More than 30 years ago, at a Chinese restaurant in Boston, a message from a fortune cookie set Island resident, Dr. Gerry Yukevich, on course for a lifelong love affair with Caribbean cruising.

After months of trying to book an appointment with a doctor on the Island, Pamela Belain of West Tisbury turned to social media early this spring.

Physician, actor and writer Dr. Gerald Yukevich retires in September after 12 years as a primary care doctor at Vineyard Medical Care.

For the past 10 years, Dr. Raymond (Rocco) Monto’s morning commute has been out of the ordinary.

Three times a week the orthopedic surgeon, one of just two on Martha’s Vineyard and the only one on Nantucket, drops off youngest son Rocco at school while daughter Siena boards a bus to Nantucket Elementary (older sons Alex and Nick are at Cape Cod Academy and the University of Connecticut, respectively).

Becoming a patient in a primary care physician's practice is
now almost impossible for Islanders and visitors, but medical personnel
are making an effort to alleviate the situation.

Primary physician practices, in the strictest sense, are closed to
new patients, leaving those in search of a doctor in limbo.

Tim Walsh, who became the Martha's Vineyard Hospital's
chief executive officer in August, said the lack of primary care
physicians is a problem.

In the summer, there is no such thing as a slow night for the Tisbury ambulance association.

A Vineyard doctor will receive a prestigious award for humanism from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation.

The Gold DOC award goes to Dr. Prit Gill for his work as a primary care doctor with a Vineyard patient.

Irene Ziebarth, whose father is the patient, nominated Dr. Gil for the honor after a series of medical issues with her father and the sudden departure of a primary care doctor led the family to his office.