Shot in the Back! | Coast Guard Alaska | Full Episode

I got the target area tonight as the temperature drops the Coast Guard deploys a cutter out to the icy Bering Sea somebody has to go out save the fishermen I think it's us on raspberry Island two hunters are stranded in a freezing Alaskan night automatically makes me think I'll boys you know someone could be pretty hurt and in Sitka the rescue team rushes to the aid of a man shot in the back we were going out 190 195 miles an hour so man I hope we can get there in time the vast Alaskan wilderness a place where beauty is cloaked by danger here every day 350 highly trained men and women risk their lives to save others America's deadliest waters are protected by Coast Guard Alaska [Music] 3:02 unclear just wanted you out let me know his heart I'm lieutenant David Birky stationed here at Air Station Sitka one of the pilots today we were doing a central patrol which includes SiC Petersburg Rangel we're just going along and all of a sudden we heard sector Juneau talking to somebody that was in distress sector Juneau what is your position in nature of gunshot wounds what was running through my head specifically today when we did hear that he was shot in the back was it a man I hope this guy can make it 45 minutes till we get there when we got the call we were a hundred and ten miles away and we immediately turned that direction and we were fortunate to have about a 20 25 knot tailwind so over the ground we were going 170 knots which is about 190 195 miles an hour so man I hope we can get there in time [Music] for this SAR case especially it's a gunshot wound we think that there's a very finite amount of time that we can we can be helpful for this patient and so we're flying the plane as fast as it can go and you're trying to do everything you can so that when you get on scene you can be as quick as possible and get the guy to medical care most likely you know the guy's not gonna be ambulatory so we're looking at a hoist with a litter getting him into the cabin and then all sorts of trauma in the back [Music] we had about a 40 minute plus transit time so I had quite a bit of time to get my medical gear together we heard that he was shot in the back you know there's a lot of vital organs in your torso and mentally I'm preparing I'm just doing a checklist of what I might need in case the worst case scenario survivor is starting to crash or you know seeing he's in a bad way [Music] correct one is the victim the other one is fine yet those are the people you're looking for we saw two people on the shore and I was surprised that a gunshot wound that the guy was was standing up 30 OTT six is a 30 caliber bullet has really good ballistics and shoots really well so a lot of hunters use it and there it it packs quite the wallet right here there was just a little skinny's for the beach and the closer we got to it we saw it was big enough - hey let's give it a try to see if we can land [Music] right we'll touch flightmare cleared me out add my load and go medical care with me made patient contact as soon as John was able to hop out of the aircraft we took off just to give him some space to be able to talk without all the rotor noise and rotor wash and all that I asked him where he'd been shot turned around and showed me the entry wound I asked him if he has any trouble breathing because it was probably at the lower end where his right long lower lobe would be asked me if isn't pain he said oh yeah of course you know anytime we can land it's a safe revolution than hoisting it makes you a little on edge because that was a type each the left wheel was almost in the ocean and then out the right side where all the trees for the rotor ticks were so we had to be careful to make sure we didn't mess a gunshot victim we wanted him to get to the hospital as soon as possible and it just saved us a lot of time being able to land so patients in the cabin and I want to get a quick picture of you know exactly what his vitals are doing cut his clothes away so I could see the wound I wanted to inspect the wound to make sure that there wasn't any gurgling or anything that had gotten into his lungs his wound would looked remarkably good had pretty much sealed up all his subcutaneous tissues very very little blood I could see the projectile just protruding into his skin no exit wound at all and I told him he's lucky and he thanked us Hey assessing the patient in route he notified me that he urinated blood about a half-hour prior so that got me thinking you know that he was bleeding internally I made sure they had high flow positive pressure o to on his face it helps to ease anxiety and also he did have a hole in as long as positive pressure I was monitoring his vitals with the life packing everything was good and you know blood pressure was good heart rate was good you know Oh - sounds good Oregon fine eating gurgling coming out at all the Coast Guard age 60 is very small in the back very cramped the things that they do back there is pretty amazing and EMS is there John there's so very little work space and the mobility of being able to get around a patient it's pretty tough so they do great work back up I'm sure 3-0 works an accomplice Roger on that getting that gunshot victim out of the woods goes something completely outside the box of what I usually experience my job just made it that much more intense unfortunately sometimes it doesn't always go so smooth so in that particular moment it's just a huge relief you know because you did your best and gave him off to somebody who has more experience and better care than you you know it's exciting every time something like this happens it just resets your drive to continue the train hard and be the best you can possibly be and I think that everybody else in the crew feels the same way [Music] the Coast Guard Cutter Sherman we're gonna spend our time up here in the Bering Sea and making sure that the fishermen out there are safe so boarding them checking their safety requirements protecting America's interests at sea we've got a 76 year old male difficulty breathing fly into Zinke we've got our EMT our mission is to bring him back here to the airport [Music] can anybody hear me 6:03 zero over her sector Juneau talking to somebody on channel one six in regards to a gunshot wound to the back six zero three zero self diverted upon arriving on scene I observed a 25 year old male with a gunshot wound to the back the rescue swimmer did a quick evaluation and took the shot hunter to Juno or awaiting EMS transport of the guy to the hospital we are trained to help we want to help we're doing this job to help so there's excitement the missions done and now we've pretty much reset and get ready for the next one witness for the greed meeting through this for the song that was for the song I'm lieutenant David Birky of stationed at Air Station Sitka and I'm one of the pilots that's just like daddy flies isn't it every time we tell her that daddy's not to work she goes work and helicopter will get home and she'll be like helicopter helicopter again this one is Morgan she just was four weeks yesterday and this is Carson she is almost two years old that's 80 and she loves attention one of the other pilots Andy Clayton we're having his kids over so he and his wife can go out and have a date night and here within another week or so they'll be doing the same for us as [Music] pilots we get together we hang out we do whatever all of our kids are the same age so they'll hang out and they just absolutely love each other that's Kiley Andy Clayton's daughter throat and his other daughter who's in your chair our kids hang out and play at least one night a week you're over at somebody's house for dinner or they're over at your house so just the community the wardroom is just much tighter and you just do so much more with each other off duty here thank you for this time together bless this food rabbis him to prepare amen the city of Sitka it's amazing that small-town community knowing everybody then knowing you it definitely works out [Music] very well how's this - of course - one five rays insecure about bra alright what we're doing alright got a moment to break I was good you did exactly what I wanted you to get a good hard twist get a feel for what the boat does let the boat talk to you write what you hear and feel felt the vibration that's us cavitating a little bit that's putting a little month you look putting a little power in there I'm captain Joe Hester I'm the commanding officer that Coast Guard Cutter Sherman that you see here behind me for the next several months we're gonna spend our time up here in the Bering Sea enforcing fisheries laws protecting America's interests at sea and also making sure that the fishermen out there are safe so boarding them checking their safety requirements making sure that they're up to standard and in the event that one of them gets into trouble we're there to respond my family has been rescued by the Coast Guard and I'm telling you when you believe somebody in your family was saved of the Coast Guard changes your life that's why I'm here just come out of the left this morning I asked combat to make sure we had picked out some targets the board and they've done their job and they set us up here for an SLO you can see off our starboard bow here we're heading right over there to afford him it's important that we see that they're taking what they're taking 1 3 5 just got done lunch in our cg 1 & 0 small boat it's our job to be prepared be ready to launch the smuggler at all times and get out there as best again and do it safely as possible [Music] [Music] the boats alongside keep caution let's hold it regular because if he comes back to the ready you don't want me to [Music] boarding team is bored what they're gonna do is they're gonna play a quick limit sweet potato just makes us safer to be on board sure we work in and hand out here with the Coast Guard bar there's no getting better you have the feeling of a Coast Guard cover in that something was to happen [Music] check out their safety equipment everything came out right had a few small issues with the light breeze but directed him on the spot they're using popper release of their catch and everything like that sounds good let's got it great boarding very pleased with the guys I think they did a fine job this is exactly why we're supposed to be here that's great stuff radhika john all you guys good job somebody has to go out save the fisherman somebody needs to stop the drug runners somebody needs to patrol our coasts i think it sucks a Good Samaritan had reported that he'd sighted two flares we notify patients to crew they're fatigued they're cold they're tired hypothermia can really mess with the person's mind automatically makes me think oh boy this you know someone could be pretty hurt [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we're gonna do a parachute disentanglement it's simulating a downed military aviator to practice rail for chief aviation survival technician Charles Fowler I run the survival shop here at Air Station Kodiak you just drop in the water will take care of the restaurant here and just hang close to the side for a second so on today's events we start out with a parachute disentangle mine now that's something we normally do once every six months we try to make it diverse and still engage the gospel because it's just to do push ups and sit ups and pull ups and stuff become so monotonous over and over over that you need that just to kind of spark physiologically and psychologically [Music] here in Kodiak we're fortunate enough to have the tower so we'll do some deployments off that which simulates the point off the helicopter how's the supervisor you know we'll use whatever we have at our disposal to test situational awareness and to test their attention to detail [Applause] there you are as an AST and realistic you soar you're faced with difficult situations at tom you're dealing with multiple survivors severe injuries trauma small children or sometimes involved you have to compartmentalize this and you have to keep your mental fortitude focused and then be able to get the mission complete and get people safe and home [Music] --kavitha thank you sir that's a continued experimental sudden here at the desk started monitoring over channel 16 emergency freak a Good Samaritan had reported that he had sighted two flares from the vicinity of cooping hours straight the captain of the Good Sam vessel reported that once he got close enough to see the beach he could tell that there were two to three people on shore the Good Sam captain feared that if bad weather rolls in or the tide comes up too far that it's gonna put the survivors and a bad situation you know hypothermia stuff like that so we notified a 60 crew two persons on the beach and it's about 25 nautical miles west-northwest of Kodiak I'm sitting at home playing with my laptop watching some TV even the call came in from the operation studio officer for a possible SAR launch for two guys stranded on raspberry Island he already gave us a thumbs up as in you guys are launching now and we ran out to the aircraft there are two guys on the door of raspberry out they lit up a flare and a good stamp in the area call the Coast Guard and it looks like they have built a shelter our tour weather is spectacular we had a moon for a little bit so that helps with elimination on the night-vision goggles that was about say about 15 minute transit for us to get on see the Advisory Rusty's did you see the people Jim I saw the people going out we knew very little there seemed to be a sense of urgency to get out there the hypothermia can really mess with the person's mind they'll take off their survival suit they'll think they're warm so it's important to try to bring them back to reality and say hey listen we're here it's okay we'll get you out of here [Music] call came in from the operation studio officer for a possible SAR launch for two guys stranded on raspberry Allen that's what I'm thinking at this point is to do a beach landing it's gonna be end up being no Harvard landing what have been built hard to spot these guys sitting on the beach if it wasn't for the fishing vessel captain Sam they had a nice big searchlight out directly on these guys you got that photos one of our fears was to get these guys to make sure did not shine the spotlight at the aircraft cuz we're all in night-vision goggles so we called them on the radio immediately establish contact with them said Gabe we're the Coast Guard helicopter flying overhead make sure you don't point your searchlight on us because some people just feel like hey maybe we help them see by pointing at the aircraft that wouldn't be good for us it was nice about the distance that we were from the two survivors was just the noise where he can he can talk to him at a reasonable volume they're they're fatigued they're cold they're tired so any sort of extra exertion is taxing [Music] sure we do have it under control thank you so much for the help the lighting this deed helped us and you're good bands for hanging out thank you we fly in and you can see the cap of Sam had all their lights on pointing directly where the two individuals were at if if that boat didn't see him we may have never found him I don't know how else they would have got ahold of us if the capstan didn't see him Roger tanks are good everything is good rescue stuff are you got channel 21 radio check they're ready oh yes sir okay well channel 21 let's talk to each other you head over there and see what's going on si forget about these guys over here but we try to prepare for worst-case scenario first until we can find out otherwise the assumption was that these guys are probably hypothermic assumptions whereas somebody could have been hurt I broke up like justice go find us going on rajala just be careful correct I'm heading towards their direction assume that they would meet me halfway so them not coming right away automatically makes me think oh boy this you know someone could be pretty hurt but it took a little while to get there the tide was recently in so it's wet the rocks were wet nurse a lot of seaweed once I got there I noticed they had some bags packed and they were they were packing up getting ready to go about 18 hours on the beach working trying to keep the boat from going into the ocean and getting camp set up we were physically and emotionally just wiped out for both of us we're starting to suffer from the heat cramps muscle cramping up there was no better sight than to see those flashlights coming towards us on the beach two months ago I had a older gentleman with I've been taking a high dose of cumin I have been taking high doses of cumin in which at that time I did not know but it was out of the ALF the chart medical wise so if I did took a bump on the head or even a cut to my arm I would have bled I would have been you would still see me on raspberry we'll start heading that way we'll take our time I feel real lucky and I credit the Coast Guard all the way that you know we wasn't set in there for weeks or days on end waiting for somebody to come and get us these are dope estilo first guys go all right we got everybody havin a I hope you confirm that with the swimmer all right so we are ready to go are those two guys doing over all there there's state of mind at the hell yeah I'm feel a lot better that we showed up wow I rescued six 0:06 Roger be advised we are airborne in round Kodiak yeah so the the 60 was lifted they got the guys on board they should be back about a 15-minute route hopefully they're on deck about another 5 10 minutes the decision was made to have the paramedics here to take him to the hospital to get checked out by a doctor thanks to the captain and the Coast Guard real glad that they were there that they got there because I get to go home and play with my kids a matter of three and a half hours you know when sitting on the living room playing the laptop three and a half hours later we land here and we drop off some guys and then go home back to the family you know that's great you [Music] [Music] [Music] it's not the one set the magic ball all right let's do it lieutenant Jason Evans 60 pilot here at the air station a UF weapons officer I'm here with my family adores my oldest son Christopher sixteen and my youngest son Tom misters 10 we're at the bowling alley and we like to come over here frequently and get a couple games of bowling and I don't think any of us are really really that good but it's a fun place to come and hang out look on the next one don't come back like this just worry about don't worry about doing it hard easy my name is Thomas and I'm 10 years older my dad works at the Coast Guard base in I think it's cool because like he actually flies helicopters it's like I don't know a lot of people that do that [Music] the Coast Guard has a really important job I mean just saving people is really awesome so the awesome thing to do and if we didn't have the Coast Guard there'd be a lot of people get lost at sea and stuff and especially here in Kodiak tested the weather we weren't expecting to come to Kodiak and there was a little bit of a shock but looking back on it now there's no other place that we'd rather be than Kodiak we're really thankful we've worked out the way that it did really glad to be here let it go close to the ground Thomas there you go my family is very supportive and if it wasn't for my family I wouldn't be here especially my wife I feel one for my wife won't be where I'm at today so it's great to have him here with me we were actually talking to the boys the other day about the party in its mission and that it's just not one person that the glory falls on it's a combined effort of so many people to just perform this one rescue and it's just amazing what they can all do and I'm proud of him and I'm proud of all of them it's because I can on bowl for a living you've got a 76 year old male difficulty breathing we've got our EMT our mission is to bring him back here to the airport [Music] I'm Kristy Van Ness I am the 2011 style stock auction chairperson and my husband and I are stationed here in Kodiak Alaska with the Coast Guard he is CEO of comm state every year we hold the Stiles Clark auction we raise money to buy gifts and presents for seven of the outlying villages of Kodiak that are inaccessible except for air or boat you know that's really will be doing the Coast Guard it's all about goodwill I mean most people that are in the Coast Guard not because of the amount of money we make or the glory we get it's all about helping people and being there and being there for others and that's really what Santa represents you know he's there for others he goes and brings gifts to those that don't have any good are quite a few villages around the island or see very little outside contact so Christmas time all the 65 get pretty excited about the opportunity to fly Christmases to the villages it's a pretty big sense of accomplishment develop fly Santa the elves at each village and get to drop off the presidents you get to bring them Christmas hello Merry Christmas a Coast Guard helicopter coming in and delivering Santa Claus I mean how cool you know it's the next best Terra reindeer and the sled is to have a coast got a cop to fly in and deliver Santa [Applause] [Music] generate do up it's a little fun game that a STS do for little underwater practice basically the object of the game is to take the brick and take it to the other side and put it between the two cones in the gutter it's kind of like an underwater hockey slash football slash capture the flag brick bolts definitely done something off the joint throughout my career so I still get in there where the guys still mix it up with them a little bit rougher game than what most people are used to seeing it teaches you how to you know gain control and it teams you up against someone who's matching your own strengths [Applause] [Applause] [Music] a lot of push and grab and punching it's just what we do because we have to stay in shape when you get that panic survivor you know fifty minor and Shump on top you what do you do you're gonna have to fight get back up Rick Paulo is intense everything's down under in the water holding your breath you could rip goggles off rip fins off hold the person down you can do anything it's like a herd just coming to one area so we slam into each other I think someone said they might have a black eye it's a nice change of pace sometimes [Music] you've got a 76 year old male difficulty breathing guidance is really clear that's a one pilots Jim how you feeling Thanks very good I'm as well we got plenty of sleep last night air crew we got a call from district 17 requesting a medevac of a 76 year old male off uzuki island it's about 10 miles just to the north here of Kodiak the guys having trouble breathing so we're gonna bring them back to the base and take them to the hospital plan on heading out of here we'll take the low-vis route we'll have that loaded up in the flight director if it looks like we can get across through town we'll do that it'll cut the time off if not will immediately turn offshore take the low-vis route around and be about a 45-minute transit well visibility is always a factor Kodiak so that's something the pilots consider before launch and something that we always have to take a look at any questions on the risk assessment that's good okay the aircraft we've got the O 5 I'll be in the right seat answer POW mr. Cooley being a left scene answering the co-pilot check your gear make sure you have everything you need the mission requirements flying to is Zinke we're going to the airport we've got our EMT swimmer our mission is to bring him back here to the airport the OTO is going to coordinate an it's coming back to meet us here at the ramp any questions medevacs are necessary due to remote villages patients who may not have the access to health care that that we can provide here on the island sometimes in the major cities such as Anchorage the initial call I was asking if they had any kind of amplifying info but the only thing I got was he's having trouble breathing and send EMT or above so all our rescue swimmers are even too qualified so that's what worsened the trans Oh we'll take about 45 minutes hopefully be on deck no more than 15 minutes getting the patient loaded and stabilized and then about 45 minutes back today we have just really low visibility less than a mile light rain and earlier this morning it was snow so you got a mixture of some slush enos on the surfaces kind of been like that all day a patient he was an elderly gentleman 76 years old and he had a difficulty breathing [Music] it's just after lunch around 12:30 or so we got the call that there was a 76 year old male it was inky had trouble breathing they got ready for takeoff every flight I go on I treat it all the same like everybody's just as important as the next verse to be safe everybody needs assistance the flight to Z key it's pretty short trip we were prepared that day for it to possibly be a 45-minute trip we hope to fly direct when we were ready to shift gears at a moment's notice to fly the low-vis route normal produce vertical landing when we first landed in was inky the patient was not there we called the local airport there and they they called the clinic and let us know his ETA and eventually he showed up probably about five or ten minutes after we landed some of these villages don't have the advanced medical care that say Kodiak has or Anchorage has and the only way to get to these small villages is by boat or aircraft and we happen to be one of those aircrafts to come by and assist these people in need so when we first got on scene to the ambulance at that point I'm just gathering information trying to figure out the best way for me to get him into the helicopter and and also what I need to use out of my MT kit to make sure that he's comfortable and safe his grandson brought some supplies medical supplies and things with him the grandson he he seemed pretty pretty relaxed but he kind of knew what was going on and what do you need to do and he just kind of stayed out of the way grandson needs to come with his grandfather he had enough room for him so we decided to bring him back when I first got into the ambulance that one of the questions that I had asked was is the ambulatory in other words can he walk on it under his own power they had attempted to have him do that initially and he almost passed out could not breathe comfortably standing up [Music] I was initially concerned with laying him down in the litter that it would that it would cause him to be uncomfortable or not be able to breathe it very well sure enough as soon as we laid him down the litter he didn't like it we've made couple modifications and got him some head support and laid him on to his side laying a patient on their side in the litter is not typically standard and obviously we would not be doing that in a hoisting situation but in this situation we're just carrying him from the ambulance into the helicopter when somebody has difficulty breathing you want to get him into a position where they're comfortable in that position for him was laying on his left side a case like this you have an older gentleman with respiratory difficulties it's really important we put forth a maximum effort in this case on the right back to to Kodiak were intending on transferring care so I'm trying to gather some information from him and in the other passenger also monitoring his his condition I kept him awake he he kind of wanted to go to sleep I wanted to keep him awake so I can make sure that he was breathing okay back in Kodiak you know picked up the litter with the patient inside and walked him over to the paramedics waiting for us at the ambulance we transferred them over to their to their gurney or retrieved our gear and I gave them a full medical pass down on the patient and off they went outside [Music] you know it's great feeling when you return home from a case and you're able to bring a patient back alive and in good condition it just feels really great knowing that at the end of the day your efforts result in positive outcome and the life of another when you save somebody's life for the first time when you know that your team has saved somebody's life change your life the reason people love what we do and come back and tell their sons and their granddaughters yeah you ought to consider the service it's because we do stuff that most people just dream about

Channel: DANGER TV

Views: 396,212

Rating: 4.8938136 out of 5

Keywords: Coast Guard, Coast Guard Alaska, US Coast Guard, coast guard alaska season 1, United States coast guard, coast guard alaska season 1 episode 6, US military, United States military, Coast guard rescue, full episodes of coast guard alaska, full episodes, Alaska, Sitka Alaska, Kodiak Alaska, danger, dangertv, danger tv, Danger, DangerTV, Danger TV, search & rescue, lost at sea, helicopter rescue, helicopters, rescue swimmers, coast guard rescue swimmer, sinking ships, lost vessels

Id: DtvHTNeim7k

Length: 42min 33sec (2553 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 06 2020