Editor,

Events of the last few weeks have shown the country the importance of having life saving emergency professionals ready to respond at any moment. Damar Hamlin, of the Buffalo Bills, would be dead if he hadn’t had skilled emergency responders, life-saving defibrillators and other equipment immediately available to restart his heart and transport him to the hospital.

On Whidbey, two of our WhidbeyHealth ambulances are in immediate need of replacement. WhidbeyHealth Foundation through your donations will be funding these replacements. Our ambulances completed over 9,000 trips or 25 per day on average last year. These include trips on and off island, sometimes exceeding six hours; that’s six hours with one less ambulance available for your emergency. If we have our older ambulances in the repair shop even fewer ambulances will be available. We must keep our seven ambulance fleet modern, fully equipped and staffed to keep all of us within minutes of vital care.

Right now, a generous donor has pledged to match the next $25,000 in donations to our “Answering the Call” fund drive. We are halfway to our goal of $500,000 and this additional $50,000 will push us closer to the finish line. Please go to our WhidbeyHealth Foundation website to make your donation today.

Every individual and business on Whidbey benefits from our ambulances being ready to help 24/7 anywhere on our island. Our WhidbeyHealth Foundation Board thanks you for “Answering the Call”.

Marion Jouas

President, WhidbeyHealth Foundation