wbjournal.com | January 21, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 3
Worcester Business Journal (ISSN#1063-6595) is
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WBJ
B
ack on Jan. 6, my wife and I
were in her delivery room,
surrounded by about a dozen
medical professionals, who
seemingly appeared out of thin
air, ready to perform emergency surgery.
Sarah, and I had gone into the hospital
– Baystate Medical Center in Springfield
– in the early morning hours for the birth
of our son and fih child. But aer she
received her epidural to manage the pain,
the baby's heart rate had dropped. Sarah
went from being attended by one nurse
and an anesthesiologist to having multiple
teams in the small room preparing to take
various steps. Her OB/GYN – Dr. Kim-
berly ompson – had Sarah sign a release
approving an emergency C-section.
Aer a tense five minutes of everybody
staring at the baby's heart rate monitor
(I could have swore about 200 years had
passed), he went back to normal. Sarah
and I were le alone, attended by a single
nurse who occasionally checked in. When
the time for delivery came, Dr. ompson
arrived with a far smaller entourage, and
the process went smoothly. (Note from
Sarah: Smoothly does not mean easily).
Sawyer David Kane was born at 10:32
a.m. on Jan. 6, 2019. He's a beautiful baby
boy who loves to eat, sleep and poop, and
he hardly ever cries. Knock on wood.
Joy and chaos followed his birth: mak-
ing sure Sawyer and Sarah were healthy
and recovering, switching rooms in the
hospital, checking on the four kids back at
home, informing family and friends of our
newest arrival. I barely had any time to re-
flect on the C-section drama, as it seemed
like a minor blip in a remarkable day. But
when we had a chance to talk about it
later, Sarah said being asked to sign a form
for emergency surgery was one of the scar-
iest moments of her life. Looking back, if it
hadn't been for Dr. ompson's earnest but
steady demeanor, Sarah and I might have
descended into indecisive panic.
Sarah was later told Dr. ompson had
to perform two emergency C-sections that
morning, meaning our brief scare became
real for two other mothers, and for Dr.
ompson. It remains amazing to me
how professionals like Dr. ompson and
the rest of the staff operate in an atmo-
sphere like that. e labor and delivery
department is inherently a happy place
I N T H I S I S S U E
with a potential for high-risk drama. Of
the dozen people who came into Sarah's
delivery room during the panic, I only
met four before or aer. But regardless of
whether I knew their names, I'm glad they
were there.
- Brad Kane, editor
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NEWS & ANALYSIS
DEPARTMENTS
4 Central Mass. In Brief
5 Flash Poll
10 Focus on Commercial Real Estate
16 The List: Notable commercial leases
in 2018
17 The List: Notable commercial sales
in 2018
18 Know How
19 Movers & Shakers
20 Photo Finish
21 Opinion
22 Shop Talk: Julia Becker Collins,
Vision Advertising
8 Opportunity zones
Central Mass. officials are pushing a
new federal development incentive, as
potential investors remain confused
about the benefits.
22 The new Vision
Julia Becker Collins has taken over
Vision Advertising from founder Laura
DiBenedetto. Collins sat down with WBJ
in our Shop Talk interview to discuss
the takeover.
Calm under pressure
Editor, Brad Kane,
bkane@wbjournal.com
News Editor, Grant Welker,
gwelker@wbjournal.com (Real estate,
higher education, health care)
Staff Writer
Zachary Comeau,
zcomeau@wbjournal.com
(Manufacturing)
Contributors
Susan Shalhoub, Livia Gershon,
Sarah Connell
Research Director,
Stephanie Meagher,
smeagher@nebusinessmedia.com
Research Assistant, Heide Martin,
hmartin@nebusinessmedia.com
Production Director, Kira Beaudoin,
kbeaudoin@wbjournal.com
Art Director, Mitchell Hayes,
mhayes@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Matt Majikas,
mmajikas@wbjournal.com
Senior Accounts Manager
Christine Juetten,
cjuetten@wbjournal.com
Senior Special Accounts Manager
Mary Lynn Bosiak,
mlbosiak@wbjournal.com
Marketing & Events Manager
Kris Prosser, kprosser@wbjournal.com
Distribution and Database Coordinator
A Guide to STUFF, a publication
of New England Business Media
Patty Harris,
pharris@nebusinessmedia.com
COO, Mary Rogers,
mrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Manager, Valerie Clark,
vclark@nebusinessmedia.com
Accounting Assistant, Rae Rogers,
rrogers@nebusinessmedia.com
Collections Manager, Raki Zwiebel,
rzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com
Human Resources, Jill Coran,
jcoran@nebusinessmedia.com
Publisher, CEO, Peter Stanton
pstanton@nebusinessmedia.com
Associate Publisher, Mark Murray
mmurray@wbjournal.com
President, Joseph Zwiebel
jzwiebel@nebusinessmedia.com