Guest column

by BOB PHALAN

Editor’s note: Age and location of patient has been changed to protect patient privacy.

It was the beginning of a winter storm cycle when we got the call: “50-year-old male, difficulty breathing, chest pain.”

Orcas Fire and Rescue was paged out to Doe Bay on Jan. 13 around 10 p.m. Snow had already begun to mix with freezing rain. Paramedic Jeff Larsen was immediately concerned about getting this patient off the island. Larsen had no idea that an epic, six-hour journey had just begun.

Upon arrival, Larsen quickly concluded that this patient needed hospitalization. The last ferry of the day had just pulled away from the dock. Larsen called for Airlift NW. The Bellingham helicopter was not available, so we were given a 45-minute ETA to Eastsound Airport for the crew from Seattle.

At 10:54 p.m., the ambulance arrived at the Eastsound Fire Station to await airlift. The first hour had been burned. Another hour went by before we were told that Airlift had to abort due to deteriorating weather. It was close to midnight. Friday the 13th had only a few more minutes of bad cards to deal, but Saturday the 14th was about to prove it was no slouch in the danger department.

The next two choices to get this patient to the hospital were a fixed wing plane or the Sheriff’s boat, “Guardian.” The plane was also compromised by weather issues, so the Guardian was called. When the boat arrived at the Orcas Ferry landing, piloted by Deputy Jeff Asher, it was 1:10 a.m. Three hours and 23 minutes had passed since the patient first called for help. We were underway, the mixed rain had turned to mostly snow, and the wind began to howl.

Meanwhile, a six-month-old baby on San Juan Island was also in need of transportation to the hospital. We were about to change course for San Juan – a change that would have added another couple of hours to the trip – when we were told that the fixed wing plane was now able to fly and would take the baby.

The Guardian continued on and was in the channel between Shaw and Lopez Islands when a full blown whiteout enveloped us. We were making our way slowly using the boat’s Global Positioning System. Anacortes was at least 90 minutes away when the GPS went haywire. We were drifting blindly in the channel when Asher had a great idea. Since the fixed wing plane was now operating we could take our patient to San Juan and have the plane take him to Anacortes.

After a few harrowing moments, the GPS came back online and we were cleared to head for San Juan. The ambulance awaiting our arrival in Anacortes had to be cancelled and another ambulance had to meet us at the dock in Friday Harbor.

At 2:58 a.m. patient care was transferred to San Juan EMS… five hours and 11 minutes after the initial call. Guardian took us back to Orcas and we had our ambulance back in service in Eastsound at 3:35 a.m.

And now for the rest of the story: it turns out that our patient had visited his local doctor Friday afternoon. His doctor had told him, “Get to the ferry, you need to be hospitalized!” The final twist came when we were told that the fixed wing plane could not fly after all due to changing weather conditions and our patient was being held in Friday Harbor until their ambulance could take him on the first boat in the morning.

Moral of the story: When you live on an island with limited ways to get off and your doctor says “go to the hospital right now,” please go! Thousands of dollars were spent and many lives put at risk to accomplish a mission that never should have been necessary.

Bob Phalan is a volunteer EMT at the Orcas Island Fire Department