455 Riverdale St.
Jirawat Ninsri

Shtarker Moving & Storage, LLC
203 Circuit Ave.
Robert Kushner

A Taste of Lebanon, LLC
553 Main St.
Maher Awkal

Bankruptcies

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

Bankruptcies

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

Arpin, Lionel L.
3 Village Green
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/23/18

Baez, Claritza
a/k/a Baez Reyes, Claritza
a/k/a Coriano-Baez, Claritza
6 Brown Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/19/18

Beaulieu, Denise C.
26 Sesame Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/19/18

beentheirworethat.com
Gossman, Michael J.
19 Upland St
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/21/18

Bitzas, Sofia A.
a/k/a Williams, Sofia Bitzas
354 Falley Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/25/18

Blanchard, Kevin M.
PO Box 436
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/23/18

Bobala, Doreen
20 Charon Terrace
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Boyer, Roger E.
Boyer, Vickie A.
a/k/a Connell, Vickie A.
a/k/a Finch, Vickie A.
8 Fairfield Ave.
Haydenville, MA 01039
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Brough, Scott R.
34 Ferry St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/18/18

Buteau, Brad C.
10 Polly Road
Wales, MA 01081
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/29/18

Champagne, Tammy Jo M.
66 Rolf Ave., 2nd Fl.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Cherrier, Melissa Hope
a/k/a Gillespie, Melissa Hope
553 Pequoig Ave.
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Clark, Bonnie S.
88 Providence St., Apt. 2
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Coderre, Holly Ann
a/k/a Spencer, Holly Ann
a/k/a Cormier, Holly Ann
93 High St., Apt. 5
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Cremonti, Anthony S.
Martins, Elizabeth S.
156 Fair Oak Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/24/18

Cucchi, Timothy E.
27 Lewis St., Apt. 1
Athol, MA 01331
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/30/18

Cullen, Janice M.
56 Honeysuckle Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01022
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/27/18

Daury, Denise L.
50 Hazelwood Terrace
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Dearden, Michelle G.
Dearden, David W.
102 Southworth St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

DeLeon, Candido
6 Mellinger Lane
Chicopee, MA 01022
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Dingui, Carmen M.
59 Redlands St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Foley, Timothy M.
18 Driscoll St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/20/18

Fontaine, Valerie L.
218 Log Plain Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Gamache, Patrick M
Gamache, Melissa Sue
132 Firglade Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/26/18

Garland, Tami Lee
a/k/a Pelis, Tami Lee
5 Bray Road
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/30/18

Gordon, Mario A.
26 Shady Brook Lane
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/29/18

Gragowski, Anthony E.
23 Chapman St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/30/18

Guyon, Jason D.
82 Nora Lane
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Harris, Tammy Lynn
1669 Massachusetts Ave.
North Adams, MA 01247
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Horne, Leonard James
198 College St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/23/18

Hutkoski, Scott J.
187 Joseph Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 12
Filing Date: 07/18/18

Isiderio, Cleofe D.
59 Butternut Hollow
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Jarrett, Todd E.
1242 Main St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Johnston, Darrell M.
215 Mountain View Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/23/18

Kazinskas, Carol Dawn
a/k/a Chandler, Carol Dawn
a/k/a Mackie, Carol Dawn
227 North Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Kendrick, Angela Jean
Kendrick, Tommie P.
52 Riddell St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Kudryk, Miranda
38 Rich St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/26/18

Lamoureux, Brandon W.
136 Bostwick Lane
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/18/18

Mailhott, Steven
Mailhott, Wendy A.
1 Dover Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Markham, David D.
52 Lenox Ave.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Marszalek, Robert A.
Marszalek, Virginia A.
a/k/a Marszalek, Ginger
25 Gargon Terrace
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

McMillan, John M.
McMillan, Misty V.
40 Starkweather Hill Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Novak, Laurie J.
15 East Brundreth St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/30/18

Nugent, Michael
Nugent, Shelley
24 Old Hamilton Road
Sturbridge, MA 01566
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Ortiz, Michael A.
Santiago, Juanita
19 Sachem St., Apt 1
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Parvizi, Tamara Sara
115 Chapman St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Phoenix Grounds Management
Milbier, William
299 Maple St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Pietskowski, John P.
104 Johnson Road, Unit 80
Chicopee, MA 01022
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/24/18

Pollard, Ricky O.
Pollard, Rosemarie
19 Brookmont Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Ramos, Miriam
a/k/a Ruiz, Miriam
a/k/a Delgado, Miriam
157 Davis St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/27/18

Rivera-Rodriguez, Roberto
500 Hancock St., Apt.
Springfield, MA 01105
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/26/18

Rossy, Jose R.
27 Rogers Ave.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/26/18

Rutland, Bevin Harlan
1 Springfield St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Santiago, Annette
18 Fitzpatrick Lane
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/23/18

Sousa, Michael A.
53 Empire St., Apt. G
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/25/18

St. Germain, John P.
St. Germain, Barbara J.
12 Lyn Dr.
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/17/18

Sullivan, Michelle E.
570 Appleton St., 1L
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/20/18

Theodorakis, Marianne F.
6 Parker Ave., 2nd Fl.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/30/18

Torres, Margarita
84 Shamrock St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Umezuruike, Amos O.
20 Narragansett St. 3r
Springfield, MA 01103
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/23/18

Westergren, Eric Dell
17 Wendell Ave. Ext.
Pittsfield, MA 01201
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/31/18

Wheeler, Steven C.
Wheeler, Nancy M.
466 Porter Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/19/18

Wilkinson, Rebecca Lynn
a/k/a Alvaro, Rebecca Lynn
48 Watt Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/26/18

Wilson, Lesley L.
162 Boyd St
Cherry Valley, MA 01611
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/30/18

Yacino, James V.
Yacino, Donna L.
380 Worcester Road
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 07/30/18

Zordani, Ellen L
869-871 Main St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 07/23/18

Real Estate Transactions

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

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

32 Main St.
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Gillian Kelly
Seller: Gina M. Cunningham
Date: 07/31/18

126 North Warger Road
Ashfield, MA 01330
Amount: $384,500
Buyer: Theodore A. Toothaker
Seller: Craig T. Vettori
Date: 07/31/18

BERNARDSTON

15 Pine Grove Dr.
Bernardston, MA 01337
Amount: $255,900
Buyer: Anthony W. Holder
Seller: Charlyn F. Connolly
Date: 08/10/18

BUCKLAND

4 Cross St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $373,250
Buyer: William A. Graves
Seller: Todd Pease
Date: 07/31/18

6 Pomeroy Terrace
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Patricia A. Smythe
Seller: Kathleen M. Cunningham
Date: 07/31/18

12 Wellington St.
Buckland, MA 01338
Amount: $222,500
Buyer: Thomas Devon-Manning
Seller: Daryl A. Mccraw
Date: 08/10/18

CHARLEMONT

653 Legate Hill Road
Charlemont, MA 01339
Amount: $140,800
Buyer: JP Morgan Chase Bank
Seller: James Keegan
Date: 08/06/18

23 Mountain View Dr.
Charlemont, MA 01339
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Denis L. Kitchen
Seller: Gail A. Bissell TR
Date: 07/30/18

COLRAIN

2 Herzig Lane
Colrain, MA 01340
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Gary J. Herzig
Seller: Mark D. Laurence
Date: 07/31/18

DEERFIELD

194 Lower Road
Deerfield, MA 01342
Amount: $800,000
Buyer: Carl G. Burwick
Seller: Barry S. Isenstein
Date: 08/10/18

20 Sawmill Plain Road
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Michael E. Ciampa
Seller: Cohan, Rina, (Estate)
Date: 08/03/18

33 Thayer St.
Deerfield, MA 01373
Amount: $307,000
Buyer: Jason Viadero
Seller: Valley Building Co. Inc.
Date: 08/07/18

GREENFIELD

918 Bernardston Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $193,000
Buyer: Cody P. Cardaropoli
Seller: Joseph D. Stafford
Date: 08/02/18

2 Dunnell Road
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Glenn S. Macneil
Seller: Bonnie B. Pierce
Date: 08/02/18

56 Glenbrook Dr.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Mark Blanchette
Seller: Doerpholz, Carolyn J., (Estate)
Date: 08/01/18

19 Summer St.
Greenfield, MA 01301
Amount: $192,500
Buyer: Edwin J. Banash
Seller: Mark E. Langenback
Date: 08/10/18

HAWLEY

11 Hunt Road
Hawley, MA 01339
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Jacob R. Desrosiers
Seller: John Scott
Date: 08/10/18

LEVERETT

140 Dudleyville Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Robert Barron
Seller: John Rathbun
Date: 08/08/18

66 Long Hill Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Amount: $525,000
Buyer: Janice Stamell
Seller: Stephen P. Coelen
Date: 07/30/18

LEYDEN

53 School Schoolhouse Road
Leyden, MA 01301
Amount: $244,000
Buyer: Timothy J. Haringa
Seller: Daniel J. Quinlan
Date: 07/31/18

MONTAGUE

2 Griswold St.
Montague, MA 01376
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Jamie L. Jackman
Seller: Melissa C. Kretchmar
Date: 08/02/18

NEW SALEM

78 North Main St.
New Salem, MA 01355
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Ryan D. Greeley
Seller: Daniel R. Greeley
Date: 08/02/18

NORTHFIELD

99 Birnam Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Craig D. Hefner
Seller: Joseph L. Platzner
Date: 08/03/18

25 Hidden Pond Lane
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Alexander J. Strysky
Seller: Steven L. Zakon-Anderson
Date: 08/03/18

389 Mount Hermon Station Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Roberto D. Naparstek
Seller: Christian F. Guertin
Date: 08/09/18

722-B Old Wendell Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Tyson C. Macknight
Seller: Shaun R. St.Clair
Date: 08/10/18

263-C Warwick Road
Northfield, MA 01360
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Peter M. Sibley
Seller: Michael D. Sibley
Date: 07/30/18

ORANGE

12 Anderwood Lane
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Frank J. Citino
Seller: Darrel L. Jarvis
Date: 07/30/18

180 Daniel Shays Hwy.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jai Gayatri Maa LLC
Seller: Natvar J. Patel
Date: 08/03/18

405 East Main St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: James Gleason
Seller: George F. Clouatre
Date: 08/03/18

178 East River St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $129,900
Buyer: Mark P. Carey
Seller: Nancy Ferron
Date: 08/03/18

232 East River St.
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $154,000
Buyer: Forrest A. Calder
Seller: Forest, Thomas K., (Estate)
Date: 07/30/18

100 Eagleville Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Michelle M. Peters
Seller: MA&N RT
Date: 08/01/18

55 New Athol Road
Orange, MA 01364
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Edward B. Sullivan
Seller: David M. Boudreau
Date: 08/08/18

SHUTESBURY

118 Leonard Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Andrea C. Dallas
Seller: Margaret G. Turgeon
Date: 08/10/18

WARWICK

16 South Holden Road
Warwick, MA 01378
Amount: $289,900
Buyer: Jean B. Haskell
Seller: Wayne A. Prohaska
Date: 07/30/18

WENDELL

143 Locke Hill Road
Wendell, MA 01379
Amount: $268,840
Buyer: Mark C. Bean
Seller: Michael A. Grillo
Date: 07/31/18

HAMPDEN COUNTY

AGAWAM

72 Anvil St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $416,000
Buyer: Claudine T. Wyner
Seller: Robert R. Houle
Date: 08/09/18

116 Barry St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $337,000
Buyer: Andrew R. Burns
Seller: Won G. Seo
Date: 08/01/18

74 Blairs Hill Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $399,900
Buyer: Jonathan Ryan
Seller: Michael H. Tremble
Date: 08/02/18

51 Faymore Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $308,000
Buyer: Graham Boggis
Seller: David M. Prova
Date: 07/30/18

14 Kathy Terrace
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Sally L. Day
Seller: Gabriel F. Laviolette
Date: 08/10/18

17 Liswell Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $327,000
Buyer: Adam C. Nouwen
Seller: Keith D. Poirier
Date: 07/31/18

869 North St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $292,000
Buyer: Krystyna A. Menard
Seller: Jeffrey S. Allan
Date: 08/06/18

225 Poplar St.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $178,800
Buyer: Kyle R. Metcalfe
Seller: Chester A. Zymroz
Date: 07/30/18

37 Quail Hollow Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $232,500
Buyer: Charles A. Zaremba
Seller: James Evans
Date: 08/10/18

32 Reed St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $203,000
Buyer: Jaclyn A. Wright
Seller: Joan M. Gathro
Date: 07/31/18

108 River Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Kellee A. Line
Seller: Christopher D. Marble
Date: 07/31/18

24 Stevenson Lane
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $458,000
Buyer: Amy L. Martin
Seller: Scott Stein
Date: 08/10/18

16 Vernon St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: James C. Redfern
Seller: Thomas E. Burke
Date: 07/30/18

61 Warren St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Vincent Serignese
Seller: Edythe M. Brewster
Date: 08/03/18

5 Westford Circle
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $173,000
Buyer: Joseph R. Noonan
Seller: Sheila Sacco
Date: 08/10/18

41 Windermere Dr.
Agawam, MA 01030
Amount: $599,900
Buyer: Mohamad Borhot
Seller: Bretta Construction LLC
Date: 08/07/18

25 Wyman St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Amount: $202,000
Buyer: James W. Conway
Seller: Ann M. Garner
Date: 08/07/18

BLANDFORD

44 Nye Brook Road
Blandford, MA 01008
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Lisa M. Neveu
Seller: Elizabeth A. Jordt
Date: 07/31/18

BRIMFIELD

90 Paige Hill Road
Brimfield, MA 01010
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Michael D. Jund
Seller: Richard R. Denniston
Date: 08/10/18

CHICOPEE

19 Arnold St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $197,000
Buyer: Chelsea R. Dunn
Seller: Malgorzata J. Kantianis
Date: 08/03/18

41 Belvidere St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jeremy Saffer
Seller: Peter Braun
Date: 07/31/18

189 Bridle Path Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Marie T. Laflamme
Seller: Kimberly J. Laflamme
Date: 08/01/18

5-7 Bush Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $299,999
Buyer: Luis A. Lopez
Seller: Sarah Czerniak
Date: 08/09/18

172 Casey Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $237,500
Buyer: Michael J. Dearing
Seller: David R. King
Date: 07/31/18

107 Chester St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Marcelino Hernandez
Seller: Kevin M. Pouliot
Date: 08/02/18

356 Dale St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $151,738
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Nelson Roman
Date: 08/10/18

45 Donlyn Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $199,000
Buyer: Holly Nemeth
Seller: Kudla, Irene E., (Estate)
Date: 08/10/18

94 Ducharme Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $171,000
Buyer: Jonathan Lopez
Seller: Robert G. Cote
Date: 07/31/18

551 East St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Chois Property Management
Seller: East Elm Corp.
Date: 07/30/18

39 Fernwood St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $242,500
Buyer: Sara E. Lee
Seller: Aleksandr Govor
Date: 08/10/18

46 Leary Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $179,900
Buyer: Cory J. Rodgers
Seller: Linnea Majewicz
Date: 08/09/18

50 Leona Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Katie E. Roberts
Seller: Jessica A. Spear
Date: 07/30/18

170 Montcalm St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $183,000
Buyer: Stephanie E. Nunez
Seller: Katarzyna Kalisz
Date: 08/10/18

227 Rolf Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $174,000
Buyer: Michael B. Roy
Seller: Sophie Zielinski
Date: 07/30/18

67 Royalton St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $194,900
Buyer: Gerald D. Pratt
Seller: Scott Tucker
Date: 07/31/18

11 Sandra Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Angela Belieu
Seller: Joseph G. Daigle
Date: 07/30/18

153 Sesame Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $273,000
Buyer: Sean P. McClelland
Seller: Lawrence Adamczyk
Date: 07/30/18

116 School St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Richard Harty
Seller: Max Cap Properties LLC
Date: 08/08/18

124 Stearns Terrace
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Tiana L. Cruz
Seller: Alfredo A. Cunha
Date: 07/31/18

61 Stebbins St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Ronald L. Landry
Seller: Alfred A. Chagnon
Date: 07/30/18

16 Walton St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $151,300
Buyer: Jessica Dahlquist
Seller: Keith W. Dahlquist
Date: 08/01/18

54 Wanda St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Gregg W. Sutherland
Seller: Wolak, Michael J., (Estate)
Date: 08/02/18

Wheatland Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Amount: $199,900
Buyer: Hector J. Rivera
Seller: Cichonski, Stephen S., (Estate)
Date: 08/03/18

EAST LONGMEADOW

21 Breezy Knoll Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Beth E. Welch
Seller: Theodore E. Wakem
Date: 08/03/18

6 Burt Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $129,000
Buyer: Wilmington Trust
Seller: Jennifer R. Douglas
Date: 07/31/18

39 Canterbury Circle
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: Eric Coutinho
Seller: Rohit Singh
Date: 08/10/18

8 Cedar Hill Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $261,000
Buyer: Kendra Lemay
Seller: Patricia A. Wagner
Date: 07/31/18

25 Crescent Hill
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $202,000
Buyer: Christopher Buendo
Seller: Malcolm R. Schneider
Date: 07/31/18

55 Dearborn St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $182,500
Buyer: Kathleen M. Cutler
Seller: Dennis P. Cote
Date: 07/30/18

115 Elm St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $307,500
Buyer: Jason Whitaker
Seller: C. MacMonegle-Ekness
Date: 07/30/18

252 Elm St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Antonio J. Bordoni
Seller: Michael Lenares
Date: 07/31/18

23 High Pine Circle
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $413,000
Buyer: Joseph J. Giguere
Seller: Mauree McDonald-Tyburski
Date: 07/30/18

39 Maplehurst Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Loretta H. Potter
Seller: Frank L. Dubuque
Date: 07/31/18

250 Pease Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $244,000
Buyer: Marc A. Maccarini
Seller: Carol M. Sergel
Date: 08/10/18

21 Robin St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $362,500
Buyer: Huy Q. Truong
Seller: Kristen D. Daley
Date: 07/31/18

9 Skyline Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $315,000
Buyer: Gennaro Dibenedetto
Seller: Deutsche Bank
Date: 08/03/18

101 Somers Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $164,000
Buyer: Sarah A. Knowlton
Seller: Somers Rd Properties LLC
Date: 07/31/18

36 Wellington Dr.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Amount: $499,000
Buyer: Marc R. Murphy
Seller: Beth E. Welch
Date: 08/03/18

GRANVILLE

122 Sodom St.
Granville, MA 01034
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Timothy Ryan
Seller: Ruby Realty LLC
Date: 07/30/18

HAMPDEN

400 South Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Raymond J. Thibault
Seller: Scott R. Southworth
Date: 08/10/18

HOLLAND

10 Bernie Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $199,000
Buyer: Stephen Smith
Seller: Thomas A. Dubrey
Date: 07/31/18

20 Candlewood Dr.
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $238,000
Buyer: Thomas L. Regan
Seller: Timothy Haringa
Date: 08/07/18

22 Old Acres Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $278,000
Buyer: Christine J. Martin
Seller: Old Green Acres LLC
Date: 07/31/18

73 Stafford Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $215,000
Buyer: Denton R. Hutchens
Seller: James A. Boucher
Date: 08/07/18

40 Williams Road
Holland, MA 01521
Amount: $228,000
Buyer: Susan J. Winslow
Seller: Angela M. Talbot
Date: 08/02/18

HOLYOKE

33 Arthur St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Maria C. Medina
Seller: Cedar Investment Group
Date: 08/01/18

84 Bemis Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $251,000
Buyer: Robin M. Fasoli
Seller: Erica Morawski
Date: 08/10/18

90 Brookline Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Stephan Edel
Seller: James N. Chevalier
Date: 08/03/18

71 Ely St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Pennymac Holdings LLC
Seller: Darlene Davis
Date: 08/03/18

37-39 Florence Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $282,000
Buyer: Patrick B. Beaudry
Seller: Daniel E. Bogan
Date: 08/10/18

181 Linden St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $324,900
Buyer: Jodi Powers
Seller: Kirby N. Juengst
Date: 08/07/18

250 Madison Ave. West
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $233,000
Buyer: Elizabeth Labrocca
Seller: Ralph L. Cohen
Date: 07/31/18

2074 Northampton St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $246,000
Buyer: Jason L. Martinez
Seller: Donna W. Hoener
Date: 07/31/18

396 Pleasant St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $189,900
Buyer: Micha A. Broadnax
Seller: Antonio Lebron
Date: 07/30/18

37 Princeton St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $269,900
Buyer: Andrew S. Lape
Seller: Joseph Rosinski
Date: 07/30/18

Rock Valley Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: CIL Realty Of Mass Inc.
Seller: Daniel A. Bernard
Date: 07/31/18

136 Sheehan Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Stanley O. Akula
Seller: Kaplan, Mary J., (Estate)
Date: 07/30/18

173 Southampton Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: David R. Cunningham
Seller: Robert P. Kocher
Date: 07/31/18

275-279 Suffolk St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $575,000
Buyer: Yarland Properties LLC
Seller: Alfred J. Trombley
Date: 08/01/18

172 Sycamore St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Rebecca J. Downing
Seller: Ryan P. Murphy
Date: 08/06/18

LONGMEADOW

17 Andover Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $435,000
Buyer: James M. Minnix
Seller: 88 Casino Terrace LLC
Date: 08/10/18

13 Ferncroft St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $318,000
Buyer: Jonathan W. Moulton
Seller: Eric Coutinho
Date: 08/10/18

40 Edgemont St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $322,000
Buyer: Andrew H. Anton
Seller: Kimberly M. Maynard
Date: 07/30/18

50 Edgewood Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $382,000
Buyer: Daniel Salazar
Seller: John G. Ashe
Date: 07/31/18

208 Ellington Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $589,000
Buyer: Michael H. Tremble
Seller: Caitlin J. Cronin
Date: 08/02/18

46 Erskine Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Laxmitejaswi Mittapalli
Seller: Wilmington Savings
Date: 07/31/18

36 Falmouth Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $345,000
Buyer: Andrew A. Bolduc
Seller: Terry G. Shotland
Date: 08/02/18

611 Frank Smith Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $435,500
Buyer: Chang H. Choi
Seller: Abigail A. Vatrano
Date: 08/10/18

175 Franklin Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $420,000
Buyer: Benjamin P. Maynard
Seller: Mitchell I. Clionsky
Date: 07/30/18

386 Green Hill Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $965,000
Buyer: Brian K. Burke
Seller: James M. Brennan
Date: 07/31/18

34 Greenacre Ave.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $505,000
Buyer: William T. Mitchell
Seller: Ryan N. Shanks
Date: 07/30/18

107 Hopkins Place
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $381,000
Buyer: Michelle E. Moosbrugger
Seller: Richard Wilson
Date: 07/31/18

65 Longmeadow St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $430,000
Buyer: Julie H. Margetta-Morgan
Seller: Lisa A. Foster
Date: 08/03/18

690 Longmeadow St.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $800,000
Buyer: Ryan N. Shanks
Seller: Mark S. Bean
Date: 07/30/18

77 Maple Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $399,900
Buyer: Walter A. Peters
Seller: Lawrence V. Schmitt
Date: 08/01/18

76 Meadowbrook Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $399,000
Buyer: Christopher R. Bernd
Seller: Ann J. Schupack
Date: 07/31/18

332 Pinewood Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Mark C. Oswanski
Seller: Michael F. Loonie
Date: 08/06/18

37 Tennyson Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $563,000
Buyer: Meredith B. Hagaman
Seller: Ila K. Shebar
Date: 08/08/18

56 Warren Terrace
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $302,500
Buyer: Hem K. Pokharel
Seller: Thomas P. Kennedy
Date: 08/06/18

21 Wyndward Road
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Amount: $332,000
Buyer: Tanya M. Curry
Seller: Klein, Caroline K., (Estate)
Date: 07/31/18

LUDLOW

17 Barna St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Joaquim Simao
Seller: Rui Simao
Date: 07/31/18

188 Bridle Path Circle
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Robert A. Mathias
Seller: Carolyn Therrien
Date: 07/30/18

353 Fuller St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $313,400
Buyer: Daniel R. Askew
Seller: Atwater Investors Inc.
Date: 08/03/18

387 Holyoke St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $265,000
Buyer: Jorge Teixeira
Seller: Kevin S. McNamara
Date: 08/03/18

73 Laroche St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $197,500
Buyer: Richard G. Kneszewski
Seller: Katie L. Schebel
Date: 07/30/18

19 Letendre Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $236,000
Buyer: Daniel J. Kennedy
Seller: Antonio Carvalho
Date: 08/10/18

128 Michael St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Reese B. Savoie
Seller: Laurent L. Beaudry
Date: 08/10/18

24 Pleasantview St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $207,000
Buyer: Mark P. Dooley
Seller: Josue I. Lopes
Date: 07/31/18

64 Prospect St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $156,500
Buyer: Tessa Cote
Seller: FNMA
Date: 08/06/18

129 Skyridge St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Dominic Fortini
Seller: John V. Fortini
Date: 08/01/18

764 West St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Joseph M. Bach
Seller: Chi L. Lysak
Date: 08/03/18

67 Yale St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Jose Ribeiro-Pires
Seller: Wells Fargo Bank
Date: 08/07/18

MONSON

10 Brimfield Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: John J. Maloney
Seller: Katherine H. O’Brien
Date: 08/09/18

14 Circle Dr.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $249,000
Buyer: Kristopher Longtin
Seller: Gina Dunn
Date: 08/10/18

30 Flynt Ave.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $193,000
Buyer: Meaghan M. Fortune
Seller: Russell N. Bergeron
Date: 08/10/18

21 High St.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Bank New York Mellon
Seller: Ann M. Becker
Date: 08/06/18

54 Hospital Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: Erica L. Davis
Seller: Bernard R. Riley
Date: 07/31/18

100 Main St.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $247,000
Buyer: Steven E. Niquette
Seller: Paula L. Bednarski
Date: 07/30/18

11 Park Ave.
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $176,289
Buyer: Jeffrey S. Bacon
Seller: Erica L. Davis
Date: 07/31/18

168 Stafford Road
Monson, MA 01057
Amount: $206,000
Buyer: Joseph L. Provost
Seller: Bonnie A. Harrington
Date: 08/08/18

PALMER

124 Chudy St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Chance J. Plant
Seller: Gregory Gibbs
Date: 08/10/18

Foster St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $132,500
Buyer: Donald Wood
Seller: Robin M. Morin
Date: 08/03/18

104 Longview St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: Matthew E. Dacruz
Seller: Andreas O. Apenburg
Date: 08/10/18

2166-2168 Main St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $188,000
Buyer: MG&MG LLC
Seller: Jacqueline S. Henry
Date: 08/09/18

3137 Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Andrew Cienciwa
Seller: Shawn Galarneau
Date: 08/01/18

125 Mason St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Jonathan M. Janosz
Seller: Mary B. Tripp
Date: 07/31/18

20 Off Bourne St.
Palmer, MA 01080
Amount: $127,920
Buyer: USA HUD
Seller: Bank Of America
Date: 07/30/18

17 Old Farm Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Doreen Cunningham
Seller: Curtis G. Davis
Date: 08/06/18

1085 Pleasant St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Ruth C. O’Malley
Date: 08/07/18

120 State St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Linda Walker-Martowski
Date: 08/06/18

SOUTHWICK

47 College Hwy.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Daniel Kozlov
Seller: United States Bankruptcy Court
Date: 08/10/18

3 Ferrin Dr.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $400,000
Buyer: Malgorzata J. Kantianis
Seller: Mabick TR
Date: 08/03/18

49 Lakeview St.
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $151,500
Buyer: Gregory E. Smith
Seller: Dale M. Tuczinski
Date: 08/03/18

25 Laurel Ridge Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $595,000
Buyer: Hanz J&F Gotzmann RET
Seller: James H. Busiere
Date: 08/01/18

5 Revere Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Amount: $221,500
Buyer: Christopher J. Kennedy
Seller: Christina L. Beaulieu
Date: 07/30/18

SPRINGFIELD

69 Abbott St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $169,900
Buyer: Larry Lizardi
Seller: Rachad Abou-Nemry
Date: 07/31/18

374-380 Allen St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: 374 Allen Street LLC
Seller: T&R Ianello LLC
Date: 07/31/18

159-161 Arnold Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Ana Duverge-Roy
Seller: Michael A. Torcia
Date: 08/08/18

59 Atwater Road
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Betsy Garcia
Seller: Robert M. Hastings
Date: 08/02/18

34-36 Beaudry St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Paul M. Cangialosi
Seller: Kevin S. McNamara
Date: 08/09/18

130-132 Belmont Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $880,000
Buyer: Springfield Belmont LLC
Seller: 130 Belmont Avenue RT
Date: 08/01/18

23 Bevier St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $269,403
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Mary M. Vaughan
Date: 08/06/18

194 Bolton St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Kevin N. Kessler
Seller: Emily Kerswell
Date: 08/03/18

162 Bowles Park
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Sarah Dion
Seller: Jennifer A. Bertolasio
Date: 08/01/18

37 Bristol St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Frances Fernandez
Seller: Greater Springfield Habitat for Humanity
Date: 08/01/18

155 Brookdale Dr.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $1,150,000
Buyer: Marcom Realty LLC
Seller: Raymond Pieczarka
Date: 08/08/18

30 Cambridge St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $192,000
Buyer: Orlando Perez
Seller: VIP Homes & Assocs. LLC
Date: 07/30/18

46 Canterbury Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $156,500
Buyer: Celese Andrea-Perez
Seller: AJN Rentals LLC
Date: 07/31/18

49 Carew Terrace
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $144,200
Buyer: Nicole McKee
Seller: Frank M. Decaro
Date: 08/10/18

77 Clough St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $119,000
Buyer: Letha A. Foreman
Seller: FNMA
Date: 07/30/18

144 Colorado St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Lindsey M. Hutchinson
Seller: Robert R. Balicki
Date: 08/10/18

116 Corcoran Blvd.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $158,000
Buyer: Samantha M. Rivera
Seller: Anthony J. Alvaro
Date: 07/30/18

175-177 Corthell St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $206,000
Buyer: Jose Baez-Ramos
Seller: Robert J. Schroeter
Date: 08/06/18

189-191 Corthell St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Dylan A. Chasse
Seller: Fumi Realty Inc.
Date: 08/03/18

126 Croyden Terrace
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $151,771
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Eduardo Diaz
Date: 08/06/18

55 Crown St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $141,900
Buyer: Yanira Brito
Seller: Luu Nguyen
Date: 07/30/18

27 Dayton St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Smails LLC
Seller: James J. Ianello
Date: 08/02/18

7 Dorchester St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Yvette M. Holt
Seller: Christopher T. Carroll
Date: 07/31/18

82 Duggan Circle
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Adrian Ortiz
Seller: Kimberly L. Hayes
Date: 07/31/18

138 Dwight Road
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Mariann Lorenzo
Seller: Angel Mojica
Date: 08/10/18

29 Dwight Road
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: Marelin Valazquez
Seller: Shu Cheng
Date: 08/06/18

277 Edendale St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Miguel DeJesus
Seller: Scott R. Abar
Date: 07/31/18

114 Ellsworth Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $127,330
Buyer: Timothy Perkins
Seller: William B. Pass
Date: 08/08/18

52 Emily St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Ivonne L. Capo-Baez
Seller: Alan L. Beaudry
Date: 07/31/18

84 Farnsworth St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $153,000
Buyer: Gerald R. Russo
Seller: Michael Wallace
Date: 07/30/18

18 Fenway Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Haji Reed
Seller: Kathryn M. Giguere
Date: 07/30/18

87 Francis St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Melissa J. Grochmal
Seller: Krystyna A. Menard
Date: 08/09/18

36 Gatewood Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $144,000
Buyer: Rayna M. Brown
Seller: US Bank
Date: 08/08/18

90 Gardens Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $116,001
Buyer: Veritas RT
Seller: US Bank
Date: 08/01/18

96 Garfield St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $144,000
Buyer: Luis M. Rodriguez
Seller: Patricia H. Melenkivitz
Date: 07/30/18

492 Gifford St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Benjamin Alamo
Date: 08/03/18

182 Gilbert Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $160,000
Buyer: Marie C. Moise
Seller: Rebekah Carter
Date: 08/01/18

16 Glendell Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $136,500
Buyer: Iris J. Torres
Seller: SLC Associates LLC
Date: 08/08/18

Gresham St.
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Bretta Construction LLC
Seller: Leora F. Cosenzi
Date: 08/01/18

240 Gresham St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Ruby Realty LLC
Seller: Lawrence M. Maina
Date: 08/08/18

17 Groton St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $139,500
Buyer: Luis A. Aguilar
Seller: Russell V. Jenkins
Date: 08/01/18

140-142 Hampshire St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Paul M. Cangialosi
Seller: Kevin S. McNamara
Date: 08/09/18

60 Hatch St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $152,500
Buyer: Leslie Rivera
Seller: Sally L. Day
Date: 08/10/18

77-79 Humbert St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Gary M. Gaudette
Seller: Maria J. Navarro
Date: 08/07/18

11 Intervale Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $126,597
Buyer: Short4u RT
Seller: JP Morgan Chase Bank
Date: 07/31/18

26 Irvington St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $223,000
Buyer: Kelsey Strouse
Seller: William Raleigh
Date: 07/31/18

182 Jasper St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $117,500
Buyer: Vitaliy V. Gladysh
Seller: Mid Island Mortgage Corp.
Date: 08/02/18

81 Joanne Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Roybet Matias
Seller: Bretta Construction LLC
Date: 07/31/18

31-33 Kamuda St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Paul M. Cangialosi
Seller: Kevin S. McNamara
Date: 08/09/18

36 Kenway Dr.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $199,900
Buyer: Robert Brandon
Seller: Rebecca D. Stout
Date: 07/31/18

38 Lakevilla Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $172,000
Buyer: Kristofer Kulzer
Seller: Erica M. Floyd
Date: 08/03/18

181 Lamont St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Bretta Construction LLC
Seller: Leora F. Cosenzi
Date: 08/01/18

112 Leavitt St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Bianca Polk
Seller: Devon Boreland
Date: 08/03/18

44 Lorenzo St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $132,000
Buyer: Kenneth J. Proulx
Seller: Kenneth Guzzo
Date: 08/10/18

54 Lorimer St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Patricia A. Carbone
Seller: Juan C. Cruz
Date: 08/03/18

89-91 Lyons St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $135,000
Buyer: Tomas V. Guerra
Seller: Celeste M. Silva
Date: 08/06/18

182 Main St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Amount: $125,000
Buyer: Matadormus LLC
Seller: Carlos Porfirio
Date: 07/30/18

102 Maplewood Terrace
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $206,000
Buyer: Christopher J. Curtis
Seller: Daniel Rodriguez
Date: 08/08/18

121-123 Massachusetts Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $187,000
Buyer: Brady Appolon
Seller: Sandra Boreland
Date: 07/31/18

9-11 Massasoit PlACE
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $118,000
Buyer: Amat Victoria Curam LLC
Seller: Angel M. Santiago
Date: 08/07/18

29 Maybrook Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Anne Anetzberger-Kroisi
Seller: Resilient Investments LLC
Date: 08/08/18

15 Mountainview St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Joseph Wells
Seller: Josiah Friedberg
Date: 08/03/18

58 Murray Hill Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $140,000
Buyer: Jose L. Diaz
Seller: Eliseo Gerena
Date: 08/10/18

106 Naismith St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $232,000
Buyer: James K. Githiri
Seller: Hellen B. Lugalia
Date: 07/31/18

294 Naismith St.
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $330,000
Buyer: Michelle Shilasi
Seller: Bretta Construction LLC
Date: 08/08/18

151 Newhouse St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Keith Dahlquist
Seller: Kristopher N. Longtin
Date: 08/10/18

18 Osgood St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Samuel Martinez
Seller: Cecilio Rivera
Date: 07/31/18

75 Palo Alto Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Amount: $203,000
Buyer: Matthew J. Grippo
Seller: Mendes, Doris F., (Estate)
Date: 07/30/18

384 Parker St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $138,500
Buyer: Javier Rodriguez
Seller: Thomas A. Peterson
Date: 07/30/18

101 Pembroke St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $164,500
Buyer: Gabrielle Bey
Seller: Kevin Tessier
Date: 08/07/18

43 Pine Acre Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Christine M. Bednarz
Seller: Luis Casiano
Date: 08/03/18

176 Quincy St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: Dorrett A. Dawes-Gobay
Seller: Francisco M. Ramos
Date: 08/03/18

Ramblewood Dr.
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $236,000
Buyer: Samuel Sevelo
Seller: Kristin A. Puleo
Date: 07/31/18

54 Randolph St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $206,010
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Patricia A. Grattan
Date: 08/01/18

89 Ravenwood St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Axelmma V. Martinez
Seller: Cheryl W. Moore
Date: 07/31/18

55 Rochelle St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Arthur Navarro
Seller: LW Development LLC
Date: 08/10/18

89 Roosevelt Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $190,000
Buyer: Daniel W. Shannon
Seller: Eileen B. Manley
Date: 08/08/18

34 Rosemary Dr.
Springfield, MA 01119
Amount: $178,000
Buyer: Gabriel Serrano
Seller: Corey A. Chenevert
Date: 07/31/18

165 Rosewell St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $156,000
Buyer: Western Mass. Properties Developers
Seller: Nolava LLC
Date: 08/09/18

82-84 Santa Barbara St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: Ashleen Lopez
Seller: Jose A. Lisboa
Date: 07/31/18

15 Spence St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Amount: $142,500
Buyer: Joseph Czerapowicz
Seller: Couture, Carol B., (Estate)
Date: 07/31/18

1464 State St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: AJN Rentals LLC
Seller: MNJ LLC
Date: 08/02/18

State St. (NS)
Springfield, MA 01101
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: AJN Rentals LLC
Seller: MNJ LLC
Date: 08/02/18

64 Surrey Road
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $171,900
Buyer: Christina Ortiz
Seller: DPB Equinox LLC
Date: 08/07/18

77 Trafton Road
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $143,000
Buyer: Zenobia L. McCray
Seller: Deshia A. Horton
Date: 07/31/18

35-37 Webber St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $229,000
Buyer: Mabeline Velez
Seller: Kelly Connors
Date: 08/06/18

68 Westbank Court
Springfield, MA 01118
Amount: $185,058
Buyer: FNMA
Seller: Douglas G. White
Date: 08/09/18

173 Westminster St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $182,000
Buyer: Patricia Planas
Seller: AAD LLC
Date: 08/03/18

46-48 Whittier St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Pioneer Housing LLC
Seller: Robert J. Schroeter
Date: 08/08/18

509 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01109
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Michael J. Dias Foundation
Seller: Craig J. Difranco
Date: 08/03/18

2303 Wilbraham Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Amount: $236,000
Buyer: Jolene Charles
Seller: US Bank
Date: 07/31/18

48 Wilmont St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Amount: $162,000
Buyer: Cindy Guzman
Seller: Luis Velazquez
Date: 08/10/18

WALES

94 Monson Road
Wales, MA 01081
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Glenn A. Holmes
Seller: Shawn R. Howe
Date: 08/03/18

WEST SPRINGFIELD

104 Baldwin St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Jibber Holdings LLC
Seller: Joseph Batakis
Date: 07/30/18

59 Beauview Terrace
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Austn T. Lyne
Seller: Mark T. Lyne
Date: 08/03/18

126 Dorwin Dr.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Kevin A. Kerr
Seller: Sweeney, Raymond J., (Estate)
Date: 08/09/18

50 East Gooseberry Road
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Eric F. Tasakovic
Seller: James Conway
Date: 08/06/18

74 Forris St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $194,900
Buyer: Jessica L. Andia
Seller: Anne E. Davidson
Date: 08/02/18

24 Jensen Circle
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Ilya Okhrimenko
Seller: FNMA
Date: 07/31/18

75 Larchwood St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $230,000
Buyer: Jennifer L. Stephenson
Seller: Phillip G. Hannah
Date: 08/08/18

106 Lewis Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $228,000
Buyer: Keith E. Barrington
Seller: Linda S. Stephens
Date: 08/03/18

125 Maple St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $180,000
Buyer: David J. Schwede
Seller: Nicholas W. Barker
Date: 08/10/18

89 Meadowbrook Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Thomas A. Ferraro
Seller: Carla Ryan
Date: 08/02/18

170 Morton St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Alaa Albaghdadi
Seller: Raymond Rioux
Date: 07/31/18

70 Mount Pleasant Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $239,000
Buyer: Diane C. Parmenter
Seller: Passerini, Harold M., (Estate)
Date: 07/30/18

54 Norman St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $127,500
Buyer: Bank New York Mellon
Seller: Gary L. Yard
Date: 08/06/18

333 Ohio Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: West Co Investments LLC
Seller: Dowd, Mary Austin C., (Estate)
Date: 08/03/18

44 Pine St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $152,000
Buyer: Angel A. Canales
Seller: Angela Misischia
Date: 07/31/18

320 Prospect Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $174,661
Buyer: CIG 4 LLC
Seller: Marcie E. Lyons
Date: 08/01/18

41 Silver St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $200,000
Buyer: Nicholas W. Barker
Seller: Matthew Bienia
Date: 08/10/18

44 West St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Amount: $399,000
Buyer: Hussein Tasayev
Seller: Englewood Land Holdings
Date: 08/10/18

WESTFIELD

44 Bennett Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $290,000
Buyer: David J. Kelsey
Seller: Thomas Sullivan
Date: 08/03/18

11 Bush St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $145,000
Buyer: Joseph Busby
Seller: Robert N. Tingley
Date: 08/09/18

11 Cherry St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Manosh Darjee
Seller: Vadim Plotnikov
Date: 08/10/18

59 Flynn Meadow Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $454,000
Buyer: James H. Busiere
Seller: Alan Dietrich
Date: 08/01/18

80 Highland Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Samantha B. Zamboni
Seller: Michael P. Sadowski
Date: 07/31/18

8 Irene Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $264,900
Buyer: James R. Heenehan
Seller: Andrew R. Knights
Date: 07/31/18

1 Kelly Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: Nicholas D. Amanti
Seller: Parviz Ansari
Date: 07/30/18

109 Little River Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $223,500
Buyer: Luis R. Aguaiza-Paredez
Seller: Michelle L. Janke
Date: 07/31/18

98 Main St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $188,000
Buyer: Paul J. Hentnick
Seller: Therese C. Hentnick
Date: 08/03/18

181 Main St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $284,623
Buyer: US Bank
Seller: Antonio Gonzales
Date: 07/31/18

133 North Elm St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $143,000
Buyer: Stephanie M. Morris
Seller: Ronald L. Queipo
Date: 08/06/18

85 Otis St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $196,000
Buyer: Oleg Dimov
Seller: Gabino Castro
Date: 08/03/18

42 Northridge Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $302,000
Buyer: Jeffrey S. Allan
Seller: Kristen R. Quinn
Date: 08/06/18

1 Park St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $165,000
Buyer: Alec F. Leavitt
Seller: Della Ripa Real Estate
Date: 08/10/18

19 Pheasant Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: David S. Garcia
Seller: Anthony J. Georger
Date: 07/31/18

41 Pinewood Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $188,600
Buyer: Kyle J. Silva
Seller: James D. Adams
Date: 08/06/18

131 Reservoir Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $229,900
Buyer: Thomas M. Johnson
Seller: Steven J. Sheldon
Date: 08/01/18

76 Ridgecrest Circle
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Stephen J. Silansky
Seller: Raymond L. Rossi
Date: 08/03/18

67 Roosevelt Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $198,000
Buyer: Jessica L. Campbell
Seller: Kelly M. Getto
Date: 08/10/18

586 Southampton Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $177,500
Buyer: Thomas J. McCarthy
Seller: Beck, John J., (Estate)
Date: 07/31/18

762 Western Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Brian A. Oleksak
Seller: Stacia T. Cascio
Date: 08/10/18

25 William St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Amount: $152,898
Buyer: Brandon F. Hills
Seller: Deborah A. McLaughlin
Date: 08/02/18

WILBRAHAM

20 Bartlett Ave.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $240,875
Buyer: Connor J. Mooney
Seller: Edward P. Smith
Date: 08/06/18

2205 Boston Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $219,900
Buyer: Ambro Development LLC
Seller: Thomas L. Bretta
Date: 08/07/18

2417 Boston Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: 2417 Boston Road LLC
Seller: Judy Buckeye
Date: 08/07/18

37 Brookside Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $252,000
Buyer: Rene A. Romero
Seller: William W. Porter
Date: 08/06/18

21 Herrick Place
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $550,000
Buyer: Brian P. O’Connor
Seller: Patrick J. Brady
Date: 07/31/18

19 Maple St.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $499,000
Buyer: Megan M. Semple
Seller: Gary P. Kendrick
Date: 07/31/18

8 South Colonial Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $235,000
Buyer: Mark S. France
Seller: Yvette M. Jensen 2014 RET
Date: 08/10/18

9 Willow Brook Lane
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Thomas J. Davis
Seller: Custom Homes Development
Date: 07/31/18

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY

AMHERST

57 Berkshire Terrace
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $475,000
Buyer: Raphael E. Arku
Seller: Stella S. Offner
Date: 07/30/18

35 Canton Ave.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $522,500
Buyer: Geraldine Grant-Hansen
Seller: Joslad & Assocs. PC
Date: 07/31/18

205 East Pleasant St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Anna P. Goldstein
Seller: Robin S. Karson
Date: 08/10/18

978 East Pleasant St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $127,000
Buyer: Aaron Shragge
Seller: Charles C. Mann
Date: 08/02/18

96 Farview Way
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $490,000
Buyer: Josna E. Rege
Seller: Bette D. Goldsmith RET
Date: 08/06/18

69 Grantwood Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $346,000
Buyer: Adam Lau
Seller: Charlie M. Wang
Date: 08/09/18

157 High St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $446,500
Buyer: Jane Degenhardt
Seller: Dennis G. Searcy
Date: 08/01/18

18 Hillcrest Place
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $355,000
Buyer: Keith T. Metzger
Seller: Amber Horning-Ruf
Date: 07/31/18

204 Lincoln Ave.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $645,000
Buyer: Pari Riahi
Seller: Philip S. Jackson
Date: 08/02/18

11 Overlook Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $336,000
Buyer: Preston Dortch
Seller: Mario Parente
Date: 07/30/18

33 Pokeberry Ridge
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Sharon S. Carty
Seller: John F. Edwards
Date: 08/02/18

143 Pondview Dr.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Rachid Skouta
Seller: Alison L. McCoy
Date: 08/02/18

88 Rambling Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $530,000
Buyer: Caiping Yao
Seller: Karen S. Bonneau
Date: 07/30/18

15 Sherry Circle
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $950,000
Buyer: Robert Dufresne
Seller: Jean Jones Beard RT
Date: 08/03/18

26 Shumway St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Tip Up LLC
Seller: Naka J. Ishii
Date: 07/30/18

126 Shutesbury Road
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $675,000
Buyer: Nathan T. Wilson
Seller: Barbara A. Tinker
Date: 08/01/18

715 South East St.
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $410,000
Buyer: Julius Menn & D. Sagner TR
Seller: Debra L. Jacobson
Date: 08/02/18

11 Thistle Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $339,000
Buyer: Ya Z. Rote
Seller: Mary E. Knightly
Date: 08/07/18

178 West Pomeroy Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Amount: $342,000
Buyer: Erold K. Bailey
Seller: Amber G. Young
Date: 08/06/18

BELCHERTOWN

540 Michael Sears Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $130,000
Buyer: Stephen Fellers
Seller: Debra A. Benoit
Date: 08/01/18

165 Munsell St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Gregory Gibbs
Seller: Raymond O. Malenfant
Date: 08/10/18

90 North Liberty St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $260,000
Buyer: Ronald O. Pare
Seller: Alfred Bates
Date: 08/02/18

16 Old Bay Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $437,000
Buyer: Stefan C. Gonick
Seller: William P. Dendor
Date: 08/10/18

235 Old Enfield Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $231,000
Buyer: Brian P. Kosiorek
Seller: Suzanne M. Larro
Date: 07/31/18

49 Orchard St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $370,000
Buyer: Todd R. Butynski
Seller: Keith J. McConnell
Date: 08/08/18

27 Sherwood Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $253,000
Buyer: Andrew L. Cook
Seller: Rosary M. Canham-Blair
Date: 08/06/18

154 South St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $270,000
Buyer: Craig M. Schoen
Seller: Michael T. Schmidt
Date: 08/10/18

255 State St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $210,000
Buyer: Jonathan A. Szwajkowski
Seller: Lauren M. Lacedra
Date: 08/10/18

33 Summit St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Michael Nolden
Seller: Dana S. Kearns
Date: 07/30/18

CHESTERFIELD

153 Damon Pond Road
Chesterfield, MA 01012
Amount: $283,000
Buyer: Michael Leff
Seller: Barbara J. Sullivan FT
Date: 07/31/18

CUMMINGTON

13 Potash Hill Road
Cummington, MA 01026
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Steven Lord
Seller: Carol R. Stevenson
Date: 08/07/18

EASTHAMPTON

44 Ashley Circle
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $429,500
Buyer: Alan Dietrich
Seller: Brenda A. Linnell
Date: 08/01/18

59 Briggs St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Rebecca Connolly
Seller: Mark Delisle
Date: 07/31/18

5 Chapman Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $535,000
Buyer: ZLS LLC
Seller: Michael C. Baer
Date: 08/03/18

15 Howard Ave.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $263,500
Buyer: David J. Gleason
Seller: Kevin E. Balicki
Date: 08/01/18

8 Kania St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $251,345
Buyer: Alison L. McCoy
Seller: Michael P. Witzing
Date: 08/03/18

9 Melinda Lane
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $329,900
Buyer: Lauren Isherwood
Seller: Eugene H. Callahan
Date: 08/10/18

20 Melinda Lane
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $252,000
Buyer: James F. Wells
Seller: New England Remodeling
Date: 07/31/18

116 Park St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Michelle R. Warren
Seller: Joseph G. Lafreniere
Date: 08/10/18

29 Plain St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: William R. Vanoudenhove
Seller: Vanoudenhove, Mary J., (Estate)
Date: 08/09/18

41 South St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $155,000
Buyer: Mitchell J. Korn
Seller: Rebecca A. O’Neill
Date: 07/31/18

7 Union Court
Easthampton, MA 01027
Amount: $219,000
Buyer: Colin J. Hoyt
Seller: Joseph C. Ryan
Date: 07/31/18

GOSHEN

19 Aberdeen Road
Goshen, MA 01032
Amount: $500,000
Buyer: Deborah G. Eaton
Seller: Paul L. Holt
Date: 08/08/18

16 Circle Dr.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $249,000
Buyer: Derek E. Kerns
Seller: Lois A. Pare
Date: 08/01/18

60 Main St.
Goshen, MA 01032
Amount: $185,000
Buyer: Luke Felten
Seller: Justin R. Lebeau
Date: 07/31/18

269 Old Goshen Road
Goshen, MA 01096
Amount: $325,000
Buyer: John F. Doyle
Seller: David T. Lashway
Date: 08/06/18

9 Pinebrook Circle
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Jose C. Morales
Seller: Carolyn Messier
Date: 07/30/18

GRANBY

5 Mary Lyon Dr.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $340,000
Buyer: Richard Boone
Seller: Christopher J. McCurdy
Date: 08/10/18

157 Taylor St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $377,500
Buyer: Ronald R. Leombruno
Seller: Pamela Dougherty
Date: 08/09/18

8 Truby St.
Granby, MA 01033
Amount: $239,000
Buyer: Audra Vitale
Seller: Amy H. Hudson
Date: 08/09/18

HADLEY

53 Bay Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $320,000
Buyer: Valerie Hood
Seller: Jason M. Kicza
Date: 08/03/18

14 Breckenridge Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $262,000
Buyer: Elizabeth Perkins
Seller: Maria A. Holguin
Date: 08/08/18

3 Joelle Terrace
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $401,000
Buyer: Xiaoying Li
Seller: Brian R. Umberger
Date: 07/31/18

22 Laurel Dr.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $360,000
Buyer: Jennifer Friedman
Seller: Samuel W. Crompton
Date: 07/30/18

24 Maple Ave.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $358,888
Buyer: Sharon M. Dion
Seller: No Place Like Home Properties
Date: 08/02/18

77 Mount Warner Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $382,500
Buyer: Cheryl A. Flynn
Seller: Royer 2013 IRT
Date: 08/07/18

86 Mount Warner Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $350,000
Buyer: Page Railsback
Seller: Historical Enterprises
Date: 08/10/18

2 Nikkis Way
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $710,000
Buyer: Christine M. Tougas
Seller: Bercume Construction LLC
Date: 07/30/18

177 River Dr.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $385,000
Buyer: Anthony A. Pipczynski
Seller: Jeffrey S. Rothenberg
Date: 08/01/18

22 River Dr.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $379,900
Buyer: Cameron N. Musco
Seller: Jessica L. Jeannenot
Date: 07/31/18

69 Rocky Hill Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $295,000
Buyer: Tyler K. Rhodes
Seller: Kevin E. Quashie
Date: 07/31/18

189 Russell St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $1,650,000
Buyer: CBR Realty Corp
Seller: Lacomb Holdings LLC
Date: 08/09/18

322 Russell St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $700,000
Buyer: Robert Salvini
Seller: Mary E. Salvini
Date: 07/31/18

37 Spruce Hill Road
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $257,000
Buyer: Alexei Levine
Seller: Morin, Sarah M., (Estate)
Date: 08/01/18

130 West St.
Hadley, MA 01035
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: G&K Rentals LLC
Seller: Green Tree Family LP
Date: 08/01/18

HATFIELD

7 Elm Court
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $289,900
Buyer: Jamie M. Paciorek
Seller: Barbara E. Folan
Date: 07/31/18

30 Elm St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $255,000
Buyer: John Orbison-Weinert
Seller: Keith Metzger
Date: 07/31/18

63 King St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Thomas J. Woodside
Seller: Bonney A. Brown
Date: 08/03/18

Old Stage Road
Hatfield, MA 01038
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: Paul J. Dauteuil
Seller: Delbert C. Glover
Date: 08/10/18

HUNTINGTON

1 County Road
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Aaron Bassette
Seller: Richard D. Dodd
Date: 07/31/18

3 Pleasant St.
Huntington, MA 01050
Amount: $174,900
Buyer: Lyle L. Congdon
Seller: Robert W. Thayer
Date: 08/07/18

MIDDLEFIELD

185 Town Hill Road
Middlefield, MA 01243
Amount: $147,000
Buyer: Gail P. Rivers-Crabtree
Seller: Mary White
Date: 08/10/18

NORTHAMPTON

94 Autumn Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $214,950
Buyer: Kelley Wagner
Seller: Samantha I. Dana
Date: 08/06/18

310 Bridge Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Laura Dushame-Dunphy
Seller: Shaw IRT
Date: 08/06/18

754 Bridge Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $227,000
Buyer: Richard E. Jaescke
Seller: Michael J. Susco
Date: 07/31/18

191 Brookside Circle
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $170,000
Buyer: Dale M. Jones
Seller: Sarah Saslow-Poudrier
Date: 08/08/18

169 Elm St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $480,000
Buyer: Benjamin L. Leonard
Seller: Felix W. Borawski TR
Date: 08/10/18

66 Emily Lane
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $534,000
Buyer: A. C. Vonrosenbach-Torbeke
Seller: Peter J. Smith
Date: 07/31/18

80 Forbes Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $420,000
Buyer: Ralph W. Halsey
Seller: Daniel M. Filler
Date: 08/06/18

22 Fort Hill Terrace
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $425,000
Buyer: Elizabeth A. Budd
Seller: Jeremy F. Hartman
Date: 08/08/18

45 Fort Hill Terrace
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $447,500
Buyer: Milene Ribas-Avila
Seller: 45 Fort Hill Terrace LLC
Date: 08/08/18

7 Golden Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $319,000
Buyer: Yanlong Guo
Seller: Lisa S. Lippiello RET
Date: 07/31/18

12 Grandview St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $240,000
Buyer: Maureen A. Yargeau
Seller: Laura M. Larson
Date: 07/30/18

4 Linden St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $572,500
Buyer: Ayana Morse
Seller: Stacey E. Robison
Date: 08/01/18

29 Longview Dr.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $225,000
Buyer: Shelley N. Capeloto
Seller: Slack Properties LLC
Date: 08/10/18

396 Loudville Road
Northampton, MA 01027
Amount: $255,500
Buyer: Virginia Cruickshank
Seller: Virginia E. VanScoy RET
Date: 07/31/18

44 Market St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $253,500
Buyer: Jane M. Riley
Seller: Marianna Mckim
Date: 08/02/18

906 North King St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $245,000
Buyer: Mary A. Jenkins
Seller: Albert P. Cordner
Date: 08/09/18

243 Park Hill Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $728,500
Buyer: Natalia C. Zuman
Seller: Michael J. Roy
Date: 07/31/18

9 Park St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $576,000
Buyer: Elizabeth A. Bolton
Seller: Patricia Sweetser
Date: 08/01/18

83 Spring St.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Hannoush Buys Houses LLC
Seller: Janet L. Berube
Date: 08/02/18

98 State St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Amount: $485,000
Buyer: Andrew R. Kitto
Seller: Jeffrey M. Barron
Date: 07/30/18

19 Upland Road
Northampton, MA 01053
Amount: $305,000
Buyer: Melissa A. Leonhardt
Seller: David J. Gleason
Date: 08/01/18

539 Westhampton Road
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $279,000
Buyer: Jeffrey Dawson
Seller: Tashi Youdon
Date: 08/01/18

16 Winslow Ave.
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Daniel B. Krassner
Seller: Flippin Good Home Buyers
Date: 08/03/18

77 Winterberry Lane
Northampton, MA 01062
Amount: $545,000
Buyer: Michael W. Howard
Seller: Laura R. Beck
Date: 07/30/18

PLAINFIELD

53 Hallockville Road
Plainfield, MA 01070
Amount: $166,250
Buyer: Molly T. Beinfeld
Seller: Molly T. Beinfeld
Date: 07/31/18

SOUTH HADLEY

Amherst Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $387,000
Buyer: Skinner Woods LLC
Seller: Petes RT
Date: 08/03/18

9 Atwood Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $230,500
Buyer: Maura Campbell
Seller: Christopher S. Woods
Date: 08/09/18

34 Bardwell St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Curtis B. Wiemann
Seller: Sarita A. Graveline
Date: 08/02/18

11 Berwyn Street Ext
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $274,000
Buyer: David M. Laliberte
Seller: PCI Construction Inc.
Date: 08/01/18

52 Bolton St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $115,000
Buyer: RB Homes LLC
Seller: Vanessa M. Boyington
Date: 08/03/18

6 Briar Spring Lane
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $450,000
Buyer: Todd B. Bullough
Seller: Ellen Chircop
Date: 08/02/18

15 Bunker Hill
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $147,500
Buyer: Vitaliy V. Gladysh
Seller: US Bank
Date: 08/01/18

40 Chestnut Hill Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $367,000
Buyer: Matthew G. Gulbrandsen
Seller: Todd B. Bullough
Date: 08/02/18

48 College View Heights
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $280,000
Buyer: Christopher S. Woods
Seller: Hamilton Doherty
Date: 08/02/18

34 Dartmouth St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $241,570
Buyer: Timothy R. Greaney
Seller: NSP Residential LLC
Date: 07/31/18

3 Ethan Circle
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $120,000
Buyer: James P. Talarico
Seller: Ethan L. Bagg
Date: 08/07/18

564 Granby Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $250,000
Buyer: Janet Cabrera
Seller: Kenneth L. Labonte
Date: 08/10/18

8 Lyman St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $219,900
Buyer: Johnathan J. Vaughan
Seller: Eeps LLC
Date: 08/09/18

85 Pearl St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $205,000
Buyer: Kristin Tetrault
Seller: John J. O’Neill
Date: 07/31/18

22 Tampa St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $220,000
Buyer: Kathleen M. Beresky
Seller: E&N Laliberte LLC
Date: 07/30/18

27 Waite Ave.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Amount: $285,000
Buyer: Brian Phillips
Seller: William Rokowski
Date: 07/31/18

SOUTHAMPTON

34 Bissonnette Circle
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $475,000
Buyer: Amber L. Mish
Seller: John Cain
Date: 08/06/18

40 High St.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $379,000
Buyer: Ian A. Megraw
Seller: Kristen L. Mecca
Date: 08/10/18

62 Line St.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $309,000
Buyer: Dennis C. Radford
Seller: Steaphan G. Mish
Date: 08/03/18

23 Noreen Dr.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Jacob Laprade
Seller: Sarah H. Lavertue
Date: 07/31/18

4 Noreen Dr.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $229,900
Buyer: Daniel J. Quinlan
Seller: Richard A. Hebert
Date: 07/31/18

4 Pine Wood Dr.
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $510,000
Buyer: Cynthia Macbain RET
Seller: Bruce W. Szepelak
Date: 08/09/18

7 Rattle Hill Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Amount: $275,000
Buyer: Matthew C. Landry
Seller: Lafontaine, Sophie L., (Estate)
Date: 07/30/18

WARE

10 Dunham Ave.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $122,550
Buyer: Michael J. Keddy
Seller: Nationstar Mortgage LLC
Date: 07/31/18

10 Eddy St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Arnaldo Vigil-Flores
Seller: Shelley A. Pratt
Date: 08/08/18

4 Eddy St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Arnaldo Vigil-Flores
Seller: Shelley A. Pratt
Date: 08/08/18

6 Eddy St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $195,000
Buyer: Arnaldo Vigil-Flores
Seller: Shelley A. Pratt
Date: 08/08/18

129 Gre
enwich Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $175,000
Buyer: MTGLQ Investors LP
Seller: Robert F. Gardner
Date: 08/09/18

24 Kelly Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $132,500
Buyer: Donald Wood
Seller: Robin M. Morin
Date: 08/03/18

16 Murphy Road
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $150,000
Buyer: Gene E. Birk
Seller: Gene E. Birk
Date: 08/01/18

146 Upper Church St.
Ware, MA 01082
Amount: $241,000
Buyer: Jack A. Fowler
Seller: David A. Ostrosky
Date: 08/03/18

WILLIAMSBURG

36 Hyde Hill Road
Williamsburg, MA 01096
Amount: $269,000
Buyer: Craig Tully
Seller: Nancy E. Braxton
Date: 08/10/18

WESTHAMPTON

44 Burt Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Amount: $359,000
Buyer: Suzanne M. Krafft
Seller: Stefan C. Gonick
Date: 08/10/18

WORTHINGTON

9 East Windsor Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $399,000
Buyer: Sandra M. Deyo-Boylston
Seller: James B. Lagoy
Date: 08/09/18

102 Fisk Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $147,500
Buyer: David J. St.Denis
Seller: Gerald Cady
Date: 08/03/18

855 Huntington Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $196,250
Buyer: Deborah Clapp
Seller: Charles A. Landrey
Date: 07/31/18

479 Old North Road
Worthington, MA 01098
Amount: $300,000
Buyer: Justin A. Barton
Seller: Leanne Lord
Date: 08/03/18

Building Permits

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

Building Permits

The following building permits were issued during the month of August 2018.

AGAWAM

BGM Realty, LLC
237-241 South Westfield St.
$454,250 — Alter tenant space for new care clinic
ICNE Group Realty, LLC
1070 Suffield St.
$14,500 — Roofing

Greg Popielarczyk, Audrey Popielarczyk
135 Country Road
$4,974 — Deck off existing above-ground pool

Pride Convenience Inc.
6 North Westfield St.
$15,700 — Replace storefront glass, modify food-service area, remove and replace gasoline canopy fascia

AMHERST

Gleason Johndrow Rentals, LLC
6 University Dr.
$33,656 — Remodel space to accommodate store

Gleason Johndrow Rentals, LLC
10 University Dr.
$10,000 — Build new entry counter at the Hangar for hostess and takeout

Village Center North Amherst, LLC
83 Sunderland Road
$2,363 — Roofing

Village Center North Amherst, LLC
83 Sunderland Road
$2,000 — Alter stairwell space to increase adjoining room size

CHICOPEE

Matthew Bogacz
12 Riverview Place
$17,602 — Roofing

Gregg Nanni
820 Memorial Dr.
$5,000 — Replace exterior plywood and siding; replace interior drywall, fix drop ceiling, and install wall tile

Polish National Credit Union
46 Main St.
$29,000 — Modify existing sprinkler system

Jo-Ann Smith
393 New Ludlow Road
$50,000 — Install paint booth form and install new concrete floor

Valley Opportunity
640 Chicopee St.
$82,925.57 — Replace 119 windows

SPRINGFIELD

George Abdow Jr.
155 Brookdale Dr.
$250,000 — Alter office space on second floor

C & W Breckwood Redalty Co.
1060 Wilbraham Road
$17,600 — Install fire-alarm monitoring system in Save a Lot store

City of Springfield
1250 State St.
$61,780 — Alter two glass entrances at Springfield High School of Science and Technology

F.B. Development, LLC
1537 Main St.
$170,000 — Alter tenant office space on second, third, and fourth floors of Fuller Block Building

South Campus Group
140 High St.
$270,000 — Alter office space on second floor

Stemalies Inc.
2 Orange St.
$1,800 — Install bracing in roof structure for additional support for roof-mounted mechanical equipment

Women of Impact 2018

By BusinessWest Staff September 3, 2018

Women of Impact

The Inaugural Women of Impact Awards

BusinessWest has consistently recognized the contributions of women within the business community and has now created the Women of Impact awards to honor women who have the authority and power to move the needle in their business; are respected for accomplishments within their industries; give back to the community; and are sought out as respected advisors and mentors within the field of influence. Nominees can be high-level executives, entrepreneurs, leaders of a non-profit organization, business owners, volunteers, or mentors: any inspirational woman, at any level in her career, who is doing remarkable things.

Nominations are now closed for 2018, but you may submit a nomination for 2019 consideration.

The 2018 Women of Impact honorees will be announced and profiled in the October 29 issue of BusinessWest and will be honored at the Women of Impact Luncheon Awards on Thursday, December 6, 2018 at the Springfield Sheraton Monarch Place Hotel.

Click here to view nomination information, requirement, and to submit your online nomination form.

For sponsorship information contact:
Kate Campiti 413.781.8600 (ext. 104) [email protected]
Kathleen Plante 413.781.8600 (ext. 108) [email protected]

Event Information
Date: Thursday, December 6, 2018
Time: 11 a.m.-1:45 p.m.
Location: Sheraton Springfield, One, Monarch Place, Springfield, MA 01144
Tickets on Sale: October 1, 2018; Price $65/person; $650/table of 10
For more information: Call (413) 781-8600 x100 or email at [email protected]

Sponsored by:

Elms College Launches Student Leadership Institute

By BusinessWest Staff August 31, 2018

Daily News

CHICOPEE — To expand its offering of leadership-development opportunities to all students, the Elms College will launch the Elms College Student Leadership Institute (SLI) at the start of the fall 2018 semester.

Affirming the Elms College values of faith, community, justice, and excellence, SLI — run by the Office of Student Engagement and Leadership — will offer all students the opportunity to engage in a variety of experiences that will benefit their leadership development.

SLI encourages leadership development by hosting dynamic workshops and seminars; establishing mentoring relationships with faculty, staff, and students within the campus community; creating opportunities for community service by partnering with local organizations; and sparking discussions with peers about important personal and social issues.

Fall 2018 SLI sessions include offerings centered around the college’s core values. Participants may choose to attend individual sessions for personal enrichment, or take part in a series of sessions to earn a certificate in values-based leadership. This certificate is awarded to students who complete all eight of the SLI programs offered each year. This certificate track is designed for those who want to strengthen their leadership by aligning their decisions with the values of faith, community, justice, and excellence.

The new institute is an extension of Elms College’s existing Sophomore Leadership Program, which will continue to be offered this year as a part of SLI to encourage second-year students to engage in deep development of their leadership qualities and potential. Through leadership programming, workshops, and activities, sophomores will self-reflect, develop skills, and make changes through action.

Next Future Tense Lecture to Examine Impact of Lean Concepts

By BusinessWest Staff August 31, 2018

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The third installment of the BusinessWest lecture series Future Tense, titled “Change Considerations: An Examination of Lean Process, Market Disruption, and the Future of Your Business,” will take place on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at Tech Foundry, 1391 Main St., ninth floor, Springfield.

The lecture, open exclusively to CEOs and business owners, will be delivered by Mark Borsari, president of Sanderson MacLeod. The cost is a $25 donation to Tech Foundry. Event sponsors include Paragus IT, the Jamrog Group, and Meyers Brothers Kalicka, P.C.

With increasingly automated business processes, AI, and machine manufacturing, lean concepts are becoming more important than ever in terms of staying competitive. Borsari will discuss change and innovation through lean concepts and focus on resulting cultural considerations. The presentation will also address already-active market disrupters that will affect business processes in various industries.

Metered street parking is available near the venue, and there are several parking-garage options nearby as well. To register, visit businesswest.com/lecture-series-2.

LUSO Federal Credit Union Aims to Make Saving for College Simple

By BusinessWest Staff August 31, 2018

Daily News

LUDLOW — With September’s designation as College Savings Month, LUSO Federal Credit Union is welcoming students back to the classroom this fall by placing a special focus on saving for college.

According to studies based on National Center for Education Resources data, the average annual in-state college tuition in Massachusetts was $25,406 during academic year 2016-17. That figure is $11,464 higher than the U.S. average and ranks Massachusetts as the fourth-most-expensive state or district in which to attend college. Given those costs, it’s important for families to get a head start on saving.

“With the rising costs of college education, it’s never too early to start planning for your child’s future,” said Jennifer Calheno, president and chief executive officer of LUSO Federal Credit Union. “LUSO offers a number of savings options to help families prepare for college, including various share accounts and term share certificates. We are firm believers in setting a strong financial foundation, so we offer our in-school banking program at seven schools in Ludlow, Hampden, and Wilbraham, allowing the students themselves to begin saving for the future.”

Since LUSO’s in-school banking program began in 2009, more than 1,800 students have gone through the program, saving an average of $103,400 per year over the last four years.

“LUSO strives to make saving fun for students,” said Sharon Dufour, chief financial officer. “It is important that good savings habits are developed early, and students learn that saving routinely is just as important as the amount they save.”

Third Annual 24-hour Theater Festival Slated for Sept. 29 at HCC

By BusinessWest Staff August 31, 2018

Daily News

HOLYOKE — Holyoke Community College theater alumni, together with students from the HCC Theater Department, will gather once again this fall to put on an evening of one-act plays written in just 24 hours.

The HCC 24-hour theater festival, renamed the HCC Phillips Festival this year in memory of Leslie Phillips, the late HCC drama teacher who inspired the festival’s creation, will be presented Saturday, Sept. 29 at 8 p.m. in the Leslie Phillips Theater in HCC’s Fine & Performing Arts Building.

Like the previous two festivals, the third is a benefit show, and all proceeds will go toward the Leslie Phillips Fund for Theater Arts and Education at Holyoke Community College.

This event was first organized in 2016 by HCC alumni working with HCC theater professor Pat Sandoval as a tribute to Phillips, founder of the HCC drama program, who died in 1988.

“Leslie Phillips was a dedicated faculty member and played a pivotal role in the creation of the HCC Theater Department,” said Lisa Poehler, a Holyoke native, resident of Springfield, and one of the organizers of the event. “In her memory, we invite everyone to join in this celebration of the arts for the benefit of current and future HCC theater students.”

HCC alumni along with current HCC students will meet on Friday, Sept. 28 to begin writing and rehearsing the one-act plays they will perform the following night. Anyone who would like to participate in this year’s festival can contact the HCC Alumni Players at [email protected] or on the group’s Facebook page.

Tickets for the show are $15 for general admission and $10 for students, seniors, HCC faculty, and staff. To order tickets, call (413) 552-2485 or visit hcc.edu/alumnievents.

HRMA of Western New England to Present Legal Update on Grand Bargain and More

By BusinessWest Staff August 30, 2018

Daily News

CHICOPEE — On Monday, Sept. 17, HRMA of Western New England will present its annual Legal Update program on the new ‘grand bargain’ legislation, recreational and medical marijuana regulations/best practices, and the new non-compete agreement ruling.

John Gannon, partner at Skoler, Abbott & Presser, will speak to attendees about being prepared for the minimum-wage hike over the next several years and how best to prepare for paid family leave. He’ll also include a discussion on best practices for pre-employment and reasonable-suspicion drug-testing policies.

The current legislative climate can be burdensome for employers, and the goal for this program is to help local employers understand the laws and facilitate best practices, according to Myra Quick, HRMA president.

The program starts at 4 p.m. with a cocktail and networking hour, followed by Gannon’s presentation at 5:15 p.m. A buffet dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. The location for this event is the Castle of Knights in Chicopee. The program has been approved for both HRCI and SHRM credits.

“The HRMA September Legal Update is always an important event for the human-resources community,” Quick said. “This year will be particularly important as the grand-bargain changes are enacted. We welcome anyone with an interest in this topic but strongly suggest they register early, as we are expecting a large turnout for this event.”

For more information and to register, visit www.hrmawne.org.

Facebook Community Boost Opens Registration for Upcoming Springfield Event

By BusinessWest Staff August 30, 2018

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Last November, Facebook announced the launch of a new program to invest in small businesses across the country. The program, Community Boost, is designed to help small businesses grow and to give people the digital skills they need to compete in the new economy.

Facebook Community Boost will be visiting 30 cities this year and will be in Springfield on Sept. 10 and 11. Registration is open for anyone who wants to come to Community Boost, which kicks off on Sept. 10 at Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. To learn more, visit www.fbcommunityboost.com/cities/springfield-ma.

When Facebook heard that Massachusetts wanted more digital skills training, it became a driving force behind why Springfield was chosen to host Community Boost. A survey by Morning Consult of small businesses in Massachusetts found demand for digital skills — 69% — of respondents said an individual’s digital skills were important — while small businesses also see social media as critical to their success. Of the surveyed businesses, 76% say Facebook allows them to reach more customers outside their cities, states, and countries, while 53% small businesses on Facebook say it has helped them hire additional employees.

Eight Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin Attorneys Honored by Best Lawyers

By BusinessWest Staff August 30, 2018

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — Local law firm Shatz, Schwartz and Fentin, P.C. announced that eight of its attorneys were listed in The Best Lawyers in America for 2019. They include:

• Shareholder Michele Feinstein, in the fields of elder law and trusts and estates;

• Shareholder Gary Fentin, banking and finance law and commercial transactions/Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) law;

• Shareholder Carol Cioe Klyman, elder law;

• Managing Partner Timothy Mulhern, corporate law and tax law;

• Shareholder Steven Schwartz, business organizations (including LLCs and partnerships), closely held companies, and family business law, as well as corporate law;

• Shareholder James Sheils, commercial transactions/Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) law;

• Shareholder Ann Weber, elder law; and

• Shareholder Steven Weiss, bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law.

In addition, Weiss and Mulhern were both recognized as 2019 Lawyers of the Year — Weiss for his work in the field of bankruptcy and creditor-debtor rights/insolvency and reorganization law, and Mulhern for his work in the field of corporate law.

Hampden County Bar Assoc. to Offer Free Legal Help Hotline on Sept. 20

By BusinessWest Staff August 30, 2018

Daily News

SPRINGFIELD — The Hampden County Bar Assoc. will hold a Legal Help Hotline in conjunction with Western New England University School of Law on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the law school, 1215 Wilbraham Road, Springfield.

The volunteers will provide legal advice on a variety of topics, including divorce and family law, bankruptcy, business, landlord/tenant, and real estate. Spanish-speaking attorneys will be available. Individuals needing advice should call (413) 796-2057 to speak to a volunteer.

Paragus IT, Bulkley Richardson Team Up for Info Session on Cybersecurity

By BusinessWest Staff August 29, 2018

Daily News

HADLEY — Cybersecurity and data protection are top of mind for many business owners. Unprecedented hacking in recent years has shown that even the most protected systems are vulnerable to attack.

As part of its popular “Most Important Meal of the Day” breakfast event series, Paragus IT will welcome Andy Levchuck from local law firm Bulkley Richardson for a cybersecurity info session on Thursday, Sept. 13 from 8 to 10 a.m. at Paragus Headquarters on 112 Russell St., Hadley. A food-truck breakfast will be provided, followed by the info session and questions and answers.

Paragus founder and CEO Delcie Bean and Levchuck will share key information on what businesses can do to protect themselves — and how to respond in the event of an attack. They will also share case studies of local businesses who have been victims of hacking and data breaches and what others can learn from their experience.

Levchuck spent 24 years at the U.S. Department of Justice and has received training in cyber and computer-network investigative techniques at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. As a certified information systems security professional, his work at Bulkley Richardson involves advising clients on state and federal data protection and privacy rights.

“At Paragus, we work hard to give our clients the strongest data protection and to react quickly and effectively in the event of a breach or hack,” Bean said. “We’re very honored to have Andy share his high-level authority on security matters, in addition to his legal expertise related to these issues.”

Barry Feingold Named President of Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce

By BusinessWest Staff August 29, 2018

Daily News

HOLYOKE — The Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce board of directors announced that Barry Feingold has been named chamber president. He will also serve as president of the Greater Holyoke Chamber Centennial Foundation Inc.

Feingold is a veteran chamber executive who previously served as the Milford Area Chamber of Commerce’s (MACC) president for 10 years, increasing its membership by 50% and revenue over 35%. Prior to arriving at the MACC, he served the American Chamber of Commerce in Lima, Peru, starting as the administrative and marketing manager and working his way up to executive director. After spending the last four years once again in Peru, where he successfully ran his own hospitality-management business, he decided to move back with his family to his native Massachusetts.

Feingold, who replaces Kathleen Anderson, is the Greater Holyoke Chamber’s first bilingual president.

“The leaders of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce are impressed by Barry’s experience as a business professional and as a proven leader of chambers both in Massachusetts and in Peru,” said Kevin McCaffrey, Mount Holyoke College’s director of Government and Community Relations and chairman of the Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce board of directors. “We are looking forward to working with him as the chamber continues its long history of serving our members and working with other civic leaders to support this great city. Barry’s energetic leadership will be a key ingredient in the next chapter of the chamber’s success.”

The board’s unanimous decision to hire Feingold resulted from a rigorous review of numerous qualified candidates interested in the position. He takes the helm effective Sept. 11. Among his first tasks will be meetings with civic leaders and chamber members to assess the challenges and opportunities facing Holyoke and the chamber. Among the many focuses of his presidency will be bringing new members to the chamber, including tapping into Holyoke’s Latino business community.

“A chamber is all about bringing together people to do business, and by promoting our membership’s diversity with its many cultures and languages, we can overcome all obstacles to help folks connect,” he said.

Anderson, who served as chamber president for six years, recently joined the leadership at Holyoke Medical Center as director of Community Benefits.

“I am honored and excited to be the next president for the Greater Holyoke Chamber,” Feingold said. “I’m looking forward to meeting our members and hearing from them how the chamber can best continue to support the business community in the Greater Holyoke area. Holyoke has made so much economic progress in recent years. My main focus will be on continuing to support that momentum, by bringing new members to the chamber and increasing the involvement of — and benefits for — everyone.”

As one step in introducing the new president, the chamber will hold an After Hours networking event on Wednesday, Sept. 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Gateway City Arts, 92 Race St., Holyoke, where members and others can meet Feingold at his first official event as chamber president.

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