It wasn’t long after the pandemic began when it became clear Boston-area hospitals couldn’t handle the daily overload of COVID-19 patients – something had to be done. That’s when Jeanette Ives Erickson received a call.

“I received a phone call from Peter Slavin, who was the president of Mass General Hospital at the time,” said Ives Erickson, “and he began to share with me the vision for Boston Hope.”

Dr. Ives Erickson had recently retired from the hospital after more than two decades as its vice president for patient care and chief nurse. But with the country’s largest public health crisis in a century looming, she was being asked by the Mass General Brigham healthcare system to become co-medical and operations director of the new 1,000-bed Boston Hope field hospital to treat overflow patients that area hospitals could not accommodate.

“I knew immediately I need to get into the fight. I think we all felt as if we needed to do something,” said Ives Erickson, Interim President and CEO of Nantucket Cottage Hospital. “I said, ‘I’m in. What do I do now?’”

Ives Erickson and her team quickly hired the people to staff Boston Hope, which was set up at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in the Seaport.

“We hired 1,000 employees – people in our community that could have stayed home because their clinics were closed, their businesses were closed,” said Ives Erickson. “They came to the Convention Center each and every day.”

Over the course of several months, Ives Erickson regularly put in 12-hour days, working with nurses, checking in with patients, and lending her expertise as needed. More than 700 recovering patients and unsheltered homeless individuals were treated at the Boston Hope field hospital.

Then in 2021, Ives Erickson was tapped again, this time to help lead the COVID-19 vaccination site at Mass General Brigham’s Assembly Row headquarters.

“At the time, I didn’t think I did anything special,” said Ives Erickson. “I simply answered the call because that’s what we nurses do.”

For her efforts at the field hospital, as well as for leading the COVID-19 vaccination site, Ives Erickson was recognized as a Nursing Hero by the Massachusetts chapter of the American Red Cross. The second annual Boston Heroes Breakfast was held virtually on March 23.

“I’m not a hero. Let’s start there. I’m not a hero,” said Ives Erickson. “Those providing direct care and the patients themselves are the heroes. I was the facilitator.”

“As I look back on it, being called upon to help the region get through the pandemic with the Boston Hope field hospital and the COVID-19 vaccination site were among the high

lights of my career,” she said. “It is an absolute honor to be recognized this way by such an esteemed organizations as the American Red Cross.”

This is the latest recognition of Ives Erickson’s work during the pandemic. In 2020, she was named to the Boston Business Journal’s Power 50 list of influential leaders “who have met the extraordinary challenges of [the] year head on.”

Last year, she was the only nurse recognized among several physicians and CEOs in a Boston Globe article about female trailblazers in health care during the pandemic.

(February 16, 2022) – Nantucket Cottage Hospital has recently been recognized as one of America’s Top 100 Rural and Community Hospitals by the Charis Center for Rural Health.

“This designation is another affirmation that the work our staff is undertaking here at Nantucket Cottage Hospital is paying off and yielding real results for our patients and the entire island community,” said Gary Shaw, President and CEO of Nantucket Cottage Hospital. “Our community can look at this recognition and know that when they step through the doors of NCH, they are receiving the highest quality of care by our team of remarkable clinicians and support staff.”

The recognition marks the first time in NCH’s history it has been recognized as a Top 100 Rural and Community Hospital. The designation is based on eight metrics, ranging from patient outcomes and quality, to cost and financial efficiency.

“Despite unprecedented adversity rural providers continue to display resiliency and a steadfast commitment to their communities,” said Michael Topchik, National Leader, The Chartis Center for Rural Health. “Particularly in light of the extraordinary challenges facing America’s rural health safety net.”

The U.S. Census Bureau notes that about 60 million, or one in five, Americans live in rural settings, and are served by rural hospitals. Since 2010, over 130 of these rural hospitals have closed due to challenges such as low patient volume and financial efficiency, issues that have led other rural hospitals to reduce service and limit patient care.

“It’s been a hard few years for rural hospitals,” said Shaw. “Despite the nationwide trend of rural hospitals limiting services, our staff has been able to increase the number of the life changing services offered, here on island, by leveraging our Mass General Brigham affiliation, and attracting a diverse set of new providers and clinicians to Nantucket.”

Last week Nantucket Cottage Hospital welcomed Dr. Alexinna Johns as Nantucket’s newest year-round primary care doctor.

“When I first came to Nantucket, and met the team, it seemed serendipitous, Nantucket is such an amazing and diverse community, and being given the opportunity to learn about these patients and help navigate their care path is truly a gift,” said Dr. Johns.

Born in Sierra Leone, Dr. Johns, migrated to the United States with her family at a young age, nearly four decades ago, before attending the University of California, Riverside, where she graduated with honors followed by medical school at Ross University’s School of Medicine.

“I believe my background unintentionally prepared me for this role, growing up and understanding strife and struggle really gives you a wider perspective on the human experience,” said Dr. Johns. “My experience helps me understand the patient at a more personal level and allows me to better navigate their care.”

As a member of NCH, Dr. Johns will be practicing full spectrum family medicine with obstetrics at NCH’s outpatient clinic with an added focus on addiction medicine.

“Coming to Nantucket, I’m most excited about broadening my skills and being able to practice OB and addiction medicine again,” said Dr. Johns. “There is something inspiring about being able to walk someone through the journey of whole person healing in the recovery process and working in OB is like being part of a miracle every day.”

Prior to joining NCH, Dr. Johns lived in Puyallup, Washington, where she previously practiced family medicine and geriatrics at Western State Hospital. Prior to her practice at Western State Hospital, she spent nine years as a faculty member of the Family Medicine Residency Program at East Pierce Family Medicine.

“The addition of Dr. Johns to our exceptional line-up of island doctors is part of our enduring commitment to delivering the best whole person care possible to our Nantucket community,” said Gary Shaw, President and CEO of Nantucket Cottage Hospital. “This addition means that there will be more appointments available to our patients, reducing wait times, while increasing the quality of care that comes with having a provider on-site that specializes in the high-demand field’s our community needs, like obstetrics and addiction medicine.”

Early last month, Nantucket Cottage Hospital welcomed Dr. Sandra Van Gundy, EdD as our new Vice President of Quality, Risk and Patient Experience.

Hailing from Holderness, New Hampshire, Dr. Van Gundy is no stranger to the challenges faced by island residents, having spent over 30 years as a frequent seasonal visitor of Nantucket.

“I first came to Nantucket in 1988, staying in Tom Nevers, since then I would visit regularly through the 90s, which is when Nantucket really became my happy place, I particularly enjoy its natural beauty and the welcoming warmth of the community,” said Van Gundy.

A seasoned Registered Nurse, Van Gundy spent 12 years rotating throughout clinical roles before making the jump to academia where she was an Associate Professor of Nursing with a focus on quality, patient safety, and health at Plymouth State University.

“As an advocate for population health, my work centered on health needs of populations across the world, from Latin America to China, treating both chronic and acute illness and monitoring determinants of health,” said Van Gundy.

Despite years in healthcare as a practicing clinician and educator, Van Gundy’s most enlightening experience wasn’t as a nurse or professor, but rather as a patient, at the receiving end of the care she spent a lifetime practicing.

“As a cancer survivor, I realize being a patient was a gift as a practitioner, because I realized that despite efforts to empathize with the patient, really have no idea what our patients are going through,” said Van Gundy. “There was a tremendous empathy gap, caregivers were often challenged to successfully put themselves in their patient shoes and were developing plans of care that were not able to meet patient’s individualized needs.

Following recovery, Van Gundy came to the conclusion that her experience was an opportunity to influence healthcare system design so it balances evidence-based decision making with unique needs of patients in order to provide those we serve with a better patient experience.

“There are so many factors that impact a patient’s treatment, everyone has dozens of psycho-social factors that need to be taken into account when building a care plan,” said Van Gundy. “Caregivers need to know what a patient is going through…family or financial challenges, all these pieces need to be taken into account to maximize that personalized care and ultimately patient success.”

As the hospital’s leader for quality and patient experience, Van Gundy believes that her experience as both a patient and practitioner has uniquely equipped her to optimize patients’ experiences at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, while leading the organization through a pivotal period for healthcare providers across the nation.

“Healthcare leaders have known for a decade that America doesn’t have enough doctors to increase access to care nationwide,” said Van Gundy. “We can overcome that challenge here on Nantucket by ensuring our nurse practitioners are practicing to the fullest extent of their education, training and license, and help our community understand just how remarkable a resource they are for care.”

For Van Gundy, Nantucket offers an opportunity for her to get closer to patients, while addressing many of the pressing healthcare issues impacting the island community.

“Since I first came to Nantucket in 1988, it’s grown into such a diverse and unique community,” said Van Gundy. “With that comes a wide spectrum of challenges and expectations from our patients, but when you look around this new, state-of-the-art hospital, you realize we’re well situated to meet those challenges.”