KOTZEBUE, Alaska – Coast Guard Operation Arctic Crossroads 2010 continues with medical teams, Coast Guard auxiliary members and U.S. Public Health Services personnel who will visit Wales on Friday after visiting Pt. Hope on Tuesday, Koyuk on Wednesday and Selawik Thursday.
During operations medical doctors examined 62 patients, an optometrist examined 40 patients and veterinarians treated 120 animals.
A Coast Guard 25-foot response boat-small from Maritime Safety and Security Team 91111 stationed in Anchorage was successfully lowered into the water in Kotzebue at a depth of four feet to determine the vessel’s effectiveness to operate in shallow water Thursday.
A Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk rescue helicopter crew will conduct a training exercise consisting of lowering and raising a rescue litter from the Ketchikan-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration vessel Fairweather near the coast of Wales in the Bering Strait Friday.
Operation Arctic Crossroads will continue conducting daily visits to remote northwestern Alaskan villages including Shishmaref, Kivalina, Little Diomede and Shaktoolik. Much-needed medical, dental and veterinary care will be provided to the residents of this remote region.
More than 70 Coast Guard, Army National Guard, Air National Guard and U.S. Public Health Services personnel have deployed to Kotzebue which is serving as the centralized base for Operation Arctic Crossroads 2010.
