Category: Staff spotlight
NCH Welcomes John F. D’Avella, MD, FASN
Nantucket Cottage Hospital announced today that John F. D’Avella, MD, FASN, has joined the hospital’s medical staff as an internal medicine physician.
Dr. D’Avella is moving to the island and joining NCH following a distinguished career in Connecticut, where he was a physician at Hartford Hospital for more than 30 years, with an extensive background in nephrology and dialysis. He and his wife Denise own a home on Nantucket, and have visited the island for many years.
Dr. D’Avella will initially join Dr. Diane Pearl’s practice on a part-time basis, while also providing nephrology consults in the hospital’s medical/surgical unit and in the emergency department, and accepting referrals for patients with kidney issues, difficult to manage hypertension, diabetes, and kidney stones. (more…)
NCH Staffer Joins Hurricane Harvey Relief Effort
Nantucket Cottage Hospital emergency department staff member Anne Stearns has deployed with the American Red Cross in Texas as part of the relief effort in the communities devastated by Hurricane Harvey.
After flying to the Houston area, Stearns was initially assigned to help open a new shelter in Beaumont, Texas, and has since moved on to help at a shelter in Port Arthur, one of the hardest hit cities.
“We have over 245 people in the shelter. This week I will be going out in the neighborhoods to check on people who need medical care,” said Stearns, who serves as a paramedic patient care tech in the NCH emergency department.
“Once I heard about Hurricane Harvey I knew I wanted to come down here and help,” she added. “We have so much where we live that I wanted to come help people who had everything taken away. We are staying in a shelter on cots with cold showers but it’s only for nine days – most of these people have no idea how long they will be in shelters. It’s the least I could do. I want to thank NCH for allowing me the time to come here.”
106th Nantucket Cottage Hospital Annual Meeting
Nantucket Cottage Hospital emergency department nurse Dani Brunelle was named the first recipient of the Seinfeld/Hartmann Prize for Compassionate Medical Care during the hospital’s 106th Annual Meeting on Friday.
In recognition that compassionate care is a key hospital goal and a distinct privilege, NCH established this new annual prize in 2017 to honor a staff member for extraordinarily compassionate care. The Seinfeld/Hartmann Prize for Compassionate Medical Care will pay lasting tribute to a physician, nurse or any other hospital staff member who throughout his or her professional career demonstrates an outstanding level of compassion and care in their role at NCH. Dani was nominated by her peers based on the award criteria including: respect; integrity; empathy; communication; altruism; service; excellence; and professionalism. (more…)
A Night of Stories: Tales From the Cottage Hospital Nurses
The first in a series of oral history events about the hospital took place on June 27th at the Nantucket Historical Association’s Whaling Museum. “A Night of Stories: Tales From the Cottage Hospital Nurses” featured six current and former NCH nurses telling the heartwarming, hilarious, and eccentric stories of delivering care on an island 30 miles out to sea.
NCH Staffer Takes Action in Aftermath of Ferry Accident
When the Steamship Authority’s Iyanough ferry crashed into a jetty at the entrance to Hyannis Harbor on the evening of June 16, the impact left 15 people injured.
Stranded on the rocks, the victims of the crash did not have immediate access to medical care. But one of the passengers happened to be Nate Woodason, a patient care tech in the Nantucket Cottage Hospital emergency department.
“Initially I was in shock, he said. “But I’m CPR certified, and working in the emergency department, so I thought I should do this and jump in.”
Although he was slightly injured himself, Woodason sprang into action and began making rounds on the boat to identify passengers who had been hurt. (more…)