NORTHAMPTON — Cooley Dickinson Hospital is getting a rebranding that emphasizes the Northampton hospital’s ties with the Mass General Brigham health care system.

New entrance signs leading into the hospital at 30 Locust St. now display the Mass General Brigham name prominently, with Cooley Dickinson Hospital underneath in smaller type. Installations were completed last week.

The new logo for Cooley Dickinson is also changed to further reflect the ties to Mass General Brigham. Whereas the old logo featured a river between mountains, the new logo is modeled after the Classical Revival architecture of Mass General’s Bulfinch Building and the Peter Bent Brigham building, both in Boston. The new logo is displayed on the new signage, with additional plans to further integrate it into identification badges and medical offices.

Mass General Brigham spokesman Adam Bagni said the change would make it easier for patients to identify other hospitals that are within the Mass General Brigham network.

“It’s a huge part of knowing we are one system,” Bagni said. “It makes it easier to care for patients, whether in Brigham or at Cooley Dickinson, because they know the records are in the same system.”

Cooley Dickinson became affiliated with what was then called Partners HealthCare in 2013. Partners rebranded to Mass General Brigham in 2019, in an attempt to highlight its two main assets, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Cooley Dickinson is one of several affiliated community hospitals in the organization, along with Martha’s Vineyard Hospital in Oak Bluffs, Newton-Wellesley Hospital in Newton, and Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, New Hampshire. These hospitals also have been a part of the rebranding effort.

The partnership allows the hospital to provide services through the Mass General Brigham system, such as medical and radiation oncology through the Mass General Cancer center, as well as providing evaluation clinics for liver and kidney transplantation and maternal fetal medicine services.

Cooley Dickinson President and CEO Lynnette Watkins said in an interview that despite the rebranding, the Cooley Dickinson moniker isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

“There’s a lot of history and tradition in the Cooley Dickinson name,” she said, referring to the 137-year history in the community. “We are extremely proud of the name and proud to be a part of the Mass General Brigham family. And I think this update really signifies that.”

In a press release, Watkins noted that the philanthropy Cooley Dickinson receives from local businesses and individuals will remain local to support projects like the renovation of its childbirth center and the expansion of its emergency department.

Hospital officials hope to break ground this spring on the $19.76 million, two-year emergency room project that calls for adding 6,600 square feet of space, more beds and private rooms, enhanced behavioral health services, a redesign that puts the nurses’ station in the center of the department, and a reconfiguration of both the ambulance bay and the traffic pattern in front of the entrance, among other changes.

The hospital has said that the current emergency department is 40% smaller than it needs to be to properly serve the community.

The childbirth center recently underwent renovations in 2020-2021.

As for the rebranding, Watkins said the hospital would continue to utilize its partnership with Mass General Brigham to tackle its ongoing challenges, such as continuing to deal with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In this new phase of the pandemic, it is important and remains important to provide safe, high quality care as well as access to that care,” she said. “In these challenging times, it would be difficult, really difficult, without the additional support.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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