Medevac

[Written by Elizabeth Leonardis for our old blog, So Civilized]

A twin otter on the glacier at Palmer Station with Mt.William in the background

Life at Palmer Station got even more exciting last week, when a member of the science support staff (also our friend) got sick. The call was made rather quickly by the physician to try and get the person out as soon as possible, taking advantage of the clear weather window we were experiencing at the time. My nursing skills were called upon, and together with other members of the trauma team, we helped the physician with a full workup of IVs, blood draws and medication administration. It felt natural to be a nurse again, I miss it.

Within 24 hours, a plan was set and in motion to have our friend flown out of Palmer Station and back to Chile. All involved did an incredible job, and to have someone out of here within 24 hours is pretty remarkable. We are in Antarctica after all.

Luckily for all, the Chilean Air Force was able and willing to fly down in one of their twin otters, land on our glacier and fly back to Frei Base (the Chilean Base) on King George Island where another plane would take our friend back to Chile. In the past planes have landed on the glacier, but it is by no means a common occurence, especially since we don’t have any kind of aviation program here at Palmer. Alex joined a few others in the early morning hours to head up the glacier and set up a runway. Meanwhile, back at station we got the patient ready for a short zodiac ride to the foot of the glacier and then a trip up the glacier in the snowbulance (a snowmobile with an enclosed trailer on the back to haul people across the snow or up a glacier in this case)

Chilean Air Force twin otter coiming in for a landing on the glacier (you can see Palmer station in the bottom right corner and a visting sailboat to the left)

Chilean twin otter taking off

The story ends well with our friend safely making it to a Chilean Hospital, a mere 28 hours after reporting to the doctor. Pretty remarkable. By now, they should be at home resting comfortably with their family. I just want to acknowledge what an amazing job everyone did in coordinating this exciting evacuation of one of our own. As for our amazing physician here on station, we all should feel safe knowing we have her here. She was wonderful!

Alex filming the plane landing

Check out the video that Alex made of the big event.