We’re grateful to The MV Times and writer Abby Remer for a thoughtful look at Hospice & Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard as we mark 45 years of caring for our Island.
HPCMV began at a community meeting, where Islanders asked whether the Vineyard needed hospice. They decided yes, and by 1982 we were fully operational with one paid social worker and 24 volunteers. As Executive Director Chantale Patterson shared, “this is the Island’s hospice.” It still is, held up by this community every year since.
The article covers the full range of our care. Our hospice team of nurses, physicians, social workers, spiritual care counselors, aides, and volunteers visits patients wherever they call home. Our palliative care team helps people living with serious illness manage symptoms, medications, and appointments so they can focus on living well. And our grief support is open to every Islander, with one-on-one counseling for 13 months for the families we care for and for anyone on the Island who has had a loss in the past three years. Children have support too, through programs like Camp by the Sea.
Much of this work, including most palliative and bereavement care, isn’t covered by insurance. It’s made possible by donors, grants, and you.
“Hospice isn’t about dying,” Chantale said. “It’s about living.”
Read the full article: https://www.mvtimes.com/2026/09/30/its-about-living/
Watch our PSA by Circuit Films: bit.ly/CF_HPC