BHS Partners to Launch Support Group for Expecting Women of Color

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Health Systems, in partnership with Springfield Family Doulas, is providing a new support group for birthing parents in the perinatal period, the months before and after the birth of their child, that is specifically focused on the needs and experiences of families of color.  
 
Embrace Diversity Birth Circle: Supporting Women of Color will be held on the second Thursday of each month at Berkshire Medical Center. This free support group will be held in the Bishop Clapp Building Conference Room from 5 to 6 pm and will be co-facilitated by Laconia Fennell and Tanita Council, the co-founders of Springfield Family Doulas.
 
Funded through a grant from the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office's Maternal Health Equity Program, the “Embrace Diversity Birth Circle” support group is facilitated by black doulas and offered to all birthing parents of color. The group is designed to provide a culturally relevant space where birthing parents of color will feel heard, understood, validated and empowered.
 
Black women are up to four times more likely than white women to die from a pregnancy-related cause in the US due to a range of factors, including structural racism. In Massachusetts, black women are nearly two times more likely to die during pregnancy or within one year postpartum compared to white women. Black women also have a 70 percent greater risk of health-impacting and life-threatening events that could occur during hospitalization for childbirth than their white counterparts.
 
The new support group is part of the Berkshire Cradle Program, a collaboration between BHS, Berkshire Nursing Families and Springfield Family Doulas designed to expand culturally competent maternal health support pregnant and post-partum birthing people from underserved populations. By creating new clinical and community resources for birthing people, Berkshire Cradle aims to reduce health disparities and decrease unnecessary health care spending among birthing parents in the Berkshires. 
 
In addition to the Embrace Diversity Birth Circle, Berkshire Cradle Program connects to birthing people through its partners at Berkshire Health Systems and Berkshire Nursing Families to offer comprehensive lactation resources, peer mental health support, screening for intimate partner violence amongst birthing people with substance use disorder, and annual provider education of health disparities relating to birthing people.  
 

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Dalton Man Accused of Kidnapping, Shooting Pittsfield Man

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A Dalton man was arrested on Thursday evening after allegedly kidnapping and shooting another man.

Nicholas Lighten, 35, was arraigned in Central Berkshire District Court on Friday on multiple charges including kidnapping with a firearm and armed assault with intent to murder. He was booked in Dalton around 11:45 p.m. the previous night.

There was heavy police presence Thursday night in the area of Lighten's East Housatonic Street home before his arrest.

Shortly before 7 p.m., Dalton dispatch received a call from the Pittsfield Police Department requesting that an officer respond to Berkshire Medical Center. Adrian Mclaughlin of Pittsfield claimed that he was shot in the leg by Lighten after an altercation at the defendants home. Mclaughlin drove himself to the hospital and was treated and released with non-life-threatening injuries. 

"We were told that Lighten told Adrian to go down to his basement, where he told Adrian to get down on his knees and pulled out a chain," the police report reads.

"We were told that throughout the struggle with Lighten, Adrian recalls three gunshots."

Dalton PD was advised that Pittsfield had swabbed Mclaughlin for DNA because he reported biting Lighten. A bite mark was later found on Lighten's shoulder. 

Later that night, the victim reportedly was "certain, very certain" that Lighten was his assailant when shown a photo array at the hospital.

According to Dalton Police, an officer was stationed near Lighten's house in an unmarked vehicle and instructed to call over the radio if he left the residence. The Berkshire County Special Response Team was also contacted.

Lighten was under surveillance at his home from about 7:50 p.m. to about 8:40 p.m. when he left the property in a vehicle with Massachusetts plates. Another officer initiated a high-risk motor vehicle stop with the sergeant and response team just past Mill Street on West Housatonic Street, police said, and traffic was stopped on both sides of the road.

Lighten and a passenger were removed from the vehicle and detained. Police reported finding items including a brass knuckle knife, three shell casings wrapped in a rubber glove, and a pair of rubber gloves on him.

The response team entered Lighten's home at 43 East Housatonic before 9:30 p.m. for a protective sweep and cleared the residence before 9:50 p.m., police said. The residence was secured for crime scene investigators.

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