PORT ANGELES — A professor from Brigham Young University in Utah was treated from Olympic Medical Center and discharged Wednesday after being rescued from the banks of the Elwha River on Tuesday.
The 59-year-old professor reportedly had suffered a medical emergency that prevented him from walking out of the area under his own power, according to Sam Phillips, chief of Clallam County Fire District No. 2.
Phillips would not release the man’s name for privacy reasons.
The professor was working with a research team from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a trail along the Elwha River about a mile from the intersection of U.S. Highway 101 and Olympic Hot Springs Road at about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday when a colleague called 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers to report the medical problem, Phillips said.
At about 3:15 p.m., fire department paramedics and Olympic National Park personnel found the man in stable condition but suffering from an equilibrium issue, Phillips said, meaning the man could not get back to the trailhead on his own.
Medics used a wheeled patient-rescue basket to carry the man the roughly half-mile back to the trailhead to a waiting ambulance by 4:26 p.m., Phillips said.
The ambulance then took him to Olympic Medical Center, Phillips added.
The patient-rescue basket had to be lifted over portions of the trail that were steep or crossed by tree roots, Phillips said.
Phillips said one ambulance, one brush fire engine, one command car and eight firefighters/paramedics from the fire department responded, along with two engine companies, totaling eight personnel, from Olympic National Park’s fire response unit.
Reporter Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at jschwartz@peninsuladailynews.com.
