Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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" Anytime I'm on Nantucket people say, 'We live for the Pops on Jetties Beach.'" KEITH LOCKHART FROM TOP: Margot Hartmann and Keith Lockhart discuss how the Nantucket Cottage Hospital and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra both deal with seasonal staff; fresh fruit and a Pom-75 cocktail round out their breakfast. "We live for the Pops on Jetties Beach." MH: Music is the best medicine. There's something about this event that's larger than the sum of its parts. [A fresh fruit salad with juicy slices of pineapple, melon, and strawberries is served.] MH: The Nantucket Cottage Hospital is completely different from Memorial Day to Columbus Day. KL: When Nantucket's population triples? Quadruples? MH: The island actually goes from 10,000 to 60,000 people. It's kind of a wild puzzle for a little hospital, because we are the only health care facility on the island, and we have to know how to manage that sudden increase. KL: Sure, you need to have the bed space and the doctors. Do you hire employees seasonally, too? Because you don't need the same size staff all year, and it would be very expensive for the other eight or nine months. MH: That's the challenge for us. How do you have a year-round team that's so crackerjack that you can handle the surge in the summer and incorporate seasonal staff into the team while delivering quality care? It's the thing that the Pops on Nantucket concert enables. [A Vermont cheddar omelet with a side of sausage, eggs Benedict with spinach, and French toast with caramelized bananas are served. The waitress tops off Lockhart's coffee.] KL: I remember when we first came in, one of the things that was given as motivation for the Pops on Nantucket was that the hospital really did not have the response equipment necessary for the year-round population. MH: It's amazing you remember that. We had to figure out what we should be doing and do it well. We have been an affiliate with Massachusetts General Hospital since 2007, and that is another life- line for us. We're trying to figure out how we can have the best of Boston medicine but without leaving the island, and that's my chal- lenge. Does the orchestra have a year-round staff? KL: The orchestra that you see for the Pops on Nantucket is part of the surge up. There are two orchestras within the Boston Pops; one is made up of members of the Boston Symphony, and the other, which was founded specifically for touring during the summer, is the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, which is made up of freelancers. It's the same people year after year. MH: It's similar for us as we surge up with certified ER docs who come in for the summer. KL: This omelet is fantastic, by the way. I think I have eaten enough to be set for the rest of the day. Are there doctors who come to the island partially as a vacation? MH: Yes, part of my job is finding board-certified ER doctors who may not otherwise be able to bring their families on a vacation to Nantucket because it would be an expensive thing. KL: So where do these people come from? MH: We've thought about forming a relationship with staff at a hospital that has seasonality opposite ours, like Vail in Colorado, but we've never quite worked that out. We tend to get people from local agencies or Boston- area hospitals. KL: Is there anything the orchestra can do more for you or better for you in Nantucket? Keep selling tickets? Hope for no more big storms? MH: Oh yes, that would help. This event has really become legendary for islanders and visitors. KL: Some things grow exponentially, and this event is only limited by the size of the beach and the size of the population. It's one of those calendar landmarks. Boston Pops on Nantucket is August 9 at Jetties Beach, 4 Bathing Beach Road, 508-825-8100; nantuckethospital.org. BC continued from page 74 76 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM ON THE TOWN