Chief Nurse Among Layoffs At NCH As Mass General Brigham Cuts Hit Island Hospital

Nantucket Cottage Hospital's chief nursing officer and several other high-ranking staff members were among the hundreds of employees let go this week across Mass General Brigham, the sprawling healthcare giant that owns Nantucket Cottage Hospital (NCH) and the largest private employer in Massachusetts.

The layoffs announced Monday by Mass General Brigham (MGB) were the largest in the organization's history and were described as "strategic reorganization" necessary to stabilize the finances of the 12-hospital healthcare system.

At Nantucket Cottage Hospital (NCH), which is the island's second-largest employer behind the town, the layoffs included chief nursing Aimee Carew Lyons, vice president for community medicine Cynthia Winston, as well as the hospital's communications manager and public information officer Jeff Coakley, according to multiple sources at NCH who spoke to the Current about the layoffs.

Officials at NCH declined to comment and referred all inquiries to Mass General Brigham. Michael D. Morrison, MGB's senior director of external communications, declined to answer questions regarding the number of layoffs planned for NCH and their potential impact on patient care. Instead, he provided a statement from MGB president and CEO Anne Klibanski, who said the layoffs will be focused on non-clinical and non-patient-facing roles and will be completed in March.

"Like healthcare systems everywhere, we face unrelenting pressure that threatens our ability to continue to provide the care, innovation, and service that define us," Klibanski said. "If we do not take definitive action now to stabilize our financial health, we compromise our ability to continue to invest in our mission. This decision was reached by clinical, academic, and administrative leaders from across our system after thoughtfully considering the current healthcare landscape and our poor financial performance over the past several years. This reorganization will improve efficiency, simplify decision-making and empower staff with more direct access to leadership. Importantly, it will allow us to continue with planned and future investments in support of our patients and our mission, and to improve the lives of our clinicians and researchers."

Nantucket Cottage Hospital and Martha's Vineyard Hospital were purchased by MGB (then known as Partners Healthcare) back in 2006. While the small island hospitals have benefited in some ways from the vast resources and clinical expertise of the massive MGB system, they have also ceded control of many aspects of their business and healthcare operations to the corporate owner.

According to The Boston Globe, the total number of layoffs planned by MGB remains unknown, but executives told the publication they are intended to "save at least $200 million annually, or approximately 2 percent of its salary and benefits costs."

Yet, as the Globe previously reported, MGB reported a $45 million margin from its operations, as well as a $2 billion net margin on $20.6 billion in total revenue for the 12 months ending in September 2024.

As of Tuesday evening, NCH still listed Carew Lyons and Winston among their senior executives on the hospital's website. Several employees stated the loss of Carew Lyons would be mourned across the hospital, as she had made a good impression and positive impact in her three years at NCH after uprooting her family to move to the island.

"She was really awesome," said one NCH employee. "She didn't just hang in her office. She was out with everybody and talked to people."

Carew Lyons, a board-certified pediatric nurse practitioner, had previously held multiple administrative and clinical leadership positions, the most recent before coming to Nantucket being chief clinical officer at Fenway Health, a Boston health center providing LGBTQ care and advocacy founded by Northeastern University. Before Fenway Health, Carew Lyons held nursing leadership positions at Franciscan Children’s Hospital, serving as the CNO and COO and was the director of medical-surgical ICU and critical care transport team at Boston Children’s Hospital.