Faces Of Nantucket: Diane Pearl & Diane Cabral

Faces of Nantucket: Diane Pearl & Diane Cabral

Years on the island: born and raised

Favorite things about Nantucket:

Diane Pearl: “The natural beauty of the island and the open spaces. There’s beauty everywhere you turn. The community is very nice. Every part of the island is magical.”

Diane Cabral: “I'm at the beach every single day, year-round. I love Nantucket, whether it's going up Main Street, sitting on a lifeguard stand, watching the sunset, or community functions. I've got a lot of sand in my shoes.”

Dr. Diane Pearl and Diane Cabral both grew up on Nantucket, raised their families on the island, and have spent the past 35 years working together at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, providing primary care to thousands of patients. Their friendship and complementing skill sets - with Cabral in the front of the office greeting and navigating the healthcare system, and Pearl providing medical care in the exam rooms - have endeared them to generations of island residents.

They’ve known each other since grade school, and their close relationship has endured decades of work that can be both rewarding and challenging. The bond they share is obvious - the two women can finish each other’s sentences, trade inside jokes, and laugh about the time they were briefly “divorced” when the new hospital opened in 2019 and the group practice was implemented (these days they’re happily “remarried”).

“Diane is an inspiration,” Pearl said of her friend and colleague. “Her feeling and her philosophy is you can be happy or you can be unhappy. And she’s going to be happy every day. It’s a conscious decision to be happy, cheerful, and to be in good spirits and be nice to others. She’s inspirational.”

“I learn something new from her every single day,” Cabral said of Pearl. “I like our great camaraderie. We have fun every single day.”

Both women still vividly recall the day they got paired together at the hospital by Trish Bridier when Pearl returned to the island following her medical training.

“I remember the first day very well - 1990, September 17, as a matter of fact - you said I was overbooked from the first day,” Pearl said with a laugh.

“I knew she was so bright, and I was so happy she was coming back to the island, and it was so good for Nantucket,” Cabral said. “And I thought it was such a good example for all these girls. So I was thrilled.”

While working in the medical field in a small community can be challenging, as providers bump into their patients in the grocery store or on the beach, the two women said that factor has never been a negative for them.

“I know it's trite to say, but it always has been a privilege for me,” Pearl said. “When people I knew from my childhood would come in to see me as a doctor, that's really fantastic. To know people their whole lives and their generations, it’s fantastic. So, I've never had any regrets about being seen at the grocery store. Who cares?”

“I'm in the first pew at Mass, deep in a little bit of prayer, and a guy comes by and says, ‘Did you get my X-ray results’?” Cabral said. “We’ve always been so accessible.”

Perhaps the best part of their lifelong relationship? Pearl and Cabral both have dirt on each other. The good kind.

“She was the first one to wear hot pants (short shorts) to Nantucket High School,” Cabral said with a laugh. “She rode her motorcycle into the school with her brown, corduroy hot pants.”

After 35 years practicing in primary care on Nantucket, the pair has no plans to call it quits anytime soon.

“As long as my own health holds up and my energy and I get up and want to go to work every day and look forward to it, I’m going to keep coming,” Pearl said.