Survey seeks to identify health needs for Island children and mothers

Updated August 10.

A survey is open for mothers and families on the Island that seeks to zero in on existing gaps in services, from childcare to postpartum needs, with the goal to improve year-round community services in the long run. 

The survey, called the “Maternal Child and Family Health Assessment,” is spearheaded by Martha O’Donnell, a University of Massachusetts Amherst rising senior who has an internship with the Inter-Island Public Health Excellence Collaborative this summer. O’Donnell is majoring in public health policy, and her goal is to identify health needs for families on the Island, Nantucket, and Gosnold. 

Although O’Donnell went into the survey with an understanding of public health, she said she was surprised by how few infant and toddler care options there are on the Vineyard, an issue that has been of high concern for providers this year. 

“There are some things that stand out. Like a big one is childcare on-Island, especially from six months, and it’s so expensive,” O’Donnell told The Times. Finding a pediatrician on-Island, she said, is difficult for many families, and the waitlists are long. Without access to a local provider, traveling to the mainland for appointments is a costly venture.

In 2025, there were only 10 spaces for infant care on the entire Island, while an estimated 150 babies are born here each year. While some services, such as a new infant care center at Vineyard Montessori School, have stepped up to meet the gap in care, young families continue to face the reality of few safe and affordable options. As a result, many opt to stay home while their child is young, which is an economically challenging decision for the average local family. 

Through the survey process, O’Donnell has identified and partnered with 42 local organizations, like Martha’s Vineyard Community Services and Health Imperatives, and is working with those groups to gather holistic information and do outreach to more locals. The survey closes on August 12, and is available in Portuguese and English. 

“The survey tries to get how your care went at prenatal and postpartum, and how that went if you had to go off-Island, if you plan to have your baby on-Island or off-Island, and just those very basic questions about your pregnancy, and then also raising a child,” O’Donnell said. 

It’s the second survey distributed in the past few months that hopes to document the current problems facing the community’s most vulnerable and underserved. The other was conducted through Dukes County’s Opioid Abatement Advisory Board, called the “Martha’s Vineyard Substance Use and Behavioral Health Survey,” and asked for personal experiences from locals about mental and behavioral health and substance use for the purpose of thoughtfully distributing opiate abatement funds. 

Sarah Toste, the assistant board of health agent in West Tisbury, headed up the survey. She said the opiate abatement funds come from a state funding stream that is the direct result of a lawsuit Gov. Maura Healey brought against opioid prescription companies when she was the attorney general. She won the suit on behalf of the state, and now the funds are distributed annually to counties on need and population bases. 

“The goal of this project really is to identify the nature and extent of substance use problems and related behavioral health issues within Dukes County, to assess existing resources, and to determine service gaps to understand lived experiences, barriers to care, and look at culturally specific, trauma-informed needs,” Toste told The Times. “And we wanted to give particular attention to high-risk populations.”

While the behavioral health and substance use survey has closed, and Toste said the report will be published on Sept. 1, both surveys seek to understand the limitations of the Island and who gets left behind when services fall short. 

O’Donnell said locals haven’t filled out the survey as often as she hoped, and she wants to urge Islanders and seasonal residents, especially those who are actively dealing with possible gaps in care, to fill out the form. 

There are flyers with information for filling out the survey posted at local businesses, and O’Donnell is also setting up at events like the Tisbury Street Fair and Edgartown Village Market.

Editor’s note: Updated to correct to say that the “Martha’s Vineyard Substance Use and Behavioral Health Assessment” was conducted by Dukes County’s Opioid Abatement Advisory Board, not the Inter-Island Public Health Excellence Collaborative.