Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point MH-65 Dolphin helicopter File photo
HONOLULU — A 71-year-old woman from the cruise ship Grand Princess was medevaced by the Coast Guard 14 miles south of Oahu, Tuesday.
At 1:35 a.m., an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew from Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point hoisted the woman and safely delivered her in stable condition to awaiting emergency medical personnel at The Queen’s Medical Center.
“It’s always a race against the clock trying to get passengers to a higher level of medical care,” said Ensign Celesta Brosowsky, a watchstander at the Coast Guard Sector Honolulu Command Center. “We’re grateful the cruise ship crew took quick action, recognizing that she needed to be medically evacuated.”
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center Honolulu received a request for the medevac at 10:04 p.m., Monday, for a passenger who was experiencing stroke-like symptoms.
The vessel was approximately 14 miles south of the Oahu at the time of the request. Watchstanders consulted the Coast Guard duty flight surgeon who recommended the medevac.
The men and women of Air Station Barbers Point serve as “Guardians of the Pacific” in the largest and most culturally diverse of all Coast Guard operating areas — 12.2 million square miles of open ocean, atolls, and island nations. They enhance the readiness of the 14th District with long-range patrol and logistical support capabilities, as well as quick and versatile search and rescue response using HC-130 Hercules airplanes and the Dolphin helicopters.
