Union Questions Medical Staff Shift from BHS North Adams Satellite

Moving emergency medical staff in North Adams to Pittsfield during the fight against the new coronavirus places North County residents at risk, nurses say.

Nine members of the staff at the North Adams Satellite Emergency Facility run by Berkshire Health Systems are out on quarantine. That step was taken after at least three patients who later tested positive for COVID-19 came through the facility, according to Ruth O'Hearn, a registered nurse at the North Adams facility and a union representative with the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

Now, BHS has redirected the emergency facility's remaining respiratory therapists to work at Berkshire Medical Center, O'Hearn said, leaving none available to provide that kind of care in North Adams.

The hospital's top medical officer said in a statement to The Eagle that the North Adams facility has the resources it needs to provide proper care.

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