A Story
I usually don’t post stories that I’ve written on here as I think most of them would bore people outside of Wrangell (they might even bore people in Wrangell), but this one is kind of interesting as it involves the Crossings folks, some of whom I call friends, most of whom I am friendly with.
Before I post the story, I have to point something out. Interacting with Crossings people on a social level and hearing about, at various times, what they do in the field with the kids had made me realize, perhaps for the first time, that people who I can call my peers are actually making a difference in this world. And by doing what they enjoy and feel passionate about. In all seriousness, this was an important thing for me to realize in my thus far short-lived adult life.
This is a story of an incident that took place last weekend. The picture below the story is one taken in February during Crossings staff training week when the Coast Guard came:
While it may be well known that it takes a community to raise a child, on Saturday, it was proven that it also takes a community to save a child. Through the collaborative efforts of field and managerial staff of Alaska Crossings, Wrangell Search and Rescue, a local Wrangell doctor, and the Coast Guard, a 13-year old girl suffering from appendicitis was helicoptered off Shakes Mountain, brought to Ketchikan General Hospital, and then medevaced to Anchorage where she had surgery.
On October 14, day 41 of the 46-day program, at 10:24 a.m. the managerial staff of Alaska Crossings, a wilderness program which is a division of Alaska Island Community Services, received a call from field staff regarding a girl who was experiencing right side belly pain. Through a shaky connection with the field satellite phone, enough details were collected to pass on to Dr. Dave McCandless.
It was McCandless who recommended the girl be removed as soon as possible, “Going over their symptoms it was clear that this was not a minor illness and then it becomes a decision of how is the best way to get that person out of there. It’s just kind of a judgment call of what you need to do.”
Both Tim Buness of Wrangell Search and Rescue and the Coast Guard in Sitka were contacted and informed of the situation. The decision between using either the helicopter in Petersburg or the Coast Guard had to be made first. “We turned that over to the experts at Wrangell Search and Rescue to make that determination. Tim [Buness] spoke to the pilot, we used the data we had on the landing site, and their flight surgeon spoke with Dr. McCandless, and it was determined that this is not something we could do just directly with Wrangell Search and Rescue and local EMTs. The Coast Guard would come in and do the evacuation,” said Steve Prysunka, director of Alaska Crossings.
The field staff on the mountain – Lars Hall, Jessica Kayser, and Stephanie Sleen – made sure all the kids were “hunkered” down on the mountain, said Prysunka. “It was really foul weather. They were at about 1800 feet and they had sleet and fairly heavy southeast winds but they had the girl who was ill set up and taking vitals and giving us information as they went along.” Shakes Mountain is located in the South Etolin Island Wilderness Area.
Armed with training they had received in February from the Coast Guard for exactly the kind of situation they were in, Hall, Kayser, and Sleen were well prepared. “They actually lit off smoke to let the Coast Guard know exactly where they were because they were having trouble finding them exactly on the mountain with the way the clouds were and the fog was rolling in,” explained Prysunka.
When the Coast Guard arrived at 3:30 with five personnel – two pilots, a rescue swimmer, a flight engineer, and an EMT – the Coast Guard swimmer rappelled out of the helicopter. They packaged up the girl in the rescue basket that had been lowered from the helicopter and raised her first. Sleen was raised second and the swimmer last.
They flew immediately to Ketchikan and arrived at 4:30. There it was determined the ill girl should be medevaced to Anchorage. Sarah Penfold, assistant director for Alaska Crossings, had flown down to Ketchikan from Wrangell to meet up with the girl, and she was able to escort her on the medevac flight to Providence Hospital. Penfold remained at the hospital with the girl and the girl’s mother until the time of surgery early Sunday morning.
Alaska Crossings is currently in its sixth season. “This was the first time we have ever had to use the Coast Guard and it was the first year that we ever trained directly with them. We’ve always talked about it but never had them fly in. It was just a fantastic outcome,” said Prysunka. “[Hall, Kayser, and Sleen] did an excellent job of taking vitals and using their wilderness medicine that they had been trained in and then also just were really well prepared and ready for the Coast Guard evacuation.”
Besides direct training from the Coast Guard, the three field staff had been educated on how to deal with common medical emergencies, and were equipped with a satellite phone, with which the original call was made, VHF radios, and an emergency location transmitter. For Prysunka, the weekend’s events “highlight for us how important our staff training is. We don’t have a lot of medical incidents but when we do it’s really nice to have all of that training done.”
The girl is currently recovering at Providence Hospital and should be out by the weekend. An Alaska Crossings therapist will visit her on Friday.
Before I post the story, I have to point something out. Interacting with Crossings people on a social level and hearing about, at various times, what they do in the field with the kids had made me realize, perhaps for the first time, that people who I can call my peers are actually making a difference in this world. And by doing what they enjoy and feel passionate about. In all seriousness, this was an important thing for me to realize in my thus far short-lived adult life.
This is a story of an incident that took place last weekend. The picture below the story is one taken in February during Crossings staff training week when the Coast Guard came:
While it may be well known that it takes a community to raise a child, on Saturday, it was proven that it also takes a community to save a child. Through the collaborative efforts of field and managerial staff of Alaska Crossings, Wrangell Search and Rescue, a local Wrangell doctor, and the Coast Guard, a 13-year old girl suffering from appendicitis was helicoptered off Shakes Mountain, brought to Ketchikan General Hospital, and then medevaced to Anchorage where she had surgery.
On October 14, day 41 of the 46-day program, at 10:24 a.m. the managerial staff of Alaska Crossings, a wilderness program which is a division of Alaska Island Community Services, received a call from field staff regarding a girl who was experiencing right side belly pain. Through a shaky connection with the field satellite phone, enough details were collected to pass on to Dr. Dave McCandless.
It was McCandless who recommended the girl be removed as soon as possible, “Going over their symptoms it was clear that this was not a minor illness and then it becomes a decision of how is the best way to get that person out of there. It’s just kind of a judgment call of what you need to do.”
Both Tim Buness of Wrangell Search and Rescue and the Coast Guard in Sitka were contacted and informed of the situation. The decision between using either the helicopter in Petersburg or the Coast Guard had to be made first. “We turned that over to the experts at Wrangell Search and Rescue to make that determination. Tim [Buness] spoke to the pilot, we used the data we had on the landing site, and their flight surgeon spoke with Dr. McCandless, and it was determined that this is not something we could do just directly with Wrangell Search and Rescue and local EMTs. The Coast Guard would come in and do the evacuation,” said Steve Prysunka, director of Alaska Crossings.
The field staff on the mountain – Lars Hall, Jessica Kayser, and Stephanie Sleen – made sure all the kids were “hunkered” down on the mountain, said Prysunka. “It was really foul weather. They were at about 1800 feet and they had sleet and fairly heavy southeast winds but they had the girl who was ill set up and taking vitals and giving us information as they went along.” Shakes Mountain is located in the South Etolin Island Wilderness Area.
Armed with training they had received in February from the Coast Guard for exactly the kind of situation they were in, Hall, Kayser, and Sleen were well prepared. “They actually lit off smoke to let the Coast Guard know exactly where they were because they were having trouble finding them exactly on the mountain with the way the clouds were and the fog was rolling in,” explained Prysunka.
When the Coast Guard arrived at 3:30 with five personnel – two pilots, a rescue swimmer, a flight engineer, and an EMT – the Coast Guard swimmer rappelled out of the helicopter. They packaged up the girl in the rescue basket that had been lowered from the helicopter and raised her first. Sleen was raised second and the swimmer last.
They flew immediately to Ketchikan and arrived at 4:30. There it was determined the ill girl should be medevaced to Anchorage. Sarah Penfold, assistant director for Alaska Crossings, had flown down to Ketchikan from Wrangell to meet up with the girl, and she was able to escort her on the medevac flight to Providence Hospital. Penfold remained at the hospital with the girl and the girl’s mother until the time of surgery early Sunday morning.
Alaska Crossings is currently in its sixth season. “This was the first time we have ever had to use the Coast Guard and it was the first year that we ever trained directly with them. We’ve always talked about it but never had them fly in. It was just a fantastic outcome,” said Prysunka. “[Hall, Kayser, and Sleen] did an excellent job of taking vitals and using their wilderness medicine that they had been trained in and then also just were really well prepared and ready for the Coast Guard evacuation.”
Besides direct training from the Coast Guard, the three field staff had been educated on how to deal with common medical emergencies, and were equipped with a satellite phone, with which the original call was made, VHF radios, and an emergency location transmitter. For Prysunka, the weekend’s events “highlight for us how important our staff training is. We don’t have a lot of medical incidents but when we do it’s really nice to have all of that training done.”
The girl is currently recovering at Providence Hospital and should be out by the weekend. An Alaska Crossings therapist will visit her on Friday.
posted by Siapiau | 4:59 PM
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