The move is part of a broader campaign by St. Elizabeth’s and its corporate parent, Boston-based Steward Health Care System, to strengthen its “cultural competence” and establish itself as a go-to community hospital system in Eastern Massachusetts. Among other changes, St. Elizabeth’s also has installed a foot bath for Muslim patients and employees, and hired more interpreters for patients who speak Russian, Portuguese, and African languages.But the outreach to the observant Jewish community is unique, targeting a population that has sometimes felt uncomfortable at Catholic hospitals and Continue reading >>>

The Boston Pops Orchestra performs during rehearsal for their Fourth of July concert at the Hatch Shell Tuesday, July 3. (AP) BOSTON — Despite a continually sluggish economy, this year’s Fourth of July celebration managed to bring hundreds of thousands of visitors to Boston this week. And if you’re in the tourism business, that’s music to your ears. Preliminary numbers indicate that the city saw a nine percent increase in the number of visitors from last year, due in part to improving economic conditions, consumer confidence, and the Continue reading >>>

SUNDAY: Eric Kester (“That Book About Harvard: Surviving the World’s Most Famous University, One Embarrassment at a Time”) reads at 3 p.m. at Concord Bookshop, 65 Main St., Concord … James Tate (“The Eternal Ones of the Dream: Selected Poems 1990 – 2010”) and Dara Wier (“A Civilian's Journal of the War Years”) read at 4 p.m. at the Longfellow National Historic Site,105 Brattle St., Cambridge TUESDAY: Elin Hilderbrand (“Summerland”) reads at 6 p.m. at the Boston Public Library, Copley … Joe Olshan (“Cloudland”) and John Katzenbach (“What Comes Next”) read at 7 p.m. Continue reading >>>

Three years ago, Somerville resident Amy Gardner was riding the T when she saw an advertisement. It depicted a cute kid, and it asked, to paraphrase, if such a child could sell you tires, could she also sell you on the chance to spend a few hours enriching her life? The advertisement spoke to Gardner, and "I just decided it was time to start impacting somebody's life," she said. Since then, Gardner has been volunteering with Horizons for Homeless Children, spending a few hours each week as a playspace activity leader, or PAL, and she recently won the organization's PAL of the Year Award for her Continue reading >>>

St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, the Boston area’s largest Catholic hospital, is reaching out to a population that’s been expanding around its Brighton neighborhood: Orthodox Jews. In a bid to attract more business from the ­Orthodox community in Brighton and nearby Brookline and Newton, the hospital last week dedicated the region’s first Bikur Cholim room, a space where observant Jews can visit family members who are patients during Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath running from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. The room provides Hebrew prayer books and stocks kosher foods. “It makes sense Continue reading >>>

Four years ago, if you had asked Jacob Lefton what his career path was, he wouldn’t have said owning his own business in metalworking. But today, that’s exactly what he’s doing — and it’s paying off. The 26-year-old is spending his days (and nights) working in Belchertown, Mass. as a blacksmith, creating handmade designs for interested customers throughout the Greater Boston area. (Click on the links, at left, to watch a video of Lefton's creative process at the forge, as well as to view a photo gallery of his work.) A 2008 Hampshire College graduate, Lefton dabbled in various Continue reading >>>

Four years ago, if you had asked Jacob Lefton what his career path was, he wouldn’t have said owning his own business in metalworking. But today, that’s exactly what he’s doing — and it’s paying off. The 26-year-old is spending his days (and nights) working in Belchertown, Mass. as a blacksmith, creating handmade designs for interested customers throughout the Greater Boston area. (Click on the links, at left, to watch a video of Lefton's creative process at the forge, as well as to view a photo gallery of his work.) A 2008 Hampshire College graduate, Lefton dabbled in various Continue reading >>>