Portsmouth, Va. — The Coast Guard medevaced a 10-year-old boy from a vessel in the Chincoteague Channel near Chincoteague on Thursday.
A crew aboard a 49-foot Stern Loading Buoy Boat (BUSL) from Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team Chincoteague came across an 18-foot vessel at approximately 11:45 a.m. with a boy reportedly suffering from heat exhaustion and dehydration.
Coast Guard Sector Hampton Roads watchstanders dispatched a crew aboard a 24-foot Special Purpose Craft – Shallow Water from Station Chincoteague at approximately 11:50 a.m. to rendezvous with the ANT crew to assist.
The BUSL crew transferred the boy and two family members onto their boat and met the SPC-SW boatcrew and embarked a Coast Guard member aboard the BUSL to render first aid to the boy while en route to Station Chincoteague.
“Once I arrived on scene, I did my initial assessment of the patient to find out more information about his condition,” said Senior Chief Petty Officer Mark Kannan, the officer-in-charge of Station Chincoteague. “I put him on oxygen and started getting his vitals to pass to EMS once we arrived at the station. By the time we got back, the boy was responsive and able to walk to the dock with minimal assistance.”
The crew transferred the boy to awaiting emergency medical services at the station and he was later taken to Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md.
