Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Yelvington and Petty Officer 3rd Class Tyler Hioe assist personnel from the Life Flight Network with a medevac patient at the airport in Warrenton, Ore., Dec. 1, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Levi Read.
WARRENTON, Ore. — A Coast Guard aircrew medevaced a 50-year-old man from a bulk carrier 200 miles off the Columbia River entrance, Friday.
An MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Coast Guard Sector Columbia River safely hoisted the ill crewman and transported him to Sector, where he was transferred to Life Flight Network personnel for transportation to Oregon Health and Science University in Portland.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard 13th District Command Center received a request for assistance from the captain of the bulk carrier Atlas, reporting the crewman was exhibiting symptoms of either a heart attack or a stroke.
The duty Coast Guard flight surgeon was briefed, concurred with the need for medevac and requested that the patient be placed on oxygen until the flight crew could arrive.
At the time of the request, the 639-foot Cyprus-flagged cargo vessel was more than 300 miles offshore and en route to Seattle.
Due to concerns with the distance, sector personnel coordinated with Coast Guard 13th District watchstanders to request the assistance of a fixed wing aircraft crew for offshore coverage. A C-27 Spartan aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Sacramento, California, provided the requested support.
Weather on scene was 22 MPH winds, 15 to 20-foot high seas.
