Editor,

I am a retired doctor who worked for 30 years in a major urban hospital, and my husband, Charles Terry, is a retired consultant and lawyer who has worked in the healthcare field for many decades. Both of us have made use of the health care services of Whidbey General Hospital numerous times during our 13 years as Whidbey Island residents.

We have always found the services at the hospital to be of the highest quality, whether in the emergency room — where we’ve gone for acute care several times — imaging/radiology, physical therapy, lab work, and/or other areas.

Even more impressive to us has been the kindness, caring and capability of the staff there. We have always been extremely impressed and can truly say that the care at Whidbey General Hospital is comparable to what we have seen in the large hospitals of New York, San Francisco, Seattle and other cities we’re familiar with.

Whidbey General Hospital is truly a very special and valuable resource, and we are very fortunate to have such a facility on the island. Charles and I strongly favor approval of the bond issue and encourage residents of Whidbey Island to vote “Yes” for the hospital bond and give full support to this essential healthcare institution, without which the health of Whidbey residents would be placed at unwarranted risk.

Without the funds the bond will provide, the hospital will not be able to maintain its high quality of service, nor will it attract high-quality professionals or have the up-to-date equipment and patient rooms that are appropriate for meeting the needs of the patient population — i.e. all of us.

Let’s not be shortsighted and thereby short-change this valuable healthcare facility. Let’s see the bigger picture and recognize that Whidbey Island needs the hospital and that it needs these funds to maintain quality care and an up-to-date facility.

BETSY MACGREGOR, M.D.

CHARLES MACGREGOR, J.D.

Langley