An Apple A Day

"An Apple A Day"

Orcas Family
Health Center
A Washington State and IRS 501 (c) (3) charitable non -profit corporation

"Apple A Day Articles"

ADULT “CHECK-UPS”

AN APPLE A DAY...FOR WOMEN

COMMUNICATION BASICS

FDA LICENSES NEWVACCINE FOR PREVENTION OF CERVICAL CANCER

GETTING THERE FROM HERE

LEMONS AND LYMES

NO MERCY FROM MRSA

ONE FLU OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST

PROSTATE CANCER SCREENING

TO ERR IS HUMAN

GETTING THERE FROM HERE

When I lived in Maine there were countless wry jokes demonstrating their stoic sense of humor. One had a tourist coming up to a local asking “Does this road go to East Vassalboro?” to which the local responded “Nope, near as I can tell this road stays right here.” Since our roads do, in fact, begin, end and stay on the island, the question for today’s column is: for specialized medical treatments, how do you get there (Bellingham, Anacortes, Mt. Vernon, or even Seattle) from here? It all depends on the circumstances.

AIRLIFT

For true medical emergencies the answer is easy, call 911. Local EMS personnel respond immediately and assess the situation. If there is a serious medical condition that cannot be managed locally they, through their medical control physician at St. Joseph’s Hospital, will call for the AirLift Northwest helicopter to come from Bellingham to transport the patient to the appropriate treatment hospital. In bad weather, as we had for a patient with a heart attack last week, Navy Whidbey and the Coast Guard helicopters may be options. It is the non-emergent transport off island that are more difficult to accomplish.

FERRY PRIORITY LOADING

Thanks to the Washington State Ferries and our local agents, island medical practitioners have been given the privilege of providing priority loading for our patients who need to urgently get off the island. It is painful for anyone to wait hours in line on overload, To avoid this wait we recei

ve many requests from patients for priority loads. Unfortunately, we must be selective when we submit requests; abuse of the system may result in the privilege being revoked. To preserve it, all medical practitioners in the islands should be following the same rules. A priority load should be reserved for patients who have been seen by an island practitioner and need to get to an urgent appointment on the same day or for regular cancer treatments. Priority loads should not be used for routine follow up or other elective doctor’s visits off island.

CHARTER FLIGHTS

During daytime hours there are several options for patients who are not critically ill to book a charter flight. Island Air (378-2376), Rugby Aviation (376-7139) and San Juan Airlines (800-874-4434) are possibilities. After hours, San Juan County sheriff’s dispatch (378-4151) has a list of potentially available charter pilots. Cost for such charters would likely be a few hundred dollars. Regularly scheduled flights on San Juan Airlines are often more reasonably priced and may be an excellent option for those who would rather not deal with a charter or the ferry system to get to off-island medical appointments.

MERCY FLIGHTS

Several of us who are local pilots, including Board members and Dr. Shinstrom, make ourselves available to fly patients for cancer treatments scheduled every weekday over several weeks. Audrey Wells (376-3201), our mercy flight coordinator, comments that other non-critical patient flights may be arranged on a case-by-case basis as pilot availability dictates. These flights are limited to daytime in good weather.