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Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Matthew Reines and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason Vaughn carry an ailing man from a skiff during a medevac 27 miles northwest of Sitka, Alaska, June 26, 2014. The man was transported to Sitka for emergency medical care. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher Austin. |
KODIAK, Alaska — An Air Station Sitka MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced an ailing 50-year-old man from a skiff on a beach 27 miles northwest of Sitka, Thursday.
The Jayhawk crew landed on the beach where they met the man who was being transported by a skiff deployed off the 83-foot Canadian flagged passenger ship Nautilus Swell, anchored in a nearby cove. He was safely transported via helicopter to commercial emergency medical services in Sitka.
Coast Guard Sector Juneau Command Center watchstanders received the request by VHF radio from the Nautilus Swell that the man was reportedly suffering from cardiac arrest symptoms. The Coast Guard duty flight surgeon recommended the need to medevac the man and deliver him to a higher level of medical care.
“The expert planning and coordination of our crewmembers and the crew of the Nautilus Swell enabled us to safely get this man to the medical care he needed,” said Tom Carella, a search and rescue controller with the Coast Guard Sector Juneau Command Center.
Weather on scene at the time of the incident was reported as calm.