Response
What to do in an emergency:
- Remain calm, apply first aid, and Call 9-1-1
- Answer the dispatcher’s questions and follow their instructions
- Give specific location of the incident, the nature of what happened, and the easiest way to get to the scene
San Juan Island EMS is equipped and staffed to respond to your emergency 24/7 and 365 days a year with professionally trained Paramedics and EMTs.
If you are on a boat or an outer island and are experiencing a medical emergency, call 9-1-1 and give your exact location. Cell phone technology will generally also transmit your GPS coordinates, sometimes speeding the response to you.
San Juan County’s Sheriff’s dispatch will call a medical helicopter from the mainland (when available) and if circumstance merit, will launch a marine (boat) response as well.
Keep calm, provide first aid, and do not hang up on the dispatcher until told to do so. If civilian resources such as air ambulance, local response from EMS, Fire and Rescue, and Vessel Assist are unavailable or require additional assistance, military agencies such as the US Coast Guard and the US Navy may also be utilized.
Service Area
San Juan County is a cluster of approximately 200 islands (172 of which are named). It has rugged, rocky shoreline and several mountains. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 621 square miles. Of this, 175 square miles is land and 446 square miles is water. Among Washington counties, it is the smallest by land area and has the highest ratio of water-to-land area; the adjacent Island County is the only other county in the state to have greater water area than land area.
Islands within San Juan Island EMS’s official District include:
- Brown Island
- Henry Island
- Johns Island
- Pearl Island
- San Juan Island, including the Town of Friday Harbor
- Spieden Island
- Stuart Island