SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich.— The Coast Guard conducted an emergency medical evacuation of a sick crewmember from a 1,000-foot laker operating approximately 40 miles northwest of Bayfield, Wis. in Lake Superior, late Saturday morning.
At around 8 a.m. CST, a search-and-rescue coordinator at Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., answered a distress call via VHF-FM channel 16, from the 1,000 foot laker Edwin H. Gott reporting that a crewmember aboard was experiencing symptoms of a stroke. The laker’s captain reported that the 60-year-old man’s medical condition had been deteriorating rapidly throughout the early morning.
SAR coordinators at Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste Marie, Mich., immediately directed the launch of a boatcrew from Coast Guard Station Bayfield, Wis., aboard a 45-foot Response Boat-Medium. The SAR coordinator consulted the on-call Coast Guard flight surgeon, who recommended proceeding with the medevac.
The Station Bayfield boatcrew arrived on scene at around 9:20 a.m., and coordinated with the crew of the laker to have the crewmember lowered to the Coast Guard rescue boat. The laker’s crew used a crane to lower the patient in a rescue basket to the deck of the Coast Guard boat.
The Coast Guard boatcrew had two emergency medical technicians on board who provided medical care to the patient while they transited back to shore.
The boastcrew moored at Station Bayfield at 10:45 a.m., and transferred the man to local emergency medical services waiting on shore. Local EMS transferred the man to the Ashland Memorial Medical Center.
The man’s condition is unknown at this time.
