Broken Neck Rescue! | Coast Guard Alaska | Full Episode

Alright, this is what we have guys, a guy with a

broken

pelvis,

neck

and hands, we're going straight to the top and then to Juno, we're meeting the ambulance, so we just got a call about a gentleman in Haines, which is north of here, who had an ATV accident many times with these werewolves from remote towns, the only medical facility they have there is a clinic, the probability of survival is low, that's what they said, we will take it. to daycare back from Maine, so we'll have top-level care on board. Haynes is at the northern end of our north.

Currently, the plan is to get Juno into an ambulance and get him to a hospital immediately. He is in critical condition. his

neck

is

broken

he has no movement in his legs he has movement in a couple of his fingers he is unconscious on a ventilator and needs medical evacuation as soon as possible he comes from the vast wilderness of Alaska a place where beauty is surrounded by danger here every day The highly trained men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard risk their lives to save others. America's deadliest waters are protected by the Alaska Coast Guard.

This time taxing the airborne, it was requested shortly to review our on-call video until we are confident in the sectors that you know how to do it due to the Geography of the Hanes area, local medevac companies cannot fly at night to those airports and this guy definitely needed to get to a hospital to get blood and get the treatment he needed. The

coast

guard

can play a vital role in situations like this. when other companies can't transport patients you can tell them our eta is 0-300 local reflectors off glasses this launch is inopportunely timed because it happens during the few hours of darkness when we don't have a moon tonight, that's really our only limiting factor the winds aren't bad the ceilings are pretty high, good visibility under those ceilings which helps facilitate a direct flight from sitka to haynes it's a pretty big piece yeah it's pretty amazing out here hi jason , so you know what I want. do with this if the patient is already on a board, I'm not going to transfer him to ours, I'm just going to put his back forward, yeah, I'll go out with you because we're going to have to carry him back and stuff too, so yeah, right Could you just tell me what you need?

I'm going to start putting this stretcher together slowly. We're 33 minutes away, Roger, on our flight to Haynes. We set up the stretcher at the back of the plane after listening. uh, about the patient's condition, I knew that this was a pretty serious case and that this guy was in critical condition. Luckily it was nice so we were able to fly over the tops of the mountains and it was a pretty quick flight to Haynes. Looks like they're waiting for us there yeah it's that ambulance at 11 o'clock okay guys if anyone is here to find the random let me know I'm like diving coming over the mountain informing me for the approach ready. for the person and senator jennifer from

rescue

38, please note that we are approaching right now close enough that it looks perfect sir, yes sir, so after landing at Haynes, my flight mechanic and I We walked to the ambulance and I got into the ambulance to get a briefing on the patient.

The patient was not stable. Spinal injury. Internal bleeding. It was obvious that all of the first responders who had been providing medical care to the patient were quite exhausted and quite tired. and you could tell they were struggling to keep this guy. It was clear that the patient's condition was serious, in addition to the fractures, the blood pressure was dropping sharply and we made the decision to bring in both the doctor and the nurse to have three medical professionals qualified in the back for this. Short transit from Haynes to Juno. The main concern when transporting him, since he had a broken neck, was not to hit him too much to make sure we got him onto the stretcher safely without shaking them too much, knowing what this patient's condition was. it just adds to that sense of urgency to get there as quickly as possible he was really in trouble we got our patient in the helicopter we got our life back uh connected to our patients so we could monitor their vital signs we had the nurse and the doctor on board and they were able to provide most of the necessary care crew report ready for takeoff this guy was looking to have fun with his friends and went four wheeling and it was a life changing event in Alaska it can be a dangerous environment and unfortunately in this case, even if our efforts facilitated his recovery from the condition he was in on the helicopter, he will have lifelong changing physical needs that he will have to live with, that is a difficult thing to accept, especially when in the end most of the day we go out and do the same things that he does and we enjoy this area the same way that he does and it just opens your eyes to how unforgiving that can be sometimes, guys, on the way to, you know, We'll keep it for below a thousand feet, so we'll just plant our 500 all the way, understood sir, once we're on final approach, we're at the last stage of this process as to what our role is.

Knowing that he was in the same condition at the time we picked him up made us feel like we had done our part of the job. My name is Christian Reisich and I was injured in a buggy accident in Haines, Alaska, which is where I live, I am from Haynes. He was sitting at a campfire and this guy pulls up in a buggy. We just started talking and he says, Hey, you want to go for a ride, you know, hop on, go up the street and the next thing you know. He says wait turn left and uh we're in the air over the sand and he's like jumping on this big jump he goes up he turns sideways down face down with me underneath me my first thought was that I was paralyzed I thought oh cool this is it I'm paralyzed I can't move, I can't speak, this is a really bad thing and I'm going to be paralyzed for the rest of my life or maybe even die.

I really thought maybe I would just die with a lacerated 12 ruptured liver. ribs two deflated lungs both deflated lungs three broken vertebrae in my neck to broken scapulas and I knew from living in Haynes that it was remote and there are a couple of doctors available at the clinic, but everything is on a plane right away, you know that nothing is close and that's where the

coast

guard

came in, having the coast guard around is like you know having such a presence in our community is like having a backbone, you know, like you always know that you have the coast guard in which eventually you can trust and I was at death's door like I probably wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for them, you know, when no one else would fly, these guys flew and picked me up and rushed me to help, know, get medical help and that's unfathomable, I can't thank you enough, there is a pull game that goes left into the woods, but I don't know why she would do that on the shore, let's go find her and ask her there was a 25 year old person. a woman who was on an ATV and was reported missing right there at three o'clock there is help okay let's follow this all this flu shot we want to find this girl quickly it's dangerous out there it's been cold, she could be wet stuck in a river somewhere with inadequate clothing and she's probably scared in this case we work in a valley in Salt Street Cove near Salt Street Creek and there's some high ground towards the end that little step yeah, because It's got four wheels down, so we're all I'm very familiar with that area.

A missing 23-year-old off-road vehicle. We don't have a lot of information right now, so we want to get out as quickly as possible to make sure we can help you if we can. Luckily, there is an all-terrain vehicle involved. Hope

full

y we'll be able to find the ATV and find the person we're on, so the alarm went off at about, it was actually exactly 2:40 in the morning. I'm used to checking my watch to make sure we meet our b0 30 minute response. window we want to find this girl quickly she's local we can meet her it's dangerous out there it's night in

alaska

it's cold she could be wet trapped in a river somewhere with inappropriate clothing and she's probably scared we want to do what we can to catch her get out of the bad situation and make his day better we made our checklist we talked about the dangers we talked about what we were going to do and we took off around three o'clock towards the sensual pass towards the short flight which is just down the road so it was Actually, less than five minutes to get there, if we blow up the parking lot or what's that car down there to our left?

I see a truck next to a truck, yes there is someone out there, I'm sure we'll see if we can find them. a place to rest and talk to these guys immediately when we arrived at the scene, the general search location, we could see headlights that are as bright as the surface of the sun and the nvgs, we could see down the valley that there was a truck parked. There we had our fingers crossed, that was the four-wheeled vehicle that was lost. Everyone get down to 100 feet for a low recce, whether he's waving or pointing directly at our three o'clock door, opening, other trees, I think I see some. shoes pointing directly at him to the right of the vehicle and he points as if he wants to say something good, we will sit and talk to them, so it was a challenge, but we found an open space where we can clear the trees that I can.

I don't really know if it's bumpy here, but there are no rocks or logs or anything like that, and we slowly lowered the plane to make sure we weren't on too steep a slope so we could be level and people could get out. The plane is fine, so at one, Roger could go see, you are and he is driving here, there are his headlights, Roger, yes, keep us informed. She has red hair. We can have our

rescue

swimmer. we are going to contact the bride and groom, we had a good verbal idea of ​​the situation, a description of the woman, so we knew what we were looking for, what the four wheeler looked like, what she was wearing, how she was dressed, little details , but they add up. a case somewhere here between six and seven miles that's all they knew and this was all yesterday well I guess we have more information than we had before is his girlfriend her name is michaela third roger river crossing i feel like our chance of success it just disappeared a lot and can you power the tracer beam with an fpg filter?

Yes sir, the configuration and configuration of the plane for a night star case in Alaska is critical for us to actually find the survivor. In this case, we have the flight. mechanic with night vision goggles with us and he's working to track a ray also called the night sun, you know, like in Batman, where that ray goes up in the sky, it's that bright but it's down on the ground, so it's also It's an amazing search tool when it's dark in Alaska Let's imagine it's your first time on Salt Street It's getting dark and late You're back and you're alone What do you do?

I'll try to find the main trail, I think so. but if it's your first time and suddenly your boss is scared, it's dark and there are bears, you don't know where you're going, hey, what's going on? I think we have a four-wheeler on the hill back here, all right, so straight. behind us at six o'clock, we are going to park directly behind us at six o'clock, at approximately 2:40 in the morning, the odo knocked on the door and said that there was a 25 year old woman who was in an ATV and she was reported missing we're trying to figure out where the individual survivor is as far as the flea or infrared looking ahead rescue swimmers looking for heat signs muggy cove and just being Alaska in general there are tons of wildlife out there we are constantly picking up bears, heatflowers look like people from a distance, but you can usually see their little ears poking out, so it's okay, that's not what we're looking for unless our 25 year old female has ears giants and weigh 1200 pounds, which is generally not the case at six o'clock there is something that was very hot yes, keep looking for it the threats to the survivor are usually environmental in Alaska you have dangerous animals, like bears, they usually need some reason to leave you However, you don't want to surprise a sleeping mammal that weighs a thousand pounds more than you, so we were worried that we would need to get this survivor out of there.

We're thinking she's probably cold, she's probably wet, it doesn't sound. like you have experience in the area, so you may be using cotton wool, it just makes time a critical component in getting a survivor out of that situation, even though it's hot,you can still get hypothermia out here and the visibility keeps getting better and better the higher you get that's at least if she's out there at least this is like a big moral deal she'll survive some nice sunlight helicopters there's a set of footprints They go left towards the forest but I don't know why she would do that on the bank let's go find her and ask her that path in the forest is right down there it's three o'clock right now we search for a long time we search in the same places six to ten times yes, hope

full

y we can find this person who It really bothers me that we can't find a four-wheeler, you know, I feel like that means we're just not looking in the right place right now, we were getting close to time take out our bag as a team, I think The pilots had about eight hours and that's the point at which you have to cut whether you want to go or not.

I wanted to look very well in the room. I wanted to fix the river very well and we did it. If she's here and alive, I guarantee we flew here. I feel like we've covered all areas well. I think my brain is exhausted from searching. I'm going to head. Yes, time passes and it becomes increasingly difficult to stay focused to actually execute what we want as planned and as we were trained, we finish our last hour of searching, we know we are tired, we know we are not as effective as we were without seven and a half hours of flight.

We need relief. I feel like you just scraped off a lot of that foundation that was there before we got tired. It was still night. No, I'm just tired. Another plane will take off as we land and I'm sure they'll find this person. She's getting sunnier. Search conditions are improving. It's heating up and Alaska State Troopers are out there, in force, practically on the scene. Guys, I'm slowing down a little bit going down, okay guys, so it's a step down from the previous team, the soldiers are out there working on the river beds, but the gala was wearing a black sweatshirt with blue jeans. and it is a green all-terrain vehicle.

They woke me up around five. There had been a crew flying all night. They needed a replacement to continue the search. Investigators are always difficult, but at least we can see it. It's lovely. I saw a bear. over there, so that's not good, well this is me thinking, but if you're going to get lost, this seems like the place you'd get lost because it's a flat, open area, yeah, you could easily take the wrong path, the tracks directly below. us here, they're back towards the river, yeah, I was going to put that on the right side and just go that way because it's overland, it's going to be a little different the way we approach the search, we're not using a search pattern We are choosing our own technique of how we want to cover the coast guard helicopter on the ground, we have multiple four wheeler tracks going back and forth on the hillside which is where the Alaska State Troopers had found new tracks from the all terrain vehicle We realized they had gotten stuck several times, so we got off and tried to follow those tracks.

There's like four wheeler tracks going left and right because they should be right over here and then put over here this morning we got a call that a four wheeler was missing at Salty Pass right there at three o'clock period there's something, okay, let's follow this, let's follow this, I backed up a little bit, sir, I'm pretty sure I saw a quad bike, okay, so keep rolling, sir. keep rolling all under us right there is the quad there is the quad it was the four wheeler upright uh it looked like it was up right you went straight into the water and probably sank we searched for two hours and I saw the quad first and then we continued from the quad following steps in the direction we thought maybe she went out of common sense so she could have gone anywhere from this point yeah you would think she would follow the river down so let's follow that point Let's follow that river.

We did multiple searches at that point. The footsteps seemed to be following the river downstream. We sort of refined our upstream and downstream search and then at that point we had attempted a parallel, but different, search. search just to see if she was in a completely different area. The question is: do you know when she got stuck there? When did she start walking? Yes, I don't know. I'd like to think I'd play along to the end. It seems like she would go to higher ground because she wouldn't like to get wet. You know that being wet is equivalent to death.

Once we found the all-terrain vehicle, it's kind of a small victory. At least we have found something and, in some way, it motivates us again. to continue the search, any search if you find the vehicle, hope this driver is nearby, where would she go if she lost me? Yes, exactly I see this sprout on the right, yes, are there human footprints or those? To all the friends I can usually say, sir, I've come down a little bit, we're on our left, I see someone waving his arms, probably a mile away just below 12 o'clock, far away now, yes, way up, there you are .

It's like a breath of fresh air to see her from the helicopter when you find her, the evaluation there says she's pretty good, that's her, I'm going to leave her in this place here, we were able to land and the flight robot and I got out. Up to this point I told her that everything would be fine, she was very afraid, she was wet, I assumed that she would probably walk through the rivers, which she shouldn't have done, but she did and she was crying when we put her on the line, we sat her in the seat of the troop and I gave her blankets, he buttoned her up and we flew back to Kodiak she was definitely soaked and shivering she was quite cold she was laughing and crying at the same time I think she was very happy to see us and she was I'm very happy to get out of there.

It is a very short transit back to the air station. Abbreviated four-lane checklist. Yes, it feels great when a survivor can talk to you and you can say thank you. I'm glad that uh, that she was, that she was okay, oh, thank you so much guys, your words are closure for me, I'm just saying, basically, thank you, you know, that's what she said, thank you, so it's like the ransom is sealed. uh, we're inspecting the hoist. male basket voice the initial report we received was that an individual had fallen 10 feet onto the c-lan charger of the motor boat.

He had wounds on his shoulder and face, depending on how clear the location is. I got the idea into my head to put you on. We went down and met someone here about 112 miles off the coast. The survivor was ambulatory, so we knew we were basically going to do a basket lift. Any questions, no, sounds good, okay, we take off, it's about a 45 minute transit for us. We had a c. -130 covering us because we were beyond 100 miles from Air Station Kodiak, they would be on scene about 30 minutes before us, so they were able to do some briefings with the ship's crew prior to our arrival. guys, think about anything other than Sebastian, no, no, dwell time, it was the right time, it was right, yeah, what a beautiful morning we were able to take off just to see the sunrise.

We had enough light, we didn't need to use night vision goggles. -130 with their speed they were able to get there, they were able to observe the vessel and identify possible lifting locations for us, kodiak, so this says that we could hear the basically one-sided conversations from our c-130 above, but we couldn't. I didn't hear the cruiser's responses, did you copy that last one on radio 2? Yes, you will have two containers wide, which is a lot of space. Yes, I think you will see the shipping. There's a little point there for us. Yes, hoisting from these big ones.

Container ships are something of a gamble, sometimes they have a very nice hoisting area, and sometimes they are so covered in equipment and cargo that it is actually difficult to find a hoisting area. Did you see where the place they were talking about was? If we. I'm thinking you know way aft, the last row on the right of the boat. I guess that same corner over there feels like a giant high-voltage yellow sticker. I think that's what he's talking about. Once we arrived at the scene, we circled the ship several times. Try checking the lifting area they designated for us.

Do you think it's easy enough? Yes that is good. There we all agreed on that lifting area and decided at that moment not to put it on the swimmer because it seems that the survivor was ambulatory. Our members are sitting there in the container, so let's drag it out. I can find it a little good. We will be ready forever. I'll probably do it with the chair line at least, so yeah, stay away from the other one. containers Our only potential concern was that the basket would hit one of the containers as it was going up, it had to pass three stacked containers on its way up, but to make sure we didn't hurt it further we tried to recover it in the helicopter for a while. we chose to do a trail line basket delivery, we essentially lowered a 105 foot rope down to the ship and then when that rope hit the deck the crew took possession of it to pick it up, well selection that means you have reason, the initial one.

The report we received was that an individual had fallen 10 feet onto the charger of the Russell C-lan Engine. He had injuries to his shoulder and face. He is in the basket and went up. We had a container stacked higher in front of us, which was probably about 30 feet from the plane, okay, so I cleared out the bottom two containers and fixed the clearance. All containers outside the cabin, bring them inside. It's a very quick development, by not having to put our swimmer in the boat, we were able to get to the scene and hoist the survivor up. and we'll get out of there in 10 minutes, let's do a flight out the door, I'll put two little ones on him, okay, yeah, he's pretty recovered, we put the survivor in the troop seat, we put him on some oxygen, we gave him a couple of questions and you said that your neck hurts on the left side.

Does your left shoulder hurt, only the right one? well, the crew had two paramedics on board and they had patched them up pretty well, yeah, stay as still as you can, we're leaving. to put you in an ambulance and have everyone take care of you well 20 minutes that's fine, they are flying for him with a photo worthy of the moment you want 30 with the sunrise behind return traffic c130 was on our trail the entire time and they were able to transmit communications with home plate and making sure standby medical services were on the ramp for us, okay, we'll be landing here in a couple of minutes, okay, coming down, we train all the time here to prepare for the worst case scenario .

The worst weather, the worst starting conditions. It was nice to have an easy one today. We were en route from Oakland to Yokohama, Japan. I was ordered to secure a rig. I lost my left foot and after that I continue to my right, the right side of my face hit me hard against the steel structures. It was soaked in blood. My entire face had multiple fractures. When the captain told me that the coast guard helicopter would be here in 20 minutes, I said, "Well, thank God, thank you. I was very happy to be able to get to the hospital like the doctor took care of me according to the doctor, my bones facials are back in place so that makes me happy too I really appreciate this coast guard in Kodiakala Thank you so much for helping me make sure you get all your lunches okay we're here at the Dog Bay boat ramp. , we're getting ready to go fishing with the wounded warrior program, Chuck Bell, the engineering officer here at the air station is going to take us out and we're going to do some halibut fishing.

The wounded warrior project is a group. of veterans advocacy that works to empower and honor the service that the men and women of this country and all of our armed forces have given us and paid back to them through various programs and services today we have our annual fishing trip to Kodiak. Really all the Coast Guard here in Kodiak have been very welcoming. Both myself and another service member will be on the boat with them and they will guide us and hopefully bring in a lot of big fish. There's 190 feet of water hoping to catch some halibut, jump in, there it is, you got one, get it, Kirk goes after it, Kirk, okay, big man, good size, good job, it was heavy being here in the boat with other wounded warriors. just as the coast guard staff have been amazing, he's also a good sized fish, yeah oh that's good to eat right there.

The wounded warrior project is a program to define brotherhood and togetherness to help us stop thinking about the struggles we experience during combat activities we are doing well now we are all having a lot of fun we have all been in the service or in the service now, so we can sit and swap stories while we wait for the fish. andIt really goes back to how welcoming these guys were and how intrigued they were by our stories as much as we were intrigued by theirs in Afghanistan. We always ran into a problem when we needed air.

You know, the pilots say you know we. Are they all bagged or have they been flying for so many hours that they just weren't allowed out I didn't know if it was the same for the coast guard as it is for the army, the navy and all that if you're in the air for six hours when you land you're bagged, yes you know all those rules are written in blood and bent metal yes of course yes of course it's 3 45 I think we should go back so we can work with the wounded warriors. The project is a true blessing for us.

At this time we can help another person in uniform. It makes us feel good. It is a good way to relax both for us and for them. We had a great time fishing and we had a great time connecting. The operation has assisted the inspection of the trunk. We just received a call from plate 17 requesting a medical evacuation of an 81 year old woman in Accioc, it's about 75 miles southwest of us. All we know is that she has heart pain, difficulty breathing and that it is a cardiac incident. The deadline will be four. hours to get her to a higher level of care, the worst case scenario would be some sort of cardiac event on the helicopter on the way back to Akyok's home village.

It's a very small community, probably less than a hundred people there, I don't have advanced healthcare coverage, I'm really ready to have sex abroad. Do you have any concerns? My normal worry is a heart attack, especially someone that age. There was an individual with chest pains and usually the first thing I think about is a heart attack. Take off ready to sound the alarm. She left around midnight. I got up pretty quickly. I got to the hangar pretty quickly. That's when I found out. I was a medevac guy with chest pains and usually the first thing I think about is a heart attack.

Sector zero three. Do you have any information that expands on this case? Three sector anchors remain distant on the route. We were trying to get more information about the patient. she was getting better if she was getting worse it turned out that she actually she was getting a little worse. I have the pro packages that basically tell me heart rate, blood pressure and then the AED if it has a heart attack power and route what our Etas is for about 15 minutes yeah as we approached the native village of Akyok it seemed like There were vehicles there with their headlights illuminating the landing zone, so we made the approach, we arrived at a snow-covered runway, I'm sure I'll get out. and check it out and I'll call you when I get back I'll be happy to once we get to the scene they took her out and she was already packed on a stretcher a little hard to carry the stretcher the gravel had a little ice on it so we had to go slow and making sure that first we didn't slip on the ice and then, second, we didn't drop the patient either.

He's fine, guys, you're doing well. Thank you. He is quite warm. Hey, look at that. nice blanket, okay, pick it up, ready for a little less than you expect, uh, yeah, we got him some oxygen. I just monitored his vital signs, his heart rate and his blood pressure. He has a weak heart rate of up to 58 feet per minute. weight good answers she is, but he is a little slow. My main concern is a heart attack. I felt a heartbeat, but it was a very slow beat. That's when you know he's really starting to get dangerous.

The solid pressure is decreasing, now he is at 46. He was getting weaker and weaker, his vital signs were changing, fluctuating a little, indicating that he may have been exhibiting some type of shock symptoms. Blood pressure 133 dropped. I can see that he is in pain. His face makes a pretty good grimace. It was good that we were recovering. She gets out of there then and without waiting, she could go downhill pretty quickly when we land in Kodiak, we always have the paramedics waiting that way, she goes from a paramedic to a higher level of care paramedic and gives her IVs like the things that I can.

What I didn't do on the plane, I put her in the ambulance. I gave him all my information. Blood pressure. His heart rate. Some more questions and answers. The paramedics and I were on our way to the hospital. Anything we could have done better. You already know many things. Alaska is remote, we have many native towns and small communities and it is an honor to serve them as a Coast Guard Airman. I'm Nina Phillips, I was born here in Octalic. I am 81 or 82 years old. I don't remember something was wrong with my heart and my heart almost stopped.

Maybe I remember they said they were going to call the coast guard. He was very kind. He took care of me at all times. He went out of his way to do everything for me. Bring me to providence hospital so I'm fine now that card is a life saver. Thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. I have had the honor and privilege of leading the men and women of the 17th coast guard district for three years, rear admiral tom ostabo. Coast Guard District 17 Commander Juno Alaska, this tour has been the most rewarding of my career. What we do here day to day is exceptional anywhere else in the world that the men and women of the 17th District Coast Guard have saved. literally thousands of lives from dutch harbor to gnome to ketchikan 44,000 miles of coastline 4 million miles of water sar cases hundreds of miles offshore and the harshest climate this planet has to offer my name is vice admiral charlie ray i am the commander of the pacific area which means that I am responsible for coast guard operations from

alaska

to american samoa what happens here in alaska on this land in this great state matters not only the people of alaska have been important to the nation these are the big leagues here in alaska now there is no end of the good the coast guard can do in alaska and we are up to the task god bless you all god bless the united states coast guard god bless america