HYANNIS — A proposed $137-million expansion of Cape Cod Hospital could potentially be held up or denied by the Mass. Dept. of Public Health (DPH) because the hospital’s parent organization, […]
Cape Cod Healthcare
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Abortion Access Is Unclear on Cape Cod
Nearest clinic with comprehensive care is 110 miles away
HYANNIS — Relying on a June 28 statement from Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC), the Independent reported two weeks ago that abortion services are not available anywhere on Cape Cod. That, […]
HEALTH CARE
Seasonal Urgent Care Clinic Opens in Orleans
Threat to Outer Cape Health Services feared
ORLEANS — Cape Cod Healthcare, the organization that owns both of Cape Cod’s hospitals and most of its medical offices, expanded its territory in the direction of the Outer Cape […]
HEALTH CARE
Need for Rooms at Cape Cod Hospital Exceeds Capacity
Patients face difficult choices about elective surgeries
HYANNIS — Cape Cod Hospital has been dealing with a triple threat: a recent swell in incoming Covid-19 patients, a backlog of inpatient discharges, and a pandemic-driven staffing shortage. The […]
CLINICAL CARE
Health Care Giant Tackles Outer Cape
Cape Cod Healthcare plans urgent and primary care center in Orleans
ORLEANS — The financial challenges that prompted Cape Cod Healthcare to temporarily shelve its $180-million hospital expansion plan last year and lay off more than 100 employees in late summer […]
IMMUNITY
‘Rollout’ of Vaccine Gets to Cape Cod
First responders set to receive Covid vaccine starting Monday
PROVINCETOWN — The Outer Cape is getting vaccinated for Covid. Outer Cape Health Services has been inoculating its staff here and in Wellfleet with the Moderna vaccine. Seashore Point Wellness […]
VISITING THE SICK
Hospitals Can Be Flexible on No-Visit Policy
But sometimes you have to fight to get them to do it
Among all the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, perhaps the greatest is not being able to visit elderly loved ones. In some cases, Covid patients have died in health-care facilities […]
DOING GOOD
An Artistic Haven for Essential Workers’ Children
The Cape Conservatory fills an urgent need
Among the institutions stepping up in the Covid-19 crisis, like hospitals, police and rescue squads, schools, and grocery stores, you might not think of a music conservatory. But the Cape […]
D.I.Y.
Homemade Face Masks: Sewing a Statement
Last-resort wear, better than nothing, makes a point about a broken system
WELLFLEET — Deirdre Oringer hadn’t sewn in ages. But when her daughter, Alita Pedley, who is an emergency room nurse in Bellingham, Wash., posted a pattern for face masks created […]
PANDEMIC
Health Center Funds Dwindle as Patients Stay Home
OCHS puts losses at $1 million per month
PROVINCETOWN — No clinical services to patients have been canceled since Outer Cape Health Services last week furloughed or laid off nearly half its staff because of lost revenue caused […]
THE PANDEMIC
Cape Works to Meet Growing Need for Coronavirus Testing
The supply of tests remains scarce; hospital capacity is limited
Updated at 4 p.m. Tuesday, March 24. PROVINCETOWN — Outer Cape Health Services will test patients for the coronavirus, but they must first call one of the OCHS health clinics […]