Unalaska first responders and clinic staff helped save a man’s foot that was mangled in a fishing-related accident late last month.
On Jan. 23, an unidentified crewmember on a commercial fishing vessel was entangled in fishing material. M. Lynn Crane is the board chair of the local health clinic Iliuliuk Family and Health Services. She said local EMS responded to the incident and transported the man to the clinic. She applauded the care providers’ quick response at last week's Unalaska City Council meeting.
“Nearly everyone who initially saw the injury assumed that ultimately, amputation of his foot would be unavoidable,” Crane said. “However, the providers at [Iliuliuk Family and Health Services], refusing to acquiesce to that inevitability, consulted with their cohort in Anchorage and worked through the night to keep the patient comfortable and save his foot.”
The crewmember’s ankle was caught in a line, and he was unable to get free.
“This resulted in a very serious injury to his lower leg, with his foot 95% severed from his calf at the ankle,” she told the council. “The phrase hanging on by a thread comes to mind.”
The man was unable to immediately get out on a medevac because of stormy weather and had to wait overnight at the island’s clinic until he could be flown to a hospital in Anchorage.
Crane said the man didn't have to undergo amputation, thanks to the clinic’s and EMS’s initial response.
“The hospital has already discharged the patient from the hospital,” she said. “And we are happy to report that he walked out on his own two feet. The outcome of this accident could have been catastrophic.”
Unalaska’s main clinic has roughly 20 employees and handles all kinds of visits, from routine checkups to emergency care. With the nearest hospital about 800 air miles away, clinic staff and local EMS are the go-to emergency care providers for the community.
The clinic’s Interim CEO Dawn Johnson said this case highlights the importance of the island’s emergency care.
“We greatly appreciate the care our EMS provides on a daily basis to the community members and the partnership we have with them in caring for urgent/emergent patients,” Johnson said in an email to KUCB.
The nonprofit health center is working on renovations to upgrade its emergency department to hospital status using funding from a $20 million federal grant. According to clinic officials, that could help them apply for more funding.
