NAS Whidbey Island SAR conducts two lifesaving missions — one on Orcas

||| FROM MICHAEL WELDING for NAS WHIDBEY |||

NAVAL AIR STATION WHIDBEY ISLAND, Wash. – A Search and Rescue (SAR) team from Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island conducted two life-saving missions on January 9, 2021.

The first mission involved a morning medical evacuation from Orcas Island for a 62 year-old woman who had fallen off a ladder. The crew coordinated with local emergency response personnel who arranged pick up for the patient at the island ferry terminal. After checking weather conditions with hospitals in the local area the crew decided to fly the patient to Paine Field for transit to a local hospital.

Later that afternoon the crew received another alert for a 28 year-old man suffering from a potential broken femur and dislocated hip. The young man was involved in a snowmobile accident on Darland Mountain at an elevation of 7,000 ft.  Darland Mountain is located approximately 30 nautical miles southeast of Mt. Rainer. A Yakima County Paramedic crew had already arrived at the site and prepared the patient on a litter, which enabled a quick turnover. SAR flew the injured man to Harborview Medical Center.

Naval Air Station Whidbey Island SAR has conducted three total missions throughout Washington State this year, including one rescue, and two medical evacuations this year.

The Navy SAR unit operates three MH-60S helicopters from NAS Whidbey Island as search and rescue/medical evacuation (SAR/MEDEVAC) platforms for the EA-18G aircraft as well as other squadrons and personnel assigned to the installation.  Pursuant to the National SAR Plan of the United States, the unit may also be used for civil SAR/MEDEVAC needs to the fullest extent practicable on a non-interference basis with primary military duties according to applicable national directives, plans, guidelines and agreements; specifically, the unit may launch in response to tasking by the AFRCC (based on a Washington State Memorandum of Understanding) for inland missions, and/or tasking by the United States Coast Guard for all other aeronautical and maritime regions, when other assets are unavailable.