The U.S. Coast Guard and Capital City Fire/Rescue had to work together Thursday to get a cruise passenger off the ship and to the hospital, according to a Coast Guard release.
At about 9:20 a.m. Thursday, the Coast Guard got a call from the master of the cruise ship Noordam that a 74-year-old passenger was experiencing heart attack symptoms, according to a Coast Guard release. A crew from Coast Guard Station Juneau met the ship in the southern end of Auke Bay, brought the man on board and brought him to Capital City Fire/Rescue personnel who then took him to Bartlett Regional Hospital, the release states.
BRH spokesperson Katie Bausler said the man was then flown to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage on Thursday night after he went into cardiac arrest.
The Noordam was in the waters of Glacier Bay National Park when the man experienced trouble, according to the release. Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class David Cross, response boat coxswain, said transferring patients between two different vessels is always difficult.
“Situations like today are exactly what we train for,” Cross said in the release. “Having the EMTs aboard along with our experienced crew made the operation go that much smoother. We wish this man a swift recovery.”
A Coast Guard and Capital City Fire/Rescue crew medevaced a 74-year-old patient from the cruise ship Noordam at the south end of Auke Bay after he displayed signs of a heart attack on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2018. (Courtesy Photo | U.S. Coast Guard)
