A Coast Guard Air Station Sitka MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew medevaced a 57-year-old man with a leg injury on June 27 from the cruise ship Crystal Serenity, approximately 12 miles southwest of Yakutat en route to Sitka.
The Jayhawk crew safely hoisted the man and transported him to Sitka.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Juneau command center received a medevac request from the Crystal Serenity crew for a passenger with a fractured femur. Watchstanders requested the launch of the Jayhawk crew after consulting the duty flight surgeon who recommended medevac of the man.
“Safety is paramount, especially during any response that requires hoisting by helicopter,” said cenior CPO Samuel Bass, command duty officer for Sector Juneau. “Great communication between the Coast Guard, the Crystal Serenity, EMS [emergency medical service] and Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium personnel enabled a safe, efficient transfer of the passenger to a higher level of care.”
Weather on scene was reported as 17-mile-per-hour winds and eight-foot seas with light rain.
2017 marks the 150th anniversary of the Coast Guard’s presence in Alaska. On Aug. 12, 1867, the Revenue Cutter Lincoln transported the first federal officials to Sitka for the formal transfer of proprietorship from Russia on Oct. 18, 1867. Since then, the Coast Guard’s duty to protect the people and waters of Alaska and the Arctic has grown alongside the 49th state’s ever-increasing role in American commerce, Arctic exploration and national sovereignty.
