October 2023 – Nantucket Cottage Hospital is offering limited phone consultations for Open Enrollment Medicare Prescription Drug Plan (Part D) assistance. Please call 508-825-8196, Monday – Friday, to schedule an appointment between October 17th and December 7th.

Additional assistance is available from the SHINE Program, a State Health Insurance Program that provides free, one-on-one health insurance information, counseling and assistance to Medicare beneficiaries of all ages. Phone appointments for Nantucket residents are available through SHINE by calling 508-375-6762. You can also email SHINE@capecod.gov.

The SHINE Program can assist with questions about the following:

• Medicare
• Medicare Advantage Plans (Medicare HMOs, PPOs)
• Insurance Claim Forms
• Medicare Supplements (“Medigap”)
• Medicaid/MassHealth
• Prescription Advantage
• Medicare Prescription Drug Plans
• One Care Plans
• Health Insurance Options
• Prescription Drug Options
• Long-Term Care Insurance

Some of the services that SHINE counselors provide include:

• Reviewing your current coverage
• Reviewing your eligibility for financial assistance
• Providing health insurance plan comparisons
• Helping prepare health benefit claim forms and applications

Counselors are volunteers trained and certified through the SHINE Program.

(September 2023) Nantucket Cottage Hospital is hosting flu vaccine clinics this fall. Appointments are required and are available to book on the Patient Gateway or by calling 508-825-1000. Flu shots will be administered in the Anderson Building on the hospital campus at 57 Prospect Street.

• Monday, September 18, 2023
• Wednesday, September 20, 2023
• Saturday, September 23, 2023
• Tuesday, September 26, 2023
• Thursday, September 28, 2023
• Saturday, September 30, 2023 during Island Health Fair at 57 Prospect Street, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. (no appointments required during Health Fair)
• Tuesday, October 10, 2023
• Thursday, October 12, 2023
• Tuesday, October 24, 2023
• Tuesday, November 7, 2023
• Thursday, November 9, 2023
• Wednesday, November 15, 2023
• Thursday, November 16, 2023
• Friday, November 24, 2023 (for all ages – clinic located in Physician Practices in main hospital, not Anderson Building)
• Thursday, December 28, 2023 (for all ages – clinic located in Physician Practices in main hospital, not Anderson Building)

Additional clinic dates will be added to meet demand. Both COVID and flu vaccines are also available to patients during a regular primary care visit.

For COVID vaccine clinic dates, click here.

The flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccine each year, and the Centers for Disease Control recommends annual influenza vaccination for everyone 6 months and older.

July 17, 2023 – Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s sixth annual Women+Wellness event on Monday, July 17th featured renowned cardiac expert Colleen M. Harrington, MD, as our featured speaker. Dr. Harrington discussed various topics related to cardiac health for people of all ages, including preventative measures and the gender-specific risk factors for heart diseases. Primary Care Practitioners from Nantucket Cottage Hospital joined the conversation to share valuable information about on-island resources for cardiac screening, services, and care. Click below to watch the full event.

Thank You to Our 2023 Sponsors:

• Heart Sponsors: Jeanine Borthwick | Michael and Meryl Bralower | Maureen Hackett | Lisa Clarey-Lawler
• Soul Sponsors: Carole Beller | Amanda Dearborn | The Inquirer and Mirror
• Care Sponsors: Camille Branca | Cathy Bortz | Anita Cosgrove | Dawn Didden | Caron Dockerty | Meg Dwyer | Robin Hammer | Joan Hill | Minou Palandjian | Maria Roach | Hinda Snyder | John and Marianne Stanton | Alison Townsend | Leslie Wytrzes
• Mindful Sponsors: Kim Hartman | Ginny Ripp | Nancy Vittorini | Kim Younes
• Peace Sponsors: Jane Condon | Jennifer Pincince | Lisa Soeder

(April 6, 2023) Nantucket Cottage Hospital is adding Urology to the list of specialty services it offers on-island. NCH has partnered with the Mass General Physician Organization and the MGH Department of Urology to bring the services of Dr. Michael C. Lee to Nantucket. Dr. Lee is certified by the American Board of Urology and is a Clinical Instructor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Lee will be joined in the NCH practice by Sonal Patel, a Urology Nurse Practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital.

“It is always very satisfying for us when we can tap into our Mass General Brigham network to bring a physician of Dr. Lee’s reputation and caliber to Nantucket,” said Dr. Barbara Malone, Chief Medical Officer at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, “Filling this gap in on-island care has been among our highest priorities.”

Video conference appointments for Urology will begin this spring and in-person appointments and office-based procedures will begin at Nantucket Cottage Hospital over the summer. Appointments will be available by referral from patients’ primary care provider.

(April 5, 2023) Nantucket Cottage Hospital received a new, state-of-the-art MRI scanner in April 2023. The new MRI is now the most costly piece of equipment at NCH and was purchased thanks to generous donations from the Hospital Thrift Shop. “The new MRI provides much faster scan times and higher resolution images. The faster scan times are a big improvement in convenience and comfort for patients and will make more appointments available. The higher image resolution means that many diagnostic procedures that have previously required a costly trip off-island can now be done here on Nantucket.” – Dr. Chinyere “C” Rumph, NCH Director of Imaging. Click the video below to get an inside look at the new MRI, produced by NCH staffer Kareem Vessah in the NCH Imaging Department.