“People understand that our state is growing, and that there are very beautiful places to live. But it also means we have to continue to upgrade our health care delivery system so that people can have those opportunities. So Island Health has done just that,” Cantwell said in her speech at the event.

The helipad will allow Island Health workers to expedite their emergency care efforts. Medical teams currently have to travel the length of a football field each way to retrieve patients.

Island Health sees over 170 helicopter landings a year, and now those patients will get care faster in cases when every second counts.

The old helipad parking lot pad also proved difficult for pilots to navigate the suburban neighborhoods and the parking lot, making for a dangerous landing situation.

Anacortes Mayor Matt Miller knows the difficulty for pilots to land in the parking lot from his time as Executive Officer on NAS Whidbey Island.

“One of my responsibilities was deciding whether to launch a search and rescue from Whidbey Island to support a civilian rescue. One time, a helicopter ended up landing at Island Hospital in the parking lot…some fences got knocked over, and it proved to me it’s not good to have an active helicopter pad in the parking lot,” Miller said.

The helipad will officially be ready for use in a few weeks.

The helipad is part of Island Health’s Emergency Services Project to update their facility. Other parts of the project include a new elevator shaft and stairs, a registration area, the rooftop helipad, an emergency department interior, a patient waiting area and an emergency department registration and security desk.

The entire Emergency Services Project cost $4.5 million. Sen. Cantwell helped secure $2.5 million in federal funding and the other $2 million was raised through philanthropy, grants and other sources.

“Since the hospital was built in 2004, the number of patients served in our emergency department has nearly doubled from 10,000 visits a year to over 18,000,” Cutter said.

“As a result, we needed to update our facility to accommodate the increasing number of patients that we care for, and improve safety for all patients and staff.”