NANTUCKET – The Swim Across America Nantucket Open Water Swim returns for its 11th iteration this weekend.
The annual event at Jetties Beach raises money to fight cancer, including funding local beneficiaries, Nantucket Cottage Hospital, Palliative and Supportive Care of Nantucket, and Mass General Cancer Center.
“Through the Nantucket Cottage Hospital, we’re bringing oncologist down from Boston to the island to treat patients here in their hometown instead of having the patients travel or go through the logistics of all that to get up to Boston to receive care,” said Co-Event Director Jim Pignato.
“That oncologist travels weekly from Mass General, but in addition we have six full-time nurses that live and work on Nantucket, as well as a full-time nurse practitioner who is coordinating the services,” added Jill Roethke, Co-Event Director alongside Pignato.
The oncologist travels weekly to the island in addition to 6 full-time nurses and a nurse practitioner who live and work on Nantucket.
Registration closes at 7:30 am on Saturday, with the event kicking off with a guest speaker at 7:45.
Since 2013, the event has raised more than $4.1 million for its beneficiaries.
The event features quarter-mile, half-mile and one-mile swims.
More on Swim Across America can be found here.
Featured image courtesy of Swim Across America Nantucket – swimacrossamerica.org/nantucket
About Grady Culhane
