Letter to the Editor: Our Vote for Art Lange

–by Rollie Sauer and Madie Murray —

Madie and I have known Art Lange for more than ten years and found him to be fair, considerate of others, generous, very intelligent, and an excellent fisherman.  I know this personally as Art and I have shared five years together on the Orcas Medical Foundation Board, we’ve travelled the last seven summers to BC to fish, bringing Art’s grandson on several occasions.

We’ve also spent many hours in deep discussions while soaking pots for shrimp and crabs.  Art cares about people and their well-being…fundraising multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars to help keep the Medical Center afloat…he helped raise funds from the members of our community to provide care for the uninsured and under insured who came to the Medical Center and also through a grant he sponsored from OICF that funded this need at all three medical practices (at that time) on the island.

We admire his fairness and ability to dig deep for answers on many Island challenges – passage of the Hospital District being very high on that list.  He is committed to making sure the District will be led by a dedicated and informed group of commissioners, and his involvement with the Orcas Health Care Coalition has armed him with valuable knowledge about how the District should perform.

Art saw the dismal future for the three practices on the island as the primary philanthropic financial support was no longer sustainable or predictable, and he knew that when Island Hospital decided not to continue working with the Medical Center, passage of a Hospital District was crucial to keeping primary and urgent medical care available to everyone on Orcas Island.

Please join us in voting for the Public Hospital District and for Art Lange as Commissioner #3.