July 24, 2023 – Hundreds of swimmers, volunteers, friends, and family took over Jetties Beach on Saturday, July 22 for the most successful Swim Across America – Nantucket in the event’s 11-year history. Over $675,000 was raised to support cancer treatment, patient care, and research. The previous record was $525,000.

Congratulations to Team NHC/PASCON who raised $28,450 and counting! Team leader, Gretchen Hull, remarked “Thank you to everyone for joining the team, donating, fundraising and/or volunteering to make the Swim such a successful event! I am so proud of our team and am truly grateful for all your hard work and dedication.”

The funds raised will be donated to the Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Palliative & Supportive Care of Nantucket, and the Mass General Hospital Cancer Center. Click here to learn more about Swim Across America – Nantucket.

July 17, 2023 – Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s sixth annual Women+Wellness event on Monday, July 17th featured renowned cardiac expert Colleen M. Harrington, MD, as our featured speaker. Dr. Harrington discussed various topics related to cardiac health for people of all ages, including preventative measures and the gender-specific risk factors for heart diseases. Primary Care Practitioners from Nantucket Cottage Hospital joined the conversation to share valuable information about on-island resources for cardiac screening, services, and care. Click below to watch the full event.

Thank You to Our 2023 Sponsors:

• Heart Sponsors: Jeanine Borthwick | Michael and Meryl Bralower | Maureen Hackett | Lisa Clarey-Lawler
• Soul Sponsors: Carole Beller | Amanda Dearborn | The Inquirer and Mirror
• Care Sponsors: Camille Branca | Cathy Bortz | Anita Cosgrove | Dawn Didden | Caron Dockerty | Meg Dwyer | Robin Hammer | Joan Hill | Minou Palandjian | Maria Roach | Hinda Snyder | John and Marianne Stanton | Alison Townsend | Leslie Wytrzes
• Mindful Sponsors: Kim Hartman | Ginny Ripp | Nancy Vittorini | Kim Younes
• Peace Sponsors: Jane Condon | Jennifer Pincince | Lisa Soeder

June 7, 2023 – Nantucket Cottage Hospital is pleased to award 38 Beinecke Scholarships totaling $50,000 to island students and residents pursuing education and training in medical and healthcare fields.

Open to graduates of Nantucket High School, residents of the island, and employees of Nantucket Cottage Hospital, this scholarship fund was created by the late Nantucket businessman and civic leader Walter Beinecke, Jr. in the 1950s. Over the years, Nantucket Cottage Hospital has used the scholarship fund to assist hundreds of island students and residents further their education.

The eligibility of applicants and scholarship recipients are considered by an independent ad hoc committee consisting of leaders from Nantucket Cottage Hospital and the community at large.

Beinecke, the man who founded Sherburne Associates, and is credited with transforming Nantucket into a modern destination resort town, was a life member of Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s Board of Trustees. The Beinecke Scholarship Fund’s origins date back to the early 1950s when his father, Walter Beinecke, Sr., made annual gifts through the hospital to Nantucket High School graduates to help them pay for nursing school. After his father’s death in 1958, Walter Beinecke, Jr. formally established the scholarship fund in his memory.

The 2023 Beinecke Scholarship recipients are:

• Christian Ashelford
• Melanie Bamber
• Ciara Barnett
• Tianna Barrett
• K’sha Bloise
• Juilana Bouchard
• Brooke Campbell
• Cole Campbell
• Isabella Cutone
• Kate Daniels
• Emma Davis
• Sabin Dhamala
• Emily Dussault
• Edwin Alexis Mancia Castro
• Leticia Duval Camilo
• Candace Ferguson
• Heather Francis
• Pamela Gardner
• Sophie Gerardi
• Madison Iller
• Ioana Kalpazanova
• Diane Sophia King
• Caroline Knutti
• Tatiana Quijada Lemus
• Adriana Lopez
• Robin Manning
• Maria Silva Marchi
• Sara Marshall
• Sue Mynttinen
• Adisson Masiel Pineda Perez
• Andrea Planzer
• Stephanie Ryder
• Kyan Samuels-Roberts
• Teresa Erin Schrader
• Nathalia Elizabeth Tobar Tejada
• Ruth Tonico
• Chevelle Williams
• Adele Yelverton

(April 5, 2023) Nantucket Cottage Hospital received a new, state-of-the-art MRI scanner in April 2023. The new MRI is now the most costly piece of equipment at NCH and was purchased thanks to generous donations from the Hospital Thrift Shop. “The new MRI provides much faster scan times and higher resolution images. The faster scan times are a big improvement in convenience and comfort for patients and will make more appointments available. The higher image resolution means that many diagnostic procedures that have previously required a costly trip off-island can now be done here on Nantucket.” – Dr. Chinyere “C” Rumph, NCH Director of Imaging. Click the video below to get an inside look at the new MRI, produced by NCH staffer Kareem Vessah in the NCH Imaging Department.

(April 3, 2023) The president of Mass General Brigham Healthcare at Home, Heather O’Sullivan, has joined the Board of Trustees at Nantucket Cottage Hospital.

O’Sullivan, who has more than 20 years of experience as a clinical executive, joined Mass General Brigham in July of last year. She previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Innovation Officer at Kindred at Home, the nation’s largest provider of home care services.

“We are very excited to attract someone of Heather’s caliber to our Board,” said Craig Muhlhauser, chairman of the hospital’s board of trustees. “In addition to an outstanding career of guiding enterprise-wide transformation and innovation for various healthcare organizations, her expertise in providing care outside a traditional hospital environment is a perspective we believe will bring
a lot of value to the organization and our community.”

In her current role, O’Sullivan’s focus is expanding Mass General Brigham’s ability and capacity to shift acute-level care beyond traditional hospital settings to the home, while improving patient outcomes, increasing access and lowering costs. O’Sullivan is defining the future of care through the use of digitally enabled patient monitoring and enhanced provider technology while mobilizing the next generation workforce model through expanded practice opportunities. In evolving the system’s Healthcare at Home strategy, she leads a cross-discipline team of more than 1,000 employees including advanced practice providers, physicians, paramedics, nurses, personal care attendant, physical, occupational and speech therapists and personal care assistants.

“I’m honored to join an already-talented Board of Trustees and bring a new perspective and innovations to Nantucket Cottage Hospital,” O’Sullivan said. “Nantucket is a very special place with unique healthcare needs and it’s an honor to be able to serve the community in such a meaningful way.”

Heather has also worked directly with patients, spending significant time as a nurse practitioner delivering post-acute and longitudinal care to skilled nursing facility residents, and ultimately leading UnitedHealth Groups’ largest region of providers in New England.