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| MH-65 Dolphin, ©USCG (archive) |
SEATTLE — A Coast Guard aircrew medically evacuated a 69-year-old woman from Sucia Island, Washington, Wednesday afternoon, after she reportedly dislocated her hip while hiking.
An aircrew aboard an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, transported the woman from Sucia Island in the San Juan Islands National Monument to emergency medical services at Bellingham Airport.
Watchstanders in the Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound command center received a call at 11:30 a.m., from a fellow hiker reporting that a 69-year-old woman had been injured while hiking on Sucia Island.
The Dolphin aircrew was diverted from a training exercise and was instructed to retrieve a stokes litter from the air station to use during the medevac and arrived on scene at 12:48 p.m.
An aviation survival technician was lowered down to the injured woman to help assess the injury and prepare the woman to be hoisted. The aircrew safely transferred the patient to EMS at 2:27 p.m.
A Sucia Island State Park Ranger and fellow hikers assisted in the medevac efforts even transporting the injured woman off the trail to an open field. One of the hikers had a marine-band radio and was able to directly coordinate with the aircrew when they arrived on scene.
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