purchase of 10 portable oxygen concentrators

St. John Rescue has been providing oxygen to its residents, to EMS, Fire, the National

Park Service with its 12-year-old oxygen generator that was purchased with the support

of the Rotary Club of St. John. While our generator is still producing medical grade

oxygen, with increasing demands for this service the device is stretching the limits of its

capacity to produce enough oxygen in a timely manner.

An article in the Virgin Islands Daily News recently stated that the hospital on St

Thomas was having trouble getting sufficient oxygen for its needs. With the purchase of

a new oxygen generator, we would be able to assist by increasing our capacity to

produce medical grade oxygen.

Last fall St. John Rescue was awarded a grant to purchase a new, state of the art,

oxygen generator that would greatly increase our oxygen producing capacity and

subsequently reduce the man hours that our volunteers would need to monitor the

equipment. The grant totaled $130,000.00 and included the purchase of 10 portable

oxygen concentrators that would be given to elderly St. John Residents who were

dependent on oxygen. Once we were approved for the funding of these purchases

through a Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority/Community Development Block

Grant we obtained bids and selected a company to manufacture the equipment that we

needed. We forwarded a deposit for the generator and awaited the release of the funds.

Unfortunately, HUD, who has the last say in the matter, denied us the funds because we

could not prove that the population we served was composed of 51% low to middle

income people. Since St. John Rescue serves all the people of St. John, including

tourists, we cannot meet that requirement. We have been trying to resolve this issue for

months to no avail. The generator we ordered has been crated and awaiting shipping

for months. We are in danger of forfeiting this piece of equipment due to lack of

payment. Unfortunately, to date, three St John residents have died while waiting for their

portable oxygen concentrators because of the lack of federal funding.

The volunteers of St. John Rescue are asking the public to please help us to finance

this endeavor. If struck with another hurricane, we will be the only source of oxygen on

our island. Once the ports are shut down, we are on our own for these lifesaving

resources.

Please consider making a donation to St John Rescue so we can make this critical

purchase. Since St. John Rescue is a 501c3 – all donations are tax deductible and we

are happy to provide a receipt for tax reporting purposes.

For more information on this issue please call St. John Rescue at [phone redacted].

I thank you in advance for your consideration,

Bob Malacarne, NR-EMT

President, St. John Rescue