(May 3, 2021) The Hospital Thrift Shop will open its doors on Monday, May 10th, 2021 for its 92nd season in business supporting Nantucket Cottage Hospital. The beloved island institution will allow in-person bargain hunting for the first time since 2019. Due to the pandemic, the Shop was unable to open for inside shopping in 2020 and instead created a new e-commerce shopping website and hosted several outdoor sales.

“We’re so excited to welcome shoppers back into 17 India Street,” said Mary Casey, Executive Director of the Hospital Thrift Shop. “We are chock full of merchandise – clothes, books, housewares, you name it! We are bursting at the seams and we can’t wait to get back to ‘business as normal.’”

For up-to-date shopping and donation hours, please visit hospitalthriftshop.org

The Thrift Shop was founded in 1929 when a group of dedicated volunteers came together to provide affordable clothes and household goods to the island community. Its first gift to the hospital that year was $603. Since that first donation, the Thrift Shop has contributed more than $5 million to the hospital during its 91 years of operation, a legacy of generosity that has benefited NCH in many ways, from new radiology and lab equipment, to a remodeled dialysis unit and new furnishings for patient rooms.

The Hospital Thrift Shop is always in need of new volunteers. Anyone interested in helping carry on this wonderful island tradition should e-mail hospitalthriftshop@gmail.com

(March 25, 2021) In collaboration with longtime island pharmacist Allan Bell, Nantucket Cottage Hospital will be opening a new community pharmacy on Vesper Lane, just across the street from the hospital, to provide patients with greater convenience and continuity of care while sustaining an important community resource.

The new pharmacy will be located at what was known as the hospital’s Founders Building at 10 Vesper Lane and will be owned and operated by Nantucket Cottage Hospital. It will be open to anyone needing prescription pharmaceuticals. Concurrently, Bell intends to close the prescription department of his existing Island Pharmacy business on Pleasant Street, while continuing to fill prescriptions at his Nantucket Pharmacy operation on Main Street.

The new venture began when Bell approached the hospital last year regarding a potential relationship. While he had been pursued by numerous chains and other off-island interests over the years regarding his pharmacy operations, Bell chose to reach out to NCH because of its deep roots on Nantucket and understanding of the needs of island patients. Allan Bell said, “I have been caring for Islanders’ prescription needs for over 43 years and am so grateful to the Nantucket community for this time. I am excited to see the prescription department moving to the NCH campus. There will be continuity, as I begin to step away from Island Pharmacy after 32 years. I thank all of those at NCH and MGB that helped put this partnership together and allowing me to continue serving the community at Nantucket Pharmacy.”

For patients, the new pharmacy will provide one-stop-shopping for their medical visits, allowing them to leave the hospital campus following an appointment with prescribed medications in hand. Prices will be in line with those at other retail pharmacies, and patients should expect to see no change in their share of financial responsibility for medications based on their insurance coverage. At the outset, the new pharmacy will offer prescription drugs only, but its offerings and services could grow over time. Gary A. Shaw, President and CEO of Nantucket Cottage Hospital said, “We at NCH appreciate Allan bringing us this opportunity to ensure that his and our patients can continue to get their prescriptions filled at a convenient mid-island location close to the hospital.”

Early this morning, Emergency Department Physician Assistant Maria Carey became the first person to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at Nantucket Cottage Hospital. This is a monumental day in our fight against the pandemic. The vaccine is the most important intervention that will help us bring COVID-19 under control and get us back to normal. Over the next few days we will vaccinate our first 40 staff members and will continue holding employee vaccination clinics until all staff who want to be vaccinated are able to do so. We want to thank the team that has pulled together to begin providing vaccinations to staff, and all of you for your perseverance over the past 10 months. We still have work to do and we must remain vigilant, but today is time to celebrate this important step in bringing the pandemic to an end.

December 16, 2020 – They’re here! The first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived on Nantucket this morning. Tomorrow we will begin vaccinating frontline NCH staff members most closely involved in COVID-19 patient care and testing. Today is a monumental day in our fight against the pandemic. The vaccine is the most important intervention that will help us bring COVID-19 under control and get us back to normal.

After the birth of their daughter Piper at The Birthplace at NCH, Brian and Kate Sullivan shared a wonderful message of thanks to our team.

“This weekend our daughter Piper Grey Sullivan was born at Nantucket Cottage Hospital on Saturday Sept 26th 2020.  We are full of joy to welcome her home here on island.  Both Piper and Kate are home recovering healthy and happy and, are all doing well after the great care received at NCH. We can’t say enough about the experience we had this past weekend.  The new facility was a pleasure to be in, but the real shining star was the team of nurses, techs, doctors and support staff that treated us so well as our family grew. We are overflowing with gratitude to the entire staff at NCH especially the teams working labor and delivery over the weekend, including Rakeem Baker, Rachael Connealy, Jessica Douglas, Erika Noke, Ruthie Tonico, and Emily Wendelken. We were also supported by an amazing doula Sunny Daily who was able to attend the birth, helping complete the joyful experience for us.”