Staggered shifts and scaling back on arrests are among the new protocols that have been adopted by Island police and emergency responders during the pandemic.

One minute you could be having a heart attack at Cronig’s Market; several hours later you could be in the recovery room following triple bypass surgery.

Thanks to the critical care transport service Boston Medflight, Islanders with acute medical needs that go beyond what the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital can provide are able to receive top-flight medical care at the major Boston hospitals.

The Edgartown fire department has received a grant of more than $475,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The money will go toward upgrading the current cardiac monitoring equipment for all of the Island emergency medical services. The ambulances will now be supplied with advanced cardiac defibrillator monitors, he said, which will assist in transmitting patients who are having active heart attacks.

Nearly three years after construction started, and more than a decade since the project was first conceived, Tisbury officials gathered Sunday to celebrate the official opening of the town’s new emergency facilities building.