Editor,

I want to express my deep gratitude and appreciation for the professionalism, competence and compassion of the Whidbey General Hospital Emergency Room staff who were on duty the evening of April 8 when my husband arrived there in the throes of a life-threatening heart attack.

We will never forget you, though we may never know your names. Your kindness and efficiency are indelibly recorded in our hearts and minds. In particular I would like to thank Dr. Hansen and R.N. Heather for their quick responses, medical expertise and sensitivity to my needs as well as my husband’s medical necessities. Thank you to the young man who was reading the heart monitor, and the woman who printed out a map for me so I could find my way to Skagit Valley Hospital. And special thanks to the ambulance driver (a female driver, by the way), and to the emergency medical technician whose rapid and medically appropriate interventions kept my husband alive for the long and challenging trip with lights flashing and sirens sounding.

And for those of you who were on the road that night and pulled over to allow the ambulance to pass and who offered silent prayers on behalf of the stranger inside, God bless you all. My husband is alive and doing well today because of all your efforts. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

MARGARET POTCHATEK

Coupeville