Julia Wells
The Vineyard Nursing Association has announced a plan to expand its services to include hospice care, directly competing with Hospice of Martha’s Vineyard, a 28-year-old Island institution which operates solely on donations, unfettered by the constraints of insurance regulations.
Vineyard Nursing Association has applied to become a licensed hospice provider certified under Medicare.
Hurt by falling patient volumes, especially in the area of orthopedic surgery, the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital is on track to end its year in red ink on an operating basis for the first time in nearly a decade.
Hospital chief executive officer Tim Walsh said this week that while steps have been taken to beef up orthopedic services, he is projecting an operating deficit of about $750,000. The hospital fiscal year runs from April 1 through March 31.
Adding another gem to its emerald necklace of properties on Chappaquiddick, the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank announced this week that it has purchased 22 acres of native sandplain off Quammox Road. The property includes 550 feet of beachfront on the extreme eastern end of Katama Bay.
An Island native and young attorney with a bit of political legacy in her own right has been appointed as the next Vineyard legislative liaison.
Cape and Islands state Rep. Tim Madden, who takes office in January, announced this week that he has appointed Virginia Nelligan Coogan — she goes by the first name Nell — to the post.
Winter is coming and the Aquinnah town hall needs a new furnace.
But first town voters must approve $8,500 to pay for it.
The money for the furnace is one of 10 articles and some $25,000 in spending — all transfers from one fund to another — that will confront Aquinnah voters when they convene for a special town meeting on Tuesday night.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the old town hall and town officials are urging voters to turn out for what they expect will be a quick and painless — but necessary — business session.
With a scant four weeks left until the November election, the race for Cape and Islands state representative is heating up quietly as four candidates — one Democrat and three independents — begin to work their campaigns in earnest.