(September 13, 2019) Two large sculptures were installed outside the hospital this week in the area that will become the serenity garden. These sculptures were created and generously donated to NCH by Gordon Gund, along with a gift to our recently completed capital campaign.

One of the sculptures, which Gund has named “Freedom,” is an abstract of wings made of bronze and perched on a base of Laurentian green granite.

“Nantucket is fortunate to be a permanent or migratory home for many species of birds that evoke this sense of freedom,” Gund said. “I hope this sculpture will give to all who see and touch it a sense of freedom and a respect for the freedom we all are fortunate to have.”

The other sculpture Gund has donated to the serenity garden at NCH is named “Flukes,” an abstract bronze sculpture of a whale’s tail descending into water.

“The idea for this sculpture came from my efforts to help free a pod of pilot whales that were stranded on a Nantucket sandbar several years ago,” Gund said. “My hope is that visitors to the Cottage Hospital who have the chance to see or touch the sculpture will experience the spirit and power of a magnificent fish.”

We thank the Gund family for these incredible contributions to our new hospital! Read more about Mr. Gund here.

At Nantucket Cottage Hospital, cancer care services include both traditional treatments as well as cutting edge immunotherapy that has shown incredible promise in combating certain types of cancer.

Immunotherapy is a type of treatment which helps the patient’s own immune system to fight cancer cells. This type of biological therapy can trigger the immune system to directly attack certain cancer cells or stimulate the immune system generally.

In recent years, immunotherapy has greatly advanced and become an important part of oncologists’ arsenal in combating certain cancers, including multiple myeloma, as well as skin, breast and lung cancers.

At the Swim Across America Infusion Center inside the new Nantucket Cottage Hospital, the island’s oncology team and the hospital pharmacy staff are well-versed in this groundbreaking treatment and are providing immunotherapy to cancer patients right here on Nantucket.

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.

Nantucket Cottage Hospital honored the accomplishments of its outgoing President and CEO Dr. Margot Hartmann, as well as its capital campaign chairman Bruce Percelay during its 108^th Annual Meeting Friday morning.

Kevin Hickey, chairman of the NCH Board of Trustees, introduced the hospital’s new interim CEO, Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, DNP, who will take over the role when Dr. Hartmann retires at the end of August until a permanent successor is chosen.

Courtney O’Neill, NCH vice president of development and community relations, marked the completion of the hospital’s $120 million capital campaign by recognizing Percelay’s contributions and the community’s overwhelming support.

“Everyone who has been involved in this campaign can be proud of what we have accomplished together, and there are so many people who contributed their time, their talents and their treasure,” O’Neill said.