SEATTLE — The Coast Guard medically evacuated a seriously injured 30-year old male patient from St. John’s Medical Center in Longview, Wash., to the Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Health Center in Portland, Ore., Wednesday.
Coast Guard Group Astoria, Ore., received a call from St. John’s Medical Center at 10:27 a.m. requesting a transfer via helicopter for a seriously injured male to Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Health Center in Portland. The local emergency vehicles could not complete the patient transfer because of the winter weather hitting the Pacific Northwest.
The patient, Ryan Hair, 30, was injured when his truck went off an Interstate 5 overpass in Kelso shortly after 7 a.m. It landed on a busy thoroughfare, Allen Street, below.
Mr. Hair, along with two emergency medical personnel from St. John’s Medical Center, was transported by ambulance to Kelso Airport where they were met by a Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew. The patient and the two emergency medical personnel were flown by helicopter to Legacy Emanuel Hospital and Health Center.
“Visibility was pretty challenging,” said Capt. Peter Troedsson, the commanding officer of Air Station Astoria. “We had to land in a snow covered area at the airport with only a quarter mile of visibility. We were just fortunate enough to be able to help out the patient and the emergency medical personnel.”
Hair was listed in critical condition this evening at Legacy Emanuel, according to spokeswoman Julie Reed.
