A busy day for Arranmore RNLI has medical evacuations, a ferry launch and a wedding

Aisling Cox and her husband Phil Coll on board the Arranmore RNLI Lifeboat

placeholder image — Aisling Cox and her husband Phil Coll on board the Arranmore RNLI Lifeboat

The lifeboat were in Arranmore to provide a guard of honour and welcome their colleague and crew member Aisling Cox and her husband Phil Coll on board

Friday was a busy day on Arranmore Island and indeed for the Arranmore RNLI, with two medical evacuations, a ferry launch and a wedding!

Arranmore RNLI volunteer responded to a request from Malin Head Coast Guard to assist in a medical evacuation at 1.30 pm with a patient transfer by ambulance from Burtonport to Letterkenny University Hospital.

Having transferred the patient from the lifeboat to the ambulance, the lifeboat crew made their way back to Arranmore to provide a guard of honour and welcome their colleague and crew member Aisling Cox and her husband Phil Coll on board the lifeboat.

Aisling, a teacher on the island, not only volunteers on the lifeboat but is also an emergency first responder on the voluntary ambulance service.

Following their welcome by the lifeboat crew, Aisling and Phil then travelled on board the newly launched Arranmore Blu to Burtonport and then on to The Waterfront Hotel in Dungloe for their wedding reception.

“I would like to wish Aisling and Phil a long and happy life as they start on their new voyage together,” Lifeboat Operations Manager Jerry Early said on behalf of the Arranmore RNLI crew.

“We are lucky to have such dedicated crew members on the lifeboat and welcome enquiries from people on the island who would like to volunteer for the RNLI, whether as crew or on shore.”

Following their busy afternoon, the lifeboat was again asked by Malin Head Coast Guard to go to Burtonport for the NOWDOC doctor at 6.56 to assess a patient on Arranmore and eventually anchored the boat after 8pm.