KMXT 100.1 FM Public Radio in Kodiak, Alaska
An injured 19-year-old crewman was medevac’d from a trawler off Kodiak Island Sunday night. Coast Guard spokesman Kurt Fredrickson said an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Kodiak responded after the call came in at about 7:30 p.m. The chopper arrived about an hour latter and hoisted Michael Calahan aboard.
Calahan was injured when his right arm was pinched in a piece of hydraulic equipment while working aboard the fishing vessel Collier Brothers, about 34-miles northeast of Kodiak city.
The helicopter was called in after the Coast Guard flight surgeon on duty determined a medevac was the best course of action for the patient based on his reported injuries.
The helicopter returned to Kodiak about a half-hour later, where Calahan was transferred to awaiting emergency medical technicians who brought him to Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center. His condition was reported as stable.
Helicopter pilot Lieutenant David Feeney said most medevacs from Kodiak are usually done in bad weather a long distance for shore, but weather conditions during the medevac saw winds of five mph, five-foot swells and scattered clouds.
The fishing vessel Collier Brother is home ported in Portland, Oregon.
