On the afternoon of Wednesday, June 18th, dispatch received a phone call from the park museum reporting an asthma emergency. The initial call was for one boy, traveling with a large group, who was reported to be barely breathing. Rangers soon arrived on scene and began treating him. While doing so, three more members of the same group began experiencing severe asthma-related breathing difficulties.
Park Medic Mitchell Hauptman, Rangers Marcia Leastman and Brian Starkey, and fire EMTs Cristy Brown and Nancy Peters provided primary EMS care. Park staff from all divisions assisted with additional patient care, maintaining the helicopter LZ, and traffic management. Careflight 3 made two trips to Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez, Colorado, while Mancos Ambulance transported the additional two patients with the park medic on board.
Park staff believe that the simultaneous severe breathing incidents may have been brought on by a combination of elevation, exertion, and dusty conditions. Since all members of the group had experienced similar environmental conditions, the entire group was seen as potential patients and monitored for complications.
Supervisory Ranger Andrew Blake acted as incident IC.
The Moon is Waxing Gibbous (88% of Full)
Mesa Verde National Park Rangers Respond To Multiple Simultaneous Asthma Attacks
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June 30, 2014 01:05PM |
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