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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Tuesday, August 15, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Great Smoky Mountains NP Ranger/Medics Rescue Seriously Ill Hiker The park received a cell phone call from an Appalachian Trail through-hiker at the Tricorner Knob shelter around 9:30 p.m. on July 11th reporting that another through-hiker was having serious medical problems. The victim, a 60-year-old Seattle man, was semi-conscious but able to tell the other hikers in the shelter that he was a diabetic and was having a diabetic emergency. The call was transferred to an emergency room doctor at C.J. Harris Hospital in Sylva, North Carolina. The doctor determined the man's probable blood sugar level and that he could correct the condition if the man had his insulin pump with him. Since the shelter is located nine miles from the nearest trailhead over very rough and steep terrain, this was determined to be a true medical emergency. Park medics Greg Wozniak and Steve Kloster picked up 100 units of insulin from a local emergency room and began hiking to the shelter. A cell phone call was made to the hikers who were with the man, and they agreed to monitor him and administer his insulin as prescribed by the emergency room doctor. The rescue plan called for an extraction either by hoist or by direct transfer to the helicopter at a small landing zone about three miles from the shelter. At daylight, a wrangler started up the trail with four horses and equipment as a backup evacuation method. When Kloster and Wozniak reached the man, they found him semi-conscious, with a very high blood glucose level and exhibiting symptoms of shock, and stabilized him with fluids and drugs. A Virginia State Police helicopter made an unsuccessful attempt at a hoist, then landed at the pre-arranged landing zone. The man was brought to the LZ by horseback, then flown to a VA hospital in Mountain Home, Tennessee, where he was admitted to the ICU. Once stabilized, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery. It appears that he had suffered both a heart attack and diabetic emergency at the shelter. Ranger Michael Nash was IC. [Rick Brown, Acting Chief Ranger] Bighorn Canyon NRA Vice President Visits Park Vice President Dick Cheney visited the park and surrounding area to fly fish on the Bighorn River on August 7th and 8th. Rangers assisted the Secret Service with security operations throughout the visit. [Linden Schlenker, Chief Ranger] Badlands NP Disturbance Call Results In Felony Weapons Arrest On August 4th, rangers were dispatched to the nearby town of Interior to investigate a disturbance and possible assault at the Horseshoe Bar. Rangers, supported by several BIA officers who's been detailed to the park to strengthen protection efforts during this year's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, quickly responded. They found that an altercation had occurred between the bar's proprietor and his girlfriend. Both appeared to be intoxicated; each made allegations about the other's conduct. In an effort to reduce tensions and prevent further injuries, efforts were begun to get the woman to family members on the Pine Ridge reservation. When she found that she wasn't going to be arrested, she invited rangers into the residence she shared with the bar's proprietor next door and showed them a shotgun hidden behind the couch. She told rangers that it belonged to the proprietor, who is known to rangers and local law enforcement officers as a convicted felon who'd been jailed for selling narcotics. The woman then gave rangers details on how the proprietor was buying firearms at the bar in exchange for alcohol, and said that he kept a semi-automatic handgun under the bar. The ranger seized the shotgun and arrested the proprietor. State law enforcement authorities were summoned and the bar was secured in order to assure officer safety. As they waited for police to arrive, the woman continued to provide details on the proprietor's pawn operation until she suddenly became unconscious and fell across the backseat of the patrol vehicle. The rangers provided medical assistance, inserted an airway, and called for an ambulance. When the state officers arrived, a search of the bar was conducted and about ten firearms were seized. The proprietor was transferred to state officers. The woman remained unconscious and unresponsive for nearly 20 minutes. She was taken to a hospital and released the next morning. [Mark Gorman, Chief Ranger] Yosemite NP Head-on Collision With Injuries And Felony Arrest A high-speed, head-on collision occurred on the Wawona road near Avalanche Creek around 6 a.m. on Friday, August 11th. Valley and Wawona rangers, two ambulances, a Valley fire engine and two tow trucks responded. The road was closed for two hours. Two people were taken to the Yosemite Medical Clinic with serious injuries, one of whom was later taken to Doctors Hospital in Modesto. The accident investigation showed that the driver of one of the vehicles crossed into the oncoming lane. He was arrested at the scene and charged with felony driving under the influence of alcohol. [Leslie Reynolds, Acting Valley District Ranger] Lake Mead NRA Probable Drowning At Las Vegas Bay L.M., 43, of Brooklyn, New York, was boating and tubing with friends on Lake Mead on the afternoon of August 9th when he jumped into the lake to cool off, went underwater, and disappeared. It took his friends about 15 minutes to find him and pull him from the water. They made a 911 call, which was routed to a county fire dispatcher who gave them instructions on how to perform CPR and determined that they were near Lake Mead Marina. The caller then told the dispatcher that he thought that they were in fact near Las Vegas Boat Harbor. The dispatcher contacted the park and provided both possible locations, and rangers began searching the Boulder Basin area from the marina to the boat harbor. About a half hour later, a second 911 call came in and was this time transferred immediately to the park's dispatch center. The park dispatcher also gave the caller CPR instructions and determined that the group was actually at Las Vegas Bay. Rangers and a medevac helicopter were dispatched to the area. Medics continued resuscitation efforts for the better part of an hour before they were terminated by medical control. Drowning is considered the likely cause of death. This was the 20th fatality at the park this year. If the coroner confirms that it was a drowning, it will be the eighth drowning of the year. There were six drownings and a total of 25 fatalities in 2005. [Roxanne Dey, Public Affairs Officer] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: Grand Teton - The Secret Service is holding a commemoration of the 1996 C-130 crash that killed the USAF crew and Secret Service passengers. Many NPS people were involved in the response. Ceremonies will be held this weekend. Glen Canyon - Deadline for comments for the DCP for “uplake” are of the park has been extended. Harpers Ferry - The son of a park fee collection supervisor was killed in Iraq this week. Announcement of services. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |