To the Editor:
The people of Berkshire County have been lucky to have the quality of physicians and nurse practitioners staffing the health centers of Community Health Programs (CHP).  These women and men have been an extraordinarily talented group. As one of the people who spoke to the Berkshire Edge about recent failures in Community Health Programs’ (CHP) leadership, my motivation was how the organization was treating these extraordinary health care providers.
Berkshire County has a shortage of primary care providers. If memory serves, the county needs at least an additional 20 primary care physicians to meet the demands of its population. Now I learn that John Horan and Siobhan McNally, both astonishingly good pediatricians are not necessarily returning to CHP. That is a loss this community cannot afford. Other fine, fine physicians and nurse practitioners, nurses, and support staff have left or are close to leaving.
They will not be easily replaced. Filling a spot is not equal to having passionately committed, compassionate, knowledgeable, skilled physicians who are vested in this community and in their patients. For all of our sakes, I urge CHP to welcome back these providers and to demonstrate to those who have stayed that they are—in fact—the heart and soul of the organization.
Ruth Dinerman
Great Barrington
The writer is a former grant writer for Community Health Programs.
