KODIAK, Alaska — An Air Station Kodiak Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew, forward deployed to Cold Bay, medevaced a 42-year-old man from the Seattle-based fishing vessel Blue Gadus in the Bering Sea Friday.
The Jayhawk crew rendezvoused with the 150-foot longliner 207 miles northwest of Cold Bay, safely hoisted the man aboard and transported him to Cold Bay to meet emergency medical personnel with LifeFlight for further transport to an advanced medical care facility.
Coast Guard watchstanders at the 17th District command center received a request from Health Force Partners Friday morning for the medevac. The man was reportedly suffering from severe chest pain. The Coast Guard duty flight surgeon was contacted and concurred with the need for the medevac.
Coast Guard watchstanders directed the launch of the Jayhawk crew from Cold Bay and also dispatched a Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules airplane crew with a Coast Guard corpsman aboard from Kodiak to Cold Bay as a backup mode of transportation in the event poor weather in the Central Aleutians prevented the LifeFlight plane from landing in Cold Bay.
“Our search and rescue planners and our Jayhawk crews have an excellent working relationship with the commercial medevac services in the state allowing us to expedite the transport of mariners to the essential medical care they need,” said Lt. j.g Ted Borny, a search and rescue controller with the 17th District command center. “We kept a sharp eye on the deteriorating weather conditions in the region and factored that into our decision to launch the Hercules crew as a back up.”
A gale warning is in effect for the Central Aleutians as a 967 millibar low pressure system moves through the Bering Sea. Weather conditions on scene at the time of the hoist were 35 to 40 mph winds with seas up to 10 feet and periods of rain.
