Garden Cinemas marks anniversary with free popcorn

GREENFIELD — The Garden Cinemas opened its doors on March 11, 1929. Given that the theater’s 96th anniversary falls on the theater’s weekly $5 Tuesday, the Garden Cinemas will celebrate the milestone by giving free popcorn to the first 96 people who buy $5 tickets that day.

The theater will also offer double stamps to the 2025 loyalty cards that give a free movie to the most active customers.

Films to be screened on March 11 include “Mickey 17,” “Anora,” “The Monkey,” “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Dog Man,” “Paddington in Peru,” “The Last Show Girl” and “September 5.”

The first films start at 3:30 p.m., with doors opening at 3.

Baystate Health trustee to serve on MHA board

SPRINGFIELD — Denise R. Jordan, through her role as a member of Baystate Health’s board of trustees, was elected to the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association board of trustees on Jan. 30. The MHA serves as the united voice for the state’s hospitals, health systems and health care providers.

“We are fortunate to have Denise’s extraordinary experience as a community leader guiding our board and the millions of people it touches,” MHA President and CEO Steve Walsh said in a statement. “She will help us ensure the patient remains at the center of every conversation, statewide initiative and policy reform our commonwealth undertakes.”

One MHA board seat is reserved for a trustee from one of its member organizations. The board advocates to ease health care capacity pressures, workforce shortages and administrative burdens that pose a challenge to ensuring timely patient care, and to restore financial stability to the health care sector. The board’s priorities also include advancing state-of-the-art care outside the hospital, reimagining what an empowered health care profession looks like and closing patient care disparities.

“Health care begins and ends not in our hospitals, but in our neighborhoods. It is my honor to help connect communities and providers as a member of the MHA board,” Jordan said in a statement. “I believe in the promise of our health care system and the unique power it has to bring people together, advocate for their needs and help them lead the successful lives they deserve.”

“Baystate Health has been fortunate to have Denise’s community leadership on our board of trustees,” Peter D. Banko, president and CEO of Baystate Health, said in a statement. “Born and raised in Springfield, she represents the voices and health care needs of those across western Massachusetts, and when this is coupled with her exceptional business leadership experience within the commonwealth of Massachusetts, I know her involvement and participation on the MHA board of trustees will be invaluable and keep those we serve front and center.”

Jordan has been executive director of the Springfield Housing Authority since 2018. Before that, she was Springfield’s chief of staff, serving for more than 10 years with Mayor Domenic Sarno. She also co-founded a youth football program and the Massachusetts Women of Color Coalition.

Fitch maintains Baystate Health’s credit rating

SPRINGFIELD — Fitch has affirmed Baystate Health’s credit rating of A+ and Negative Outlook.

Fitch ratings are used by investors to make decisions about investments, lending and other financial arrangements. Fitch, a credit rating agency, uses a scale of AAA to D to indicate likelihood of default. An “A” rating reflects high credit quality with a low expectation of default.

Fitch’s rating affirmation reflects a largely new senior management team, including a new CEO, chief operating officer, chief strategy officer and chief transformation officer, who have initiated a more than $225 million transformation plan. The affirmation also reflects Baystate’s position as the largest health care system in western Massachusetts and its integrated operating model with a system composed of an academic medical center, community hospitals, more than 1,000 employed providers and the health plan. Fitch expects operations to improve, with margins rising over the next three to four years, which support the “A+” rating.

The Negative Outlook declaration, meanwhile, reflects operating losses of $61 million in 2024 and $63 million in 2023, and the transformation plan’s execution risk. Additionally, Medicare and Medicaid have grown to represent more than 70% of the health system’s overall revenue.

According to Baystate Health, the health care system alleviated some stress by selling the reference laboratory business in 2024 to pay down a line of credit and terminate its defined benefit pension plan. The leadership team has also implemented reductions in management and corporate overhead. The team is in the process of executing seven other operations changes, including revisions to supply chain, pharmacy and revenue cycle management.