When he was handed the his command for the Coast Guard in Alaska this month Rear Admiral. Nathan Moore said there’s many positive things to be found in Alaska such as the possibility of watching Monday Night Football at a acceptable time.
However, when Rear Admiral. Megan Dean takes command, Moore said, the service will be facing new challenges within the state. One of the most pressing is the growing and potentially unprecedented demand for medevacs in emergency situations.
“It’s simply more shipping business,” Moore said. “This season, we’re witnessing the cruise ship industry commercially get back to the level pre-2019.”
“They’re actually climbing above the pre-COVID threshold in terms of vessels, ships and passengers in this area. What that implies is higher risk to us” He said.
In the very first week of the summer tourism season The Coast Guard in Alaska has flown 163 medical missions.
This is more than the 150 was the number that Coast Guard flew in a full fiscal year of the federal government four years ago. It was the one year prior to the COVID-19 epidemic.
The biggest Coast Guard base in the United States is on Kodiak Island which is home to a major air and port station. Sitka also houses an Coast Guard air station, and boat crews operate out of small and big towns along south coast.
Moore said that the Coast Guard is keeping up with the need for personnel and equipment from these areas.
“But do you think it’s more of a work load? It’s not a answer,” he said.
The figures of the Coast Guard include the type of dramatic helicopter rescues from vessels at sea, which are known as medevacs however, they also cover what’s referred to as “non-maritime medical transports” in which a person has to be transported from an isolated off-shore location to a hospital quickly.
The amount of requests for non-medical transportation increased by over 50% between FY19 through FY22. the number for FY22 is expected to be higher than the number of requests from last year.
“The unique problem of villages and small towns away from the highway system with limited medical facilities results in a constant need for urgent medevacs for hospitals in larger cities. Although there is a thriving group of commercial companies like Guardian, LifeMed, and Airlift NW, (plus North Slope Borough SAR in the Arctic) there are a variety of places they cannot fly to after dark or in severe weather. For many years Coast Guard has been able to fill that gap. Coast Guard has helped fill this gap.” explained Jennifer Whitcomb, manager of the search and rescue department of the Coast Guard in the state.
It is important to note that the Coast Guard doesn’t fly to every emergency call, Whitcomb said. An Coast Guard flight surgeon reviews each case and determines if urgentness of the call is enough to warrant an air flight.
If the patient’s health improves, the weather is clearer or an air ambulance commercially available and there is a chance that Coast Guard might defer.
Despite these qualifications The medevacs’ number is increasing and the authorities say the primary reason is the resurgence of the cruise ship industry in Alaska.
“This is not just our first fully-fledged cruise ship season in a few years, but also our biggest. This is the reason why we are the primary reason for the figures,” said Erin Hardin coordinator of relations with communities at Juneau’s Bartlett Regional Hospital.
Southeast Alaska has a population of 74,000 people scattered across a California-sized area of islands, as well as massive channels in the ocean. Bartlett is the largest hospital in the region. the majority of Coast Guard medevacs end there.
In the year 2019, 1.3 million tourists visited Alaska on cruise ships with the majority of them staying at Southeast Alaska. In 2019, 1.65 million tourists were anticipated to travel by cruise ship but actual passenger numbers are close to the forecast.
In the event of an emergency on the sea within Southeast Alaska — whether on a cruise vessel or not, there is a Coast Guard response. Coast Guard is usually the first responder. They typically transport patients towards Juneau or Sitka to receive further treatment or an ambulance transport to a commercial medical evacuation flight which could take patients towards Seattle or Anchorage to receive more advanced treatment.
Commercial companies also transport patients across communities with airstrips. However, when the conditions are bad it’s the Coast Guard can fly at times that commercial flights cannot.
Stephen LeMay, director of business development at Airlift Northwest, the non-profit air ambulance service associated to the University of Washington medical center He said that his company is seeing the same trends similar to what Coast Guard has observed. Coast Guard is observing.
“We’ve somewhat dubbed”revenge travel” after COVID.” explained Stephen LeMay, “Everyone wants to leave the house and go. We’ve observed a substantial increase in medevacs from cruise ships, whether heading north towards Anchorage or south towards Seattle,” he said.
Some officials, however, say that tourism isn’t the only culprit.
Nearly 8 percent from Alaska’s total population is at or below 70 years old. This is the highest percentage ever recorded in the state, with the number people over 65 increasing by a third between 2010 and 2021. That upward trend is expected to continue through at least 2035, state economists have said.
The majority of Alaskans who are elderly aren’t newcomers. They’re residents who have arrived in Alaska during the boom in oil and stayed in the state as they got older.
The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium has expanded its operations throughout Southeast Alaska to meet the demands of the region and it is headed by Dr. Cate Buley, its medical director of its primary health clinics, stated that improved health care has slowed the desire to relocate when residents get older.
“So I’m convinced that there are many more people with serious chronic illnesses living in remote areas than they have before,” she said.
The population of Southeast Alaska, more than one-in-six residents are currently at least 65 years old. older.
The quality of telemedicine services has improved and healthcare professionals can now assist patients in remote locations who suffer from chronic ailments, “but then you’re also located in a rural area when you have a problem. It’s possible to be sick, really sick really quickly,” she said.
This, along with changes to the procedures, which have lowered the availability of commercial medevac companies is putting more pressure for Coast Guard personnel. Coast Guard, she said.
LeMay from Airlift Northwest, said that Airlift Northwest hasn’t noticed a dramatic shift in the business it runs year-round that is to seem to be the case if Alaska’s declining population is driving the need for flights.
“The regular, or what we refer to as our potato and meat products throughout the year is pretty regular. We haven’t seen any significant increase or reduction in that,” he said. “So our growth has been reflected in the tourism industry this year.”
In the last two years Buley stated that for the past two years, SEARHC is meeting every quarter along with Coast Guard, commercial medevac services, and representatives from the industry of cruise tourism to discuss needs and steps to lessen the load for the Coast Guard.
These have also included instructions for doctor on board ships, letting them know of the availability of clinics in various ports as well as the commercial medevac service that operates in Alaska.
“If someone breaks their hip or something that’s not life threatening, they could be taken away in that manner,” Hardin said, in reference to commercial services.
She added that the hospital has been involved in discussions regarding medevac services in addition, the demand is increasing and the risks increase, so too does the chance there is a chance that Coast Guard can’t respond in an emergency.
“It’s vital for everyone to be aware of the appropriate times to contact the Coast Guard and when it’s not,” she said.
This article was originally published in Alaska Beacon and is republished here with permission.
