We first want to express our gratitude to the Nantucket community for the countless acts of generosity, goodwill and support for our hospital that we have witnessed over the past week. We thank everyone who has donated medical supplies or took the time to manufacture homemade masks, not to mention the many other offers of food, housing, and funding. Seeing our community rally around its hospital as we respond to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been inspiring for everyone at NCH.

As our hospital has prepared for this unprecedented situation and changed the way we do business, we realized that the measures that have been implemented to protect patients and our staff may have created the perception that NCH is essentially closed to all but those suffering from COVID-19. That is far from the truth, and we want the community to know that we are open and here to care for you. While we have indeed rescheduled things like well visits and cancelled elective procedures to reduce the number of people coming through our facility, we continue to see patients at NCH for urgent, non-COVID-19 healthcare needs. We are taking every infection control measure to protect patients and staff, and are screening potential coronavirus cases outside the hospital at our drive-through evaluation site at the main entrance. If you have a medical need, please call us and we will do our best to serve you and your family. Our doctors are able to schedule visits with their patients via telephone as well, and we are working on rolling out video visits.

We now have five confirmed cases of coronavirus on Nantucket. These patients are quarantined at their homes and monitoring their symptoms with our clinical team. As we know, the majority of people diagnosed with COVID-19 have mild symptoms, and we have not yet had anyone on Nantucket become significantly sick or require hospitalization due to coronavirus. But we cannot let that fact lead us to become complacent. We must do everything possible to prevent the spread of this virus in the community, so we continue to urge Nantucket residents to follow all aspects of the town’s stay at home order and construction ban, limit trips to the grocery store, practice social distancing, as well as vigilant hand-washing and hygiene measures. The actions all of us take now and in the days and weeks ahead will determine whether we are able to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on our island and avoid a surge of cases that could overwhelm our hospital. We need the help and support of every member of our community to limit the potential spread of this virus.

Nantucket Cottage Hospital is calling on any active or retired healthcare professionals on the island to sign up to be part of a reserve staff of clinicians if the need arises during the COVID-19 pandemic response.

We are seeking any retired or active physicians, nurses, techs, or anyone who has a medical background to let us know if they are on-island and willing to help NCH if called upon.

We are able to do emergency credentialing at NCH as the state of Massachusetts has relaxed the rules around this process.

Please contact us at 508-825-8118 or e-mail sarhodes@partners.org if you are willing be part of our reserve staff during this challenging time. Thank you.

As a note to our regular employees who may be experiencing a reduction in work right now due to the deferral of certain elective procedures and visits, the hospital’s first priority is to find opportunities for you to be reassigned elsewhere in the hospital and to keep as many regular staff members employed as possible. If all regular (non-reserve) employees are reassigned and the hospital still has a need for staffing, the reserve staff would be available only as a last resort.

(March 24, 2020) Nantucket Cottage Hospital has received confirmation of a positive case of the COVID-19 coronavirus on the island, the second confirmed case for Nantucket. The patient is isolated at home and monitoring their symptoms with our clinicians.

The patient was screened at Nantucket Cottage Hospital on Saturday, March 21, and the test result was reported positive early Tuesday morning, March 24.

The patient will remain quarantined at home while we monitor their symptoms, and NCH together with the Town of Nantucket Health Department has initiated the process of tracing the patient’s contact with other individuals as well as NCH staff. No further patient details will be shared by NCH.

“We must do everything we can to prevent the spread of this virus in the community, so we continue to urge Nantucket residents to follow all aspects of the town’s stay at home order, practice social distancing, limit trips to the grocery store, as well as vigilant hand-washing and hygiene measures,” said Gary Shaw, President and CEO of Nantucket Cottage Hospital. “The actions all of us take now and in the days and weeks ahead will determine whether we are able to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on our island and avoid a surge of cases that could overwhelm our hospital. Our team at NCH is doing everything we can to care for our island during this challenging time, but we will need the help and support of every member of our community to limit the potential spread of this virus.”

Nantucket Cottage Hospital is calling on active or retired physicians to sign up to be part of a reserve staff if the need arises during the COVID-19 pandemic response.

If you are a retired or active physician and are currently on-island, please let us know if you are willing to help NCH if called upon. We are able to do emergency credentialing and licensing as the state of Massachusetts has relaxed the rules around this process.

Please contact us at 508-825-8118 or e-mail sarhodes@partners.org if you are willing be part of our reserve staff during this challenging time. Thank you.

We are welcoming donations of homemade fabric masks from our community as we continue our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most hospitals are facing shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) right now, and other medical facilities have put out similar calls for help in recent days.

According to the CDC, fabric masks are a crisis response option when other supplies have been exhausted. We have implemented stringent conservation measures to sustain our existing supply of PPE and currently have adequate supplies, but want to mobilize the support of our community now to prevent any possibility of running low or running out. Donations can be made daily at the NCH loading dock, behind the hospital off Vesper Lane, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m.