Joan
Berkowitz
Orcas Island, Washington
The staff at the Washington State Insurance
Commissioner’s
office describes Joan as “a woman you don’t want
to oppose.” Joan helped change Washington state law
when she advocated for a legislative change that would exempt
flight membership programs from extensive insurance code
licensing. The law took effect in July 2006, but it was a
five-year project for Joan, a resident of Orcas Island. “When
you live on an island, you look after each other,” she
explains. “I have been a director for Orcas Island
Medical Center Association and a volunteer at the clinic
for years. I could see how important air transport was to
the people there.” Joan was transported by Airlift
Northwest in September 2005, when her blood pressure suddenly
spiked, long after she began her work in changing state law
for others. “We don’t have a paved highway to
the emergency room here,“ she says. “The membership
service is very important for a lot of people.”
Orcas
Island EMS (Eastsound, WA) to St. Joseph’s Hospital
(Bellingham, WA)
(More
patient and partner stories here)
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