NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
MORNING REPORT
Monday, April 13, 2015
INCIDENTS
Great Smoky Mountains NP
Three Appalachian Trail Hikers Rescued
On the morning of April 4th, a report was received of three Appalachian Trail hikers who'd become separated from each other during the preceding day's thunderstorms. Only one member of the party had made it to an Appalachian Trail shelter before nightfall; the other two independently spent the night out on the trail in the harsh weather with no shelter.
Rangers Phil Basak (medic) and Jamie Sanders responded to the Spence Field shelter on the AT and contacted two members of the party. One had a knee injury and was experiencing a diabetic emergency; he'd been helped into the shelter by other hikers along the trail. He was treated and evacuated by horseback.
The third member of the party, a man with an extensive cardiac history, was located just off trail approximately two miles north of the Spence Field shelter. He was reported as hypothermic, unable to move, and not lucid. Rangers treated him and requested the assistance of the Tennessee Highway Patrol Aviation Unit in extricating him and taking him to a waiting ambulance. Both hikers are expected to make full recoveries.
Ranger Dan Wilson was the incident commander.
[Steve Kloster, Tennessee District Ranger]
Great Smoky Mountains NP
Employee In Cardiac Arrest Saved By Rangers
Rangers Phil Basak and Ryan Rohr were called to the scene of an ill employee complaining of chest pains at the Becky Cable House in the Cades Cove area of the park on Monday, March 16th.
Basak, a park medic, immediately recognized the seriousness of the employee's condition and requested an air ambulance. He then began providing advanced life support care to the employee, who soon went into sudden cardiac arrest. Basak and Rohr began CPR and applied an AED. The AED advised that no shock be given, so they continued with CPR.
After two minutes of CPR, the AED reanalyzed. This time a shock was advised and delivered. Basak and Rohr continued CPR. After approximately two sets of compression the man began breathing on his own. Within minutes, he went into cardiac arrest a second time. The rangers again performed CPR and again were successful in restoring a heartbeat. The man regained consciousness by the time he was transported by ground ambulance to a waiting helicopter.
He was flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center and is expected to make a full recovery.
[Steve Kloster, Tennessee District Ranger]
OTHER NEWS
The following stories are among those in today's webpage editions of InsideNPS (available to NPS employees only) and the Morning Report (available to all readers):
Appomattox Courthouse NHP - Between Wednesday, April 8th, and Sunday, April 12th, more than 20,000 visitors came to Appomattox Court House National Historical Park to attend events commemorating the 150th anniversary of the surrender at Appomattox and the effective end of the Civil War.
Hamilton Grange NM - Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe & External Affairs Fiona Hyslop joined students from New York City's Stephen T. Mather Building Arts & Craftsmanship High School for some landscaping at Hamilton Grange last Tuesday.
Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs - This week's update on past and upcoming hearings, newly introduced bills, and the status of legislation of interest to the Service. This report covers activities in Congress through April 10th.
Southeast Region - Chris Hughes has been selected as the superintendent of Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve. He is currently chief of science and resource management at Glen Canyon NRA and Rainbow Bridge NM.
Land Resources Division - Martin Hansen, a realty specialist in the Alaska Land Resources Program Center, retired on April 3rd. He came to the NPS from BLM in 2003.
To see the full text of these stories, readers should go to one or the other of the following sites:
NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index
Non-NPS employees - HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/" http://www.nps.gov/morningreport/
The Morning Report is produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@contractor.nps.gov).
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