by Brian McKenna
Recently opened Nantucket Cottage Hospital
Nantucket, MA – Nantucket Cottage Hospital recently opened the doors to its new 106,000sf facility on Nantucket Island.
“Our new hospital is the incredible result of a small island community coming together to do something big,” said Margot Hartmann, MD, Ph.D., president and CEO, Nantucket Cottage Hospital.
“This dynamic new facility will give our patients the best of both words, allowing us to leverage the expertise and resources of our trusted affiliate Massachusetts General Hospital, paired with the comfort, tradition, and familiarity of Nantucket’s beloved community hospital.”
The first new medical facility on the island in more than 60 years, the hospital will significantly enhance access to a broad range of medical services. Here are five things to know about this unique replacement hospital:
- Located 30 miles at sea, the hospital was designed to set a new standard for resiliency in community hospitals. Taking lessons learned from hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, the hospital is designed to withstand floods, category 5 hurricane winds, and even disruptions to the shared energy grid. Generators are located on the roof, engineering and technology systems have built-in redundancy, walls are double-hulled, many low-level surfaces are cast from concrete, and windows are blast-resistant and designed to resist strong winds and debris.
- As the only local healthcare option for 11,000 permanent residents — in addition to 60,000 seasonal residents — the hospital expands the number of available on-island services in a facility that can accommodate a fluctuating island population. It’s 30% larger than the previous facility, and a robust telemedicine network connects the facility to world-class experts at Massachusetts General Hospital and the greater Partners Healthcare network.
- The building features 14 inpatient beds, as well as 12 emergency examination rooms, five infusion bays, two trauma rooms, and 29 clinical exam rooms for primary care physicians and specialists. In contrast to the current hospital’s one operating room, the new facility boasts two operating rooms and an endoscopy room, allowing for more dependable scheduling of procedures and more capacity for unplanned events.
- The new hospital embraces the culture and natural beauty of the island with an overall aesthetic that honors Nantucket’s architectural vernacular and strong history of craftsmanship; the roof is pitched in proportion to the surroundings, and the entire facility is covered in unpainted shingles. Inside, evidence-based design strategies abound, creating a contemporary environment that supports privacy and efficiency while harnessing the restorative attributes of nature and art. Once the existing facility is demolished, the new hospital’s operable windows will overlook verdant gardens and hedges, making the hospital look and feel uniquely Nantucket.
- Designed to achieve LEED Gold certification, the hospital includes energy-efficient building systems optimized for performance, as well as sustainably harvested materials and accommodations for a future solar array. The building also obtained all three available LEED pilot credits for resilient design (assessment, design, and passive survivability).
Brian McKenna
Brian McKenna, Cannon Design
