Town of Wells Makes Its First Donation to LifeFlight Community Giving Program
Each year, The LifeFlight Foundation asks for support from towns across the State of Maine, and each year it moves closer to its goal of having every municipality in the state participate. Since 2006, 278 communities have contributed a total of $976,000 dollars. This includes the Town of Wells, which supported LifeFlight for the first time this year. The town donated $4,000.
LifeFlight and Wells have a longstanding relationship. Since 1998, LifeFlight has transported 82 Wells residents. This includes two transports in the past year.
Mark Dupuis, the town’s Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director, says the Wells Fire Department faces an “ever increasing response to emergency incidents.” This includes car crashes, fires, water rescues, and medical events in the community. The first responders and LifeFlight crews work together to give the patient their best chance at survival.
“Wells Fire Department is a supporting group of highly skilled and trained firefighters, EMTs and medics that work readily and quickly with all LifeFlight responses, and we encourage other communities to keep LifeFlight as a viable option in the region,” said Chief Dupuis.
Geoff Greenlaw, a LifeFlight flight paramedic who lives in Wells, says the town has always shown its support for emergency services. “Knowing the Town of Wells makes a generous donation to The LifeFlight Foundation, and having worked with Wells Fire and EMS, I see how committed Wells is to the health and safety of residents like me,” said Geoff. “I hope other communities see the value and share in the same commitment as my community does.”
LifeFlight asks each community to make a suggested donation based on population– $1 per capita for towns of up to 1,000 residents, $0.50 per capita for those with up to 2,000 residents, and $0.25 per capita rate for larger communities, with requests typically capped at $2,000. Every penny counts. The goal is for all communities to work together so LifeFlight can continue to care for Maine’s most critically ill and injured across the state.
To get involved in your community’s support of LifeFlight, please contact Ashley MacMillan at amacmillan@lifeflightmaine.org.
