After several practice runs over the past week, Boston MedFlight has resumed patient transfer operations at Nantucket Cottage Hospital and is now using the helipad associated with the new hospital.

For nearly three years, MedFlight had been conducting all transfers from Nantucket Memorial Airport after the previous helipad at NCH was decommissioned and the construction of the new hospital got underway.

The new helipad at NCH is one of Boston MedFlight’s most convenient and accessible community hospital helipads that they visit.

The new helipad features high tech, pilot-controlled edge lighting, a lighted beacon, electric traffic gates to restrict access to the pad, a sidewalk directly into the Emergency Department, and video monitoring that will be visible from MedFlight’s Communications Center. Due to these safety enhancements and close proximity to the Emergency Department, crews from the Nantucket Fire Department will no longer need to be called to stand by for landings and takeoffs at NCH.

Of the 10,000-plus patients Nantucket Cottage Hospital cares for in its Emergency Department every year, only 2 percent to 3 percent require transfer by Boston MedFlight or the Coast Guard.  The hospital is very grateful to these organizations that are available for our patients when we need them.