Coast Guard medevacs fisherman southeast of St. Paul

February 22nd 3:10 pm | Staff

A 44-year-old man was air-lifted via helicopter from the 240-foot fishing vessel Starbound, a Seattle-based vessel, 69 miles southeast of St. Paul last Wednesday.

He was transferred to the St. Paul clinic for treatment for heart attack symptoms.

The responding Coast Guard personnel are home-based at Air Station Kodiak, but work out of their forward operating location on St. Paul Island during the winter fishery season.

"When a person has a heart attack, getting the patient to an appropriate level of medical care as soon as possible is crucial," said Lt. Cmdr. James Landreau, the Coast Guard duty flight surgeon who consulted on the call and confirmed the need for a medevac. "The Coast Guard crew available in the St. Paul region last night definitely helped evacuate this patient to a higher level of care and saved his life."

This is the second at-sea medevac the St. Paul crew has conducted this year, the first being a maritime two weeks ago. In that rescue a crewman onboard the crab boat North Sea was suffering from seizure symptoms.

The Coast Guard has been operating in the Bering Sea in response to winter fishing activity for more than 10 years.

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