Family Emergency!
One minute 48 year old grandfather of three Bart Ickes was sitting in the kitchen of his Brookings home along the Oregon coast. The next minute he was slumping over in his chair with an apparent heart attack. His daughter-in-law Tonya called 9-1-1, and Bart was immediately airlifted from Brookings to the Rogue Valley Medical Center (RVMC) in Medford for emergency treatment.
Tonya and her husband Daniel quickly gathered up their 10 year old disabled daughter, along with her sister-in-law’s two children, ages 2 and 4, whom Tonya and Daniel parent in the sister-in-law’s absence, as well as Bart’s wife (Tonya’s mother) Colette. They set off on the 125 mile emergency trip from Brookings to Medford with only $200 cash in hand, nothing in the bank, and no credit cards or other extended family members to call upon for help. Tonya knew the $200 would barely be enough for gas to get to and from Medford let alone for food and shelter for the family of five while there.