When the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital embarked on its recent major expansion, it triggered Massachusetts Department of Public Health regulations to ensure that the expansion is needed and that the hospital gives a percentage of the project’s total cost to the community for health initiatives. As a result, the hospital will provide $1,075,000 for Vineyard community health projects over the next five years. This money will be available to the community through a grant process sometime in the late summer or early fall.

A broad-based citizens planning committee has been working over the last five months to review community data and identify our most pressing health needs. They want to hear your reactions to our recommendations, and your further ideas and suggestions on priorities. Public forums will be held on Tuesday at the Howes House in West Tisbury and on Thursday at the Vineyard Haven Public Library. Both meetings begin at 7 p.m.

Anyone who cannot attend but wants to participate can go online and fill out a brief Community Health Needs Survey. The link is surveymonkey.com/s/M7KR3D2> .