Ile Maurice.Mardi 4 mars 2003 - No.14621
Page préparée à 12h00 (heure de Maurice)

From Mike : 

The group set out in the morning for a hike up the Pouce Mountain. Though the casualty was quite old, he insisted on going for the hike and his niece, a doctor, gave him the clearance. Halfway up, near the Virgin Mary grotto, the casualty complained that he felt heavy and that his stomach felt bulgy. His niece (the doc) suggested that he vomit his breakfast, after which he felt much better. She constantly monitored his pulse all the way. Half an hour later, he collapsed...dead from a left ventricular cardiac failure.

Mike, the guide called the Police Ops room on 999 and 1/2 hour later a group from the GIPM (Groupe d'intervention de la Police Mauricienne) showed up with a stretcher (They hiked their way up from St. Pierre). A Chetak helicopter was called in and winched the casualty away to the hospital.

Lesson to be learnt:

Shit happens. I don't think that anything could have been done in this case but some preliminary precautions can still be taken - Medical Forms to be filled in and warning clients of how our warm and humid weather can affect them. I am always very nervous when people of such age are on the trails.

But what a way to go... If I could chose, this is how I'd like to live my last moments !!

Krish

Question

What if CPR had been initiated and a Defibrillator were urgently needed on top of Le Pouce? Would the services have been able to co-ordinate with the SAMU to winch down a medical staff to the mountain to stabilise the patient? It has never been done before and it is high time for our emergency services to start training accordingly. As more and more people wander off on our mountains and trails, our services should get ready to handle the challenge.

.. a bon oreille...

  -  Krish

Helicopter stretcher evacuation demo on 12 march 2003