JoAnn Hellmann is acutely aware of the devastation and emptiness that follow in the wake of a loved one’s death.

It’s been more than 40 years, but she can still vividly recall the phone call she received in 1975, the voice on the other end of the receiver that told her of her younger sister Kathy’s passing.

The 20-year-old was killed by a drunk driver on the street outside the family home.

The car was traveling about 80 mph, according to investigators, causing an impact so great the young woman was thrown 100 feet; their mother witnessed everything from the front porch.

It’s a story Hellmann, co-founder, former director and panel facilitator of Impaired Driving Impact Panel of Island County, has recounted numerous times as a part of the organization’s DUI/underage drinking prevention panels presented throughout the county.

After 16 years at the helm, Hellmann is planning to retire from the organization, commonly known as IDIPIC, this month, having passed on the directorial position to Mike Diamanti earlier this year. After several months of searching, Diamanti and Hellmann chose Alice Biddulph to fill the role of panel facilitator.

Biddulph has extensive professional experience presenting workshops and educational programs and first discovered IDIPIC while accompanying driver education students to a panel on South Whidbey.

She said she was impressed with the program, as well as Hellmann’s approach to presenting it.

“Always the forward thinker, JoAnn also created training tools and techniques that have proved extremely helpful toward a smooth transition as she steps down and Mike and I take over the reins,” she wrote in a statement.

“The community owes her a huge debt of gratitude,” she added, in regard to the impact of the IDIPIC program.

Hellmann co-founded IDIPIC with Karen Lewis, former probation supervisor for Island County, in March 2000.

“There were many people that came together that made IDIPIC happen,” Hellmann said, adding that she and Lewis “were the co-captains of the USS IDIPIC and we had a very dedicated crew.”

The group formed the organization in response to the realization of the need to combine “correction with prevention” to decrease incidents of DUIs and underage drinking in Island County. The organization also provided “creative sentencing” for court-ordered DUI and MIP offenders in the county who would have otherwise had to travel off-island.

IDIPIC expanded to work with youth less than a year later.

Since its inception, facilitators have presented over 400 impact panels and have also presented numerous age-appropriate programs at local schools.

Lewis, who had also lost a loved one because of the actions of an impaired driver, retired in 2008. But she clearly remembers Hellmann’s dedication throughout those formative years.

“She was a driving force behind it. She was very passionate about what we were doing,” she said.

“I know it’s time for her to retire but it’s kind of a loss of an era,” she said, adding that she hopes everyone currently involved in IDIPIC will maintain the drive and passion of the original crew.

It should come as no surprise, after so many years of dedicated efforts, that Hellmann isn’t letting go of her charge completely. She’ll still be staying on as a volunteer panelist and event helper.

Hellmann said that when she informed panel speakers and others of her impending retirement, she received several heartfelt responses.

County Coroner Robert Bishop, who has known Hellmann more than 20 years, said her tenacity and enthusiasm are inspirational.

“She still works just as hard as she did 20 years ago. I think it’s pretty admirable,” he said. “Nothing slows her down.”

Though he said he isn’t able to provide a definite number of deaths in Island County that can be attributed to impaired driving, he estimated that he has about five cases per year, though if individuals are still alive at the scene, they are often airlifted to Harborview and thus he does not handle those cases.

“I have to keep telling myself it makes a difference, otherwise I wouldn’t keep doing it,” Bishop said, conceding that it is difficult when, after a presentation, he is called to handle another case of a death caused by impaired driving.

“I hope it makes a difference to a lot of kids,” he said. “If it makes a difference in one or two kids, it is worth our efforts.”

Hellmann said it is impossible to prove how many DUIs the organization may have prevented, but she noted that there has been a drop in DUIs in Oak Harbor and Island County since IDIPIC began.

“We like to think IDIPIC has had a part in that, between the school program and these panels,” she said.

Over 32,000 individuals have attended the panels throughout the past 16 years; thousands more have attended other IDIPIC programs.

Bishop and Hellmann noted that part of the success of the panels is attributable to the heartfelt and real-life stories given by panelists.

“There’s a lot of heartache out there,” Hellmann said. “People have had such terrible losses. Even though I hear these stories over and over again, it still hurts.”

Despite the difficulty, Hellmann said many participants have told her the experience of sharing their story is therapeutic. Receiving responses from young people expressing the impact IDIPIC has had on them makes the job enjoyable, Hellmann said.

As for her greatest accomplishment throughout the years, Hellmann said it’s difficult to gauge. She said she sees her greatest success not as one milestone but a collection of achievements.

“My hope is that telling of my loss prevents someone else’s needless tragedy,” she said.

App prevents DUIs

Annually, over 10,000 deaths are attributed to DUIs nationwide according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

IDIPIC asks that drivers utilize resources like the NHTSA’s SaferRide phone app, which allows users to call a taxi or a pre-programmed number for a friend. It also easily identifies the user’s location, and is generally simple and easy to use.

Visit www.digitalgov.gov or the app store for more information on this tool.