YOUR AD HERE »

A life-saving response

Dear Editor:

We would like to take this opportunity to give our sincerest thanks on behalf of ourselves and our family for the wonderful volunteers from the Thomasville and Basalt volunteer fire departments for saving our aunt’s life.

On June 6 our aunt and uncle were visiting us from Florida when Aunt Betty went into respiratory distress at our home in Ruedi Shores at 11 p.m. We called 911 and were waiting for word back when our neighbor (and friend) Holly showed up.



She is a volunteer member of the Thomasville team and happened to have her radio on when the call came through. In a sound sleep, she recognized the name of our road, grabbed her kit and was at our house within 10 minutes, administering oxygen to our aunt. The Thomasville crew was here within 15 minutes. The Basalt crew brought up the ambulance within 25 minutes. The efficiency and professionalism of these wonderful people saved our aunt’s life. They were courteous and went out of their way to calm her down and get her safely down from our second-story bedroom. They had her at Valley View Hospital within the hour and, from what the doctors have told us, this saved her life. If she hadn’t been attended to, she would have died within hours.

We cannot say enough about these volunteers. Holly, you are a godsend. Dwayne, John, Richard, Rachelle, Karen and Lloyd, thank you for getting here so quickly and being so thoughtful and sweet to our aunt. Dan and Zach, thank you for bringing that ambulance up here so fast ” we might have lost her without it.




The doctors and nurses at Valley View were wonderful. They discovered that our aunt had a heart condition that no one even knew about. She was airlifted to St. Mary’s the following Monday and then had a triple bypass . She is still recovering, and we certainly welcome prayers for her recovery. We only wanted to let the volunteers know what her progress has been and to let our neighbors in the valley know that they are in great hands. We can’t say enough about the kindness and dedication of our volunteers here. We’ve always wondered what would happen if there was an emergency up here in the “Yukon” (Frying Pan Valley), and now we know: terrific response, caring people and prompt attention. Bravo to all of you volunteers.

Cindy and Brandon Ford

Basalt