Dear Editor:

Last evening I had dinner with a delightful family of two young daughters, ages 7 and 9 and a new baby boy, 4-plus months old at McSeagull’s. Of course, they brought their parents.

As I was leaving them I thought, what if one of these beautiful, bright, much loved children were injured and losing blood in their Boothbay residence down a dirt road off Pleasant Cove Road? How long would it take the ambulance service to scramble and arrive at that location and then drive to Miles Memorial Hospital? What if Miles had stopped accepting patients in their ER that day as they have a few times since the beginning of this year as they reportedly did last Wednesday, Aug. 12?

Although the Boston Globe article published today (August 19), speaks of “the oldest county with the oldest median age” in the state of Maine, they neglect the population that is working and the children. What will happen to the children?  I want to tell them they will be safe and that there are doctors and nurses nearby and they will be taken care of if anything bad happens to them, but I can’t.

What about the children who have such a small blood supply? They can’t survive losing blood the way we adults can.

Avoid a tragedy. Avoid multiple tragedies. Keep the ER and the St. Andrews Hospital open and functioning. There is a helipad here. Fishermen can be brought to shore. Islanders are flown here with serious problems. This ER has a great record of saving lives. They rotate ER doctors with Miles ER doctors. It ain’t broke ... don’t mess with it. For the children’s sake!

Carol Burrill
Boothbay Harbor