| Office of Public Affairs U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District |
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| Press Release |
Date: March 11, 2004 Contact: |
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COAST GUARD CREW MEDEVACS CRUISE PASSENGER SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A rescue crew from Coast Guard Station San Juan completed the medical evacuation of an acutely ill passenger from a cruise ship off the San Juan harbor entrance about 10 p.m. Thursday evening. The cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas reported a female passenger was suffering from severe abdominal pain and was vomiting. A Coast Guard flight surgeon was consulted and recommended immediate medical evacuation. Due to sea conditions offshore, it was imperative a 47-foot motor lifeboat be used. Station engineers hustled to complete previously scheduled maintenance and the boat departed the station, heading to the cruise ship's position, about one mile off the harbor entrance. Arriving alongside the cruise ship, coxswain Petty Officer Joe Restle manuevered the motor lifeboat next to a retractable platform midway down the cruise ship's right side. The patient, a 64-year-old female identified as G. Stanton, a citizen of the United Kingdom, was brought from the vessel's infirmary on a litter and carefully transferred to the motor lifeboat as swells caused the motor lifeboat to surge up and down next to the much larger cruise ship. The patient's husband also was transferred to the motor lifeboat. "We tied off to the cruise ship but kept lots of slack in the lines," said Restle. "We timed the swells and when our deck was about level with the platform, we brought the patient across," he added. A crewmember monitored the patient's condition while the motor lifeboat transported her to the Coast Guard station where she was transferred in stable condition to a waiting ambulance for further transport to Centro Medico. ###
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San Juan, Puerto Rico (March 11, 2004) -- Crewmembers of a Coast Guard 47-foot motor lifeboat transfer a 64-year-old patient to a waiting ambulance at Coast Guard Base San Juan following medical evacuation from the cruise ship Brillance of the seas. USCG photo by PA1 John Gaffney The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the |
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