Nantucket Cottage Hospital announced Wednesday that it has awarded $381,500 in grant funding to 13 non-profit agencies and other local organizations through its Community Health Initiative, which seeks to address the island’s most pressing health issues through collaborative, innovative, and sustainable programs. 

The Community Health Initiative grant funds are available through the private donations to Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s capital campaign for the island’s new hospital. As a state-approved capital project, the hospital is required to invest 5 percent of the total project cost in improving community health outside the walls of the hospital.

This year’s awards are the third in a series of grant cycles that will ultimately invest more than $4 million to improve the health and wellbeing of the island. The hospital sought proposals in four areas: behavioral health; women’s and children’s health; access to healthcare; and access to housing.

These priorities were identified by the island community during a comprehensive process begun in 2017 that included public forums, and prioritization sessions. These health priorities were then reconfirmed in 2018 during a public forum open to the community. The resulting Community Health Improvement Plan, better known as Healthy Nantucket 2020, served as the roadmap for the Community Health Initiative grant process.

“On behalf of the hospital community I want to thank and recognize the generous donors who, through their gifts to the NCH capital campaign, have provided the funds for our Community Health Initiative and the grants that we have distributed today,” said Courtney O’Neill, NCH vice president for development and community relations. “We are also grateful to the many volunteers and island residents who have been part of the grant evaluation process and helped us decide where and how to channel these funds to improve the health of our community.”

The 2019 Nantucket Cottage Hospital Community Health Initiative grant recipients include:

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH

• Addiction Solutions; emergency fund for patients in Suboxone program & other mental health emergencies
• Fairwinds – Nantucket’s Counseling Center; tele-psychiatry equipment
• Nantucket Safe Harbor for Animals; animal assisted therapy program
• National Alliance on Mental Illness; third year of a comprehensive education and outreach campaign for on-island behavioral health resources

WOMEN’S & CHILDREN’S HEALTH

• Nantucket Community School; support for “Welcome Baby/Welcome Family” program
• Nantucket Public Schools; research and data-gathering on the demand for universal pre-kindergarten programming on Nantucket
• Health Imperatives; education and services to support the health and nutritional needs of island families
• Sustainable Nantucket: Farm to School nutrition program

ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE

• Small Friends on Nantucket; CPR training and certification for teachers and purchase/training for automated external defibrillators (AEDs)
• Nantucket Community Television; creation of Nantucket Pulse TV show highlighting island health care providers and island patients navigating health issues

ACCESS TO HOUSING:

• Housing Nantucket; support for expansion of covenant housing program
• Nantucket Affordable Housing Trust Fund; Closing Cost Assistance Program
• Nantucket Boys & Girls Club; support for new employee housing project to meet the increased year-round staffing needs

Grants will be distributed through The NCH Community Health Fund, a donor advised fund of the Community Foundation for Nantucket, which collaborated with Nantucket Cottage Hospital throughout the grantmaking process and provided administrative support.