PMR Helps Evacuate Injured Mt St Helens Climber
Sunday, July 13, 2003
In the second mission of the day, a PMR team assisted in the evacuation of an injured
climber on SW Washington's Mount St. Helens.
A 62-year-old woman had injured her ribs while glissading on the famous 8,364-foot
Cascade Range volcano. Evidently, the subject turned to one side and struck
her rib cage into a rock while sliding near the 6,500-foot mark on the mountain.
PMR provided additional manpower to teams from the
Volcano Rescue Team - the
search and rescue unit that usually covers the mountain. The teams packaged
the patient in a litter and carried her over the rocky and difficult Monitor Ridge
route on the South Side of the mountain.
After reaching the Kiwi Camp plateau near 4,800 feet, a helicopter from the 832nd
Army National Guard unit at Ft. Lewis, Washington, evacuated the patient to a
hospital. Her prognosis is excellent.
Note: Earlier on Sunday, PMR was called out for another rescue mission on nearby
Mount Adams. Click here
for that story.
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