An ailing 61-year-old crewman aboard a tanker en route from Valdez to China was medevaced via Coast Guard helicopter on April 30. It was 170 miles southwest of Cold Bay and he was flown to Cold Bay for care by an awaiting LifeMed aircraft crew.
Coast Guard watchstanders in the 17th District command center in Juneau got the call in the early afternoon April 29 that the man was experiencing abdominal pain aboard the 905-foot U.S. flagged tanker Alaskan Navigator, which was 270 miles southwest of Unalaska.
The Coast Guard asked the Alaskan Navigator crew to change course and meet the Coast Guard helicopter for the hoist.
A Coast Guard crew then departed Kodiak, landed in Cold Bay to refuel and began the medevac at first light on April 30, following protocols to determine if the patient had been exposed to COVID-19. Air Station Kodiak is now maintaining personal protective equipment for aircrews and has decontamination procedures and equipment for crews and aircraft upon landing.
