Greenfield Cooperative Bank Makes Largest Gift in Bank History to Train Family Medicine Physicians at Baystate Franklin Medical Center

Greenfield Cooperative Bank recently made a $75,000 donation, one of the largest in the bank’s history, in support of Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s new Department of Family Medicine. This new UMass Chan Medical School-Baystate affiliated program will train future family doctors in Greenfield to ensure a legacy of long-term, sustainable, high-quality primary healthcare for the citizens of Franklin County and surrounding towns.

“Our Board of Directors was very excited to hear about this innovative program that will improve healthcare for all ages from infants into old age,” says Greenfield Cooperative Bank President Anthony Worden. “GCB believes in the importance of readily accessible primary care for everyone in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region. We are very proud to support Baystate Franklin Medical Center’s new program, which will not only meet the basic healthcare needs of our communities, but also train new primary care physicians. We see this project as having a real impact on the health of our entire community.”

The generous gift from Greenfield Cooperative Bank is part of a $4.2 million-dollar investment that will position Baystate Franklin Medical Center as an academic medical center and create a state-of-the-art clinical/teaching facility at the Baystate Medical Practices/Greenfield Family Medicine Clinic at 48 Sanderson Street. Renovations of the second-floor academic areas are anticipated to be completed in spring 2022 and the first-floor clinical area in fall 2023.

“We are so grateful to everyone at Greenfield Cooperative Bank for making a gift of this size in support of our program, and we are truly honored to be the recipient of their largest gift. Baystate Health Foundation hopes to raise at least $750,000 in support from community partners over the next year, and this generous show of support for our program gets us on our way,” says Dr. Robert Baldor, Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Family Medicine, UMass Chan-Baystate. “As of this date, more than $230,000 has been donated, including a gift from the medical staff at Baystate Franklin Medical Center who are very excited about what the program means for their patients.”

Starting in 2022, the family  medicine residency program will welcome four new medical interns who have been selected from medical schools around the United States into the three-year training program. A total of 12 residents will be enrolled when the program is in full swing. Four new family physicians have recently joined the BMP/Greenfield Family Medicine Practice as faculty who will be seeing patients and training students and residents to develop the broad diagnostic skills needed to address the spectrum of needs experienced by a family.

“The new Department of Family Medicine is going to be the key to the future of Baystate Medical Center. On behalf of our entire team and the patients we serve throughout our region, we thank Greenfield Cooperative Bank for helping us create a program that not only will help provide much-needed healthcare services, but will be a real pride point for our entire community,” says Ron Bryant, President Baystate Franklin Medical Center/Northern Region.

Learn more about how you can support the new Department of Family Medicine.