Archive for April 2020
Peter Ban, Bean Restaurant Group Delivering Lunch to First Responders, Health Workers
Peter Pan Bus Lines and the Bean Restaurant Group are teaming up deliver lunch to first responders and frontline workers on a Peter Pan bus. The mission is to show support and gratitude to local healthcare heroes while supporting local restaurants. The first delivery will take place Wednesday, April 8, with food provided by Frigo’s.…
Read MoreCoronavirus response: Gov. Charlie Baker says COVID-19 testing sites to launch in Lowell, West Springfield
Gov. Charlie Baker said a new site in Lowell will conduct up to 1,000 COVID-19 tests a day, and another will be set up in West Springfield. Baker did not elaborate on the test sites, saying details would come this week. The Lowell site, launched in partnership with CVS, will be announced tomorrow. The staff…
Read MoreCoronavirus: 107 canceled, postponed Western Mass. events cost economy $27M
The business of hosting conventions, meetings, trade shows and competitions in the Pioneer Valley has taken a $27-million-and-growing hit from the coronavirus, according to the Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. So far, organizers and hosts have cancelled 107 events that were to have taken place in March or early April and were at one…
Read MoreCoronavirus: Small businesses find innovative ways to serve customers
People may not be going into coffee shops, but they are still drinking coffee every day, and the owners of Monsoon Roastery in Springfield are ensuring their customers still have access to their favorite blends. “We have switched over to online ordering and delivery. Right now I’m making between 10 to 30 deliveries a day,”…
Read MoreUMass Amherst Engineers, Nurses Design Fast-track, Low-cost Face Shield to Provide PPE Devices for Health Care
In just under two weeks, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, with engineers, nurses and other health care professionals, have developed a design informed by clinical feedback for protective plastic face shields as the nation combats the spread of the coronavirus. It will be made available to manufacturers to mass-produce personal protective equipment (PPE)…
Read MoreCoronavirus response: Springfield awards 30 restaurant grants in ‘Prime the Pump’ program
The city has awarded 30 grants totaling more than $225,000 to restaurants through the city’s Prime the Pump program in response to the economic crisis resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. The grant money allows the restaurants to protect 30 jobs, according to a news release. Each restaurant will meet payroll expenses. Read the source article…
Read MorePlastics Company Steps Up with COVID-19-related Products for Healthcare Workers
It’s called an ‘intubation box,’ or an ‘InTuBox,’ to be more specific. As that name suggests, this is a box that helps shield healthcare workers while they are intubating a patient, thus helping reduce the likelihood of spreading infection. Pia Kumar says the product was conceptualized by an anesthesiologist in Taiwan, and in what would…
Read MoreMonson Savings Bank Donates $25,000 to Baystate Health’s Greatest Needs Fund
Baystate Health has just completed construction of a rapid-response triage area outside of the Baystate Medical Center Emergency Department, allowing the hospital to better protect patients and medical staff from exposure to the virus as patients are being screened and tested. This new triage area is just one of the many large, unplanned expenses this…
Read MoreSpringfield adding meal sites, dinner to free meal distribution; drive-through locations available – masslive.com
Beginning Monday, Springfield Public Schools will be adding dinner to the packet of free meals provided to students every day. There have also been two new sites added to accommodate the need across the city. “It gives us great satisfaction to now make dinner available to our students. We are grateful to Sodexo for their…
Read MoreCoronavirus: Massachusetts House passes eviction moratorium bill to address economic impact of COVID-19 – masslive.com
The House passed a bill Thursday that would grant a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures for residents and business owners who cannot afford to pay because of the coronavirus pandemic. The bill, H.1279, bars landlords from charging late fees or sending reports to credit rating agencies if tenants notify them within 30 days of a…
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