This week will be my last as president of Martha’s Vineyard Hospital (MVH) and Windemere Nursing & Rehabilitation Center (WNR) and I wanted to say thank you — thank you to our Island community who has supported MVH and WNR, as well as our incredible team. On a personal note, I am deeply grateful for the support and grace the entire community has shown to me.

Eight years have passed so quickly. It is hard to leave a place as special as MVH and WNR with our exceptional staff of doctors, nurses, the front-line teams, who come to work every day to help care for our patients and their families. It will always take my breath away when I think of the love and dedication that creates the foundation for the compassion all receive who walk through our doors.

When someone steps away from a role like this one, the hope is that the place you are leaving is better and stronger than when you first arrived. I am proud to say that MVH, thanks to our hospital team and the backing of the Mass General Brigham family, is thriving and more devoted than ever to our patients. And, as I pass the baton to my successor, Claire Seguin, I know deeply that trajectory will continue under her leadership.

When I reflect on my time in this position, I am thrilled that together we have expanded our services to best address the health of our community, keep care here on the Island as often as we can and, to the extent we do, so patients and their families don’t have to travel to receive top-notch medical services.

Collectively we took on the issue of improving care for our seniors and housing for our staff. Thanks to the donors who believed in the project, the neighbors who understood the importance, and the local and state officials who supported the plan. As a result, we now will have a state-of-the-art skilled nursing facility and 48 new units of housing for healthcare workers and their families to call home.

Together we have made a difference for the better. My hope is that this commitment to each other will only strengthen over time. I look forward to seeing what’s possible for MVH and our community. I will not be far away. Tony and I are staying on the Island which we are proud to call home. So, this is not really a goodbye – more of a see ya around the “neighborhood.”

Sending you best wishes for the New Year and most of all, the best of health always.

Thank you for the privilege of serving you.

Denise Schepici has been president of MVH since 2017.