Funds support comprehensive and ongoing renovations aimed at reducing wait times, increasing patients’ comfort and privacy, enhancing staff communications, and improving the standard of care

FLORENCE—Florence Bank has pledged $75,000 to Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s $26 million Transforming Emergency Care Campaign to renovate, expand and enhance the Emergency Department (ED) and improve the standard of care.

Diane Dukette, Chief Development Officer at the hospital, said the ED is 40 percent undersized to meet the community’s needs, given that the number of patients and the severity of their illnesses has steadily increased over the years, more than doubling since the 1970s. The hospital is also treating more patients with behavioral health concerns.

Cooley Dickinson broke ground on the extensive project to transform the ED in 2023. Project goals include reducing wait times, increasing patients’ comfort and privacy, enhancing staff communications, and improving the standard of care.

The undertaking is one of the largest capital investments in the hospital’s history, and this is the final year of the campaign.

Florence Bank President and CEO Matt Garrity said, “Cooley Dickinson plays a vital role in the health and well-being of the communities we both serve. We’re proud to support this transformational project and the benefits it will provide to people and families in the Pioneer Valley and beyond.” 

Dukette said Florence Bank is a loyal supporter of Cooley Dickinson, and over the years, has donated to many campaigns, most recently the new Childbirth Center, North Building and Cancer Center, and has supported many programmatic needs, such as nursing development.

“In the last four decades, Florence Bank has given over a million dollars to Cooley Dickinson,” Dukette said. “Florence Bank has been a longstanding community partner, investing in the fabric of our society and recognizing the unique role we play in the community and for their customers. We are so grateful we can count on Florence Bank to get behind initiatives that are critical to the community.”

Construction in the ED is ongoing with a new addition in the works, and pods being constructed and renovated in phases. 

Dukette said ED staff have adeptly worked around the construction, reassessing and realigning workflows as necessary.  

“They are so skilled at doing whatever needs to happen to take care of patients in the moment,” Dukette said, noting project completion is expected in roughly a year. “Our ED is open, and our wonderful providers are there to do everything they can to take care of our community.” 

The Transforming Emergency Care campaign has raised $11.5 million of the $26 million project. To make a gift, call 413-582-2255 or visit cooleydickinson.org/giving.

To learn more about Florence Bank, visit FlorenceBank.com.

About Florence Bank

Florence Bank is a mutual savings bank chartered in 1873. Currently, the bank serves the Pioneer Valley through 12 full-service branch locations in Florence, Northampton, Easthampton, Williamsburg, Amherst, Hadley, Belchertown, Granby, Chicopee, West Springfield, and Springfield. Additionally, it offers 25 ATMs and a wide range of financial services, including investment management through Florence Financial Group to consumers and businesses. Florence Bank is consistently voted best local bank by the readers of the Valley Advocate and the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

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Project will not disrupt business as usual; shops will be open and accessible during normal business hours

NORTHAMPTON—Thornes Marketplace will begin a major renovation of its front entrance on Main Street the first week in April to make practical improvements as well as aesthetic ones that are historically accurate.

Richard M. Madowitz, Thornes owner and property manager, stressed that work on the entryway—one of the last phases of a multi-year capital improvement project—will be conducted from 9:30 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. The front entrance will remain open daily during regular business hours.  

“We plan to provide signage, wayfinding and other helpful measures to minimize disruption, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause our visitors as we know that Thornes is an integral part of downtown Northampton,” Madowitz said. He said after the project gets underway, visitors with questions or concerns can send feedback to info@thornesmarketplace.com.

Photographs will be available on Thornes’ Facebook page, and news and updates will appear on the website at thornesmarketplace.com.

Over the past 10 years, Thornes Marketplace has undertaken a series of major renovations to improve and enhance the eclectic and historically relevant shopping center.

“This main entrance renovation caps it off,” said Jon McGee, Thornes facilities manager, noting some of the work in recent years was aimed at improving accessibility.

Thornes’ leaders have partnered with Keiter Builders, Inc. and Emily Estes of Estes Architecture and Design for the renovations to the entranceway.

McGee said the practical goal of the project is to improve accessibility and make the entrance more user-friendly by replacing the 30-year-old wooden doors with wider doors equipped with modern power operators compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Aesthetic improvements will include a raised, coffered ceiling; new, custom-stained oak doors; dramatic chandelier lighting; and new floor tiling. The Florence Bank ATM enclosure will also be renovated to fit the period.

“It’s really going to be stunning,” said Jody Doele, marketing manager for Thornes. “We encourage visitors to stop by as the work progresses. It’s going to be an interesting project, and we will work to ensure it causes minimal disruption.”

Thornes Marketplace has been the cornerstone of downtown Northampton and at the center of the Main Street shopping district for more than a century. Built in 1873, it holds 55,000 square feet of space for merchants and includes features such as pressed tin ceilings, hardwood floors and stained-glass windows.

Recent renovations, completed without harm to the historic highlights, have included the remodeling of several bathrooms, which are now fully handicapped accessible; the addition of oak handrails along the walls of the grand staircases. And, in partnership with Herrell’s Ice Cream, Thornes replaced a staircase with a ramp, making the ice cream parlor accessible from within Thornes for the first time in its nearly 40-year history.

In the summer, McGee said he will begin a new project to restore original stained-glass window panels in the side staircase behind Share coffee shop. As part of that work, a local artisan will fabricate some new panels for the window treatment.

Follow Thornes on Facebook at Thornes Marketplace.

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