Awards and Scholarships
Beinecke Scholarship Fund
Click here to download the 2025/26 Beinecke Scholarship application
Income generated from the Beinecke Scholarship Fund will be used to provide medically related educational opportunities for residents of Nantucket, graduates of Nantucket High School, and employees and medical staff members of Nantucket Cottage Hospital to pursue health education that could benefit the hospital. Individuals receiving assistance from the Fund will not be obligated to employment with the hospital or repayment of the funds received.
Preference will be given to candidates with demonstrated success in pursuing healthcare education and the duration of need will be considered in making the award. No individual award shall exceed $4,000.00 in one calendar year. An annual special award, outside the stated individual limit, may be made at the discretion of the Committee. This award carries no guarantee that it will be repeated.
Funds may be used for all appropriate educational expenses at the discretion of the Committee, and award money is sent directly to each recipient’s school or institution. Recipients of scholarships must submit a new request for funds each year of the educational program. Generally, these funds may be renewed depending upon academic performance and continuing demonstration of financial need.
This special fund was created by the late Nantucket businessman and civic leader Walter Beinecke, Jr. in the 1950s. Beinecke, the man who founded Sherburne Associates and is credited with transforming Nantucket into a modern destination resort town, was a life member of Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s Board of Trustees. The Beinecke Scholarship Fund’s origins date back to the early 1950s when his father, Walter Beinecke, Sr., made annual gifts through the hospital to Nantucket High School graduates to help them pay for nursing school. After his father’s death in 1958, Walter Beinecke, Jr. formally established the scholarship fund in his memory.
Click here to download the 2025/26 Beinecke Scholarship application
Due by 5 p.m. on Friday, April 25, 2025 | For more information, please call the Nantucket Cottage Hospital Development Office (508) 825-8250 or email nchdevelopment@mgb.org
The Seinfeld/Hartmann Prize for Compassionate Medical Care
Recognizing that providing compassionate care is a key hospital goal and a distinct privilege, Nantucket Cottage Hospital (NCH) has established an annual prize honoring 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.
Nominations for The Seinfeld/Hartmann Prize for Compassionate Medical Care can be initiated by any patient or staff member who witnessed an act of compassion by an NCH employee and are due by July 15, 2025. Learn more and nominate a caregiver by clicking here.
The DAISY Award For Extraordinary Nurses
The DAISY Award is an international recognition program that honors and celebrates the skillful, compassionate care nurses provide every day. The DAISY Foundation was established by the family of J. Patrick Barnes after he died from complications of the auto-immune disease ITP in 1999. During his hospitalization, they deeply appreciated the care and compassion shown to Patrick and his entire family. When he died, they felt compelled to say “thank you” to nurses in a very public way. Share your story and say thank you to a nurse at NCH by submitting a nomination here.