What happened on Oosterdam 31 Jan 19?

[danb35]

Just returned from the 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise on Oosterdam.  Had a great time, and looking forward to taking another one.  But wanted to consult the hive mind to see if anyone knows or can find out more about an incident onboard on 31 Jan.

 

That evening (a sea day, after leaving St. Thomas the previous afternoon) at about 8:00, the cruise director came on the PA and announced that there was a medical situation involving a passenger.  An urgent blood transfusion was needed, so she asked any passengers with type A+ blood who were registered as blood donors to come to the Hudson room immediately.  About a half-dozen passengers got up and left the mainstage immediately, the show started a few minutes late, and I half-expected to hear a medevac helicopter overnight.

 

The next day (yesterday) was at Half Moon Cay.  About 2:30 in the afternoon, as we were preparing to leave, the captain announced on the PA that an attempt had been made to medically evacuate the patient, but weather conditions in Ft Lauderdale prevented launching the chopper.  We would therefore make for Ft Lauderdale at best speed with an ETA of 5:00 this morning.  Watching the location display on the in-cabin TV was showing cruising at 21 kts, the fastest I'd seen on the trip.

 

This morning, after we docked (at about 7:00), the cruise director announced that the patient had been transferred to the hospital and was in stable condition.

 

Anyone know any more detail about this situation?  And just how advanced are the medical facilities onboard?

[CruiserBruce]

Due to patient confidentiality laws, unlikely we will get more details.

[zqvol]

That's a lot more details than  I would have expected.

[sppunk]

Sounds like someone needed blood to be held stable until they could be sent to a proper medical facility. Sounds like everything went as planned and the ship’s staff did a good job aiding the passenger. 

 

You wont hear more due to problem vary, which is a good thing,

[Copper10-8]

OP, sounds like you've pretty much got the entire story there. Medical evacuations are a semi-common occurrence nowadays and are either accomplished by helicopter (weather/sea conditions permitting, usually day light only, and incl. range and loitering time on scene by the helo which has to do with fuel) or by boat (again, weather/sea conditions permitting). Asking for blood donations by the on board HAL medical staff is also not that uncommon anymore. Each ship carries two physicians (one for the passengers and one for the crew), a lead nurse and a nurse (at times two nurses on the bigger class ships). The medical facilities onboard have the capability to take X-Rays, do blood work testing, and stabilize patients. There are no surgeries performed onboard and it is not an advanced care facility as opposed to a land based trauma center.

 

When the lead doctor makes a determination that a medevac of a patient (pax or crew) is warranted, he/she discusses this with the captain. The captain subsequently will have the nearest land-based rescue coordination center (RCC) contacted and will relay the recommendation of the lead doctor. When dealing with a U.S.-based RCC, (the one in the Caribbean is based in Puerto Rico or in Florida) a USCG flight surgeon will be brought in. That flight surgeon  will be the ultimate decision maker if the medevac qualifies for a helicopter mission.

 

Again for the Carib, there are air assets based at Coast Guard Air Station Borinquin, Puerto Rico, at Coast Guard Air Station Opa Locka (Miami, FL) and at Coast Guard Air Station Clearwater (St. Petersburg, FL). In addition to those three locations, the Coasties also maintain a MH-60 Jayhawk helo, rotating from either Opa Locka or from Clearwater, at a forward base on Great Inagua Island in the Bahamas as part of Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos (OPBAT), a joint DEA, Coast Guard, Bahamian and Turks and Caicos anti-drug and migrant smuggling operation. 

 

From what you're reporting, it sounds like there was an attempt made to launch a Jayhawk from Opa Locka however, the weather conditions were not favorable and that's why Plan B was to increase speed and make it to Port Everglades post haste. What you heard in the final p/a announcement "the patient had been transferred to the hospital and was in stable condition." is all you're usually going to hear due to, as Bruce stated, patient confidentiality laws. 

 

 

Precision flying!! Sideways in the hover while keeping up with the forward speed of Noordam! Nothing but respect for those aviators! This was a medevac by the Coasties out of forward base Great Inagua Island, Bahamas from the Maasdam in the Old Bahama Channel

 

 

One of Noordam's two nurses, Mike, taking the ride of his life in order to accompany the patient. He would rejoin the ship in Ft. Lauderdale the next day. One of the ship's nurses usually accompanies the patient in the helo, unless there is a paramedic or a doctor (as was the case with the French Navy in the Tahiti rescue below) onboard

 

 

Medevac off Oosterdam roughly some 230 miles south-west of San Diego by a crew from Coast Guard Air Station San Diego in a MH-60T Jayhawk. The helo is painted yellow instead of the usual white and day-glo orange to celebrate 100 years of Coast Guard aviation (see the decal fwd of the cabin door)

 

 

Medevac off Oosterdam roughly some 230 miles south-west of San Diego by a crew from Coast Guard Air Station San Diego

 

 

Medevac by helo off Oosterdam by 442 Sqn SAR techs of the Royal Canadian Air Force out of Canadian Forces Base Comox, British Columbia

 

 

Medevac off Maasdam by a crew from Coast Guard Air Station Borinquin, Puerto Rico

 

 

Medevac off Statendam by the Marine Nationale de guerre de la République Française near Tahiti. The crew came from Flottile 35 Detach., Base Aerienne Faa'a (Papeete, Tahiti)

 

 

Medevac by boat in the Bay of Acapulco by a 25-foot Defender-class RHIB of de Armada de Mexico/Mexican Navy

 

 

Medevac by boat off Amsterdam just outside Sydney harbor by the New South Wales Police Marine Area Command

Edited February 3, 2019 by Copper10-8

[Turtles06]

Thanks for all of that information and those great photos, Copper.   I have nothing but the utmost respect for everyone in the Coast Guard. 

[djhsolara]

Sorry to hear about this. 

 

After reading the descriptive post above (thank you for all of that good info), it has me wondering. If you need to be air or water lifted off of the ship, does your spouse go with you?

 

Thank you. 

[oceanmom]

We had the same type of blood donor request on the Nieuw Statendam Christmas cruise.

[Copper10-8]

1 hour ago, djhsolara said:

Sorry to hear about this. 

 

After reading the descriptive post above (thank you for all of that good info), it has me wondering. If you need to be air or water lifted off of the ship, does your spouse go with you?

 

Thank you. 

 

That's negative; there's always an inherent risk involved in that type of operation even though the air crew makes it look easy. Only the patient and one ship's medical person, if required, goes/go up. No next of kin and no luggage. They will disembark in the next port and are flown to location the patient was transferred to.

 

I should add that those restrictions usually do not apply to medevacs by boat. The ones I've been involved in have included next of kin, in both cases, the spouse, being assisted onboard the rescue boat

Edited February 3, 2019 by Copper10-8

[rjbean4]

Wow. This same scenario happened while we were on Nieuw Statendam for 18 days over the Holidays with the announcement looking for donors. Appears that the passenger involved also ended up making it to a hospital to be treated further once we were back in to Port Everglades. For us happened at the end of the 7 day Christmas Cruise if I remember. We later met up with one of the medical staff and when we asked if everything turned out O. K. the answer we had in return was a simple yes and that's all we would have hoped for.

 

Yesterday (Feb. 2nd) it was on our local news here in Tampa (WFLA our local NBC affiliate) that there was a medical emergency on one of the Carnival ships that had sailed. They showed  the person involved taken off the ship by boat to Ft. DeSoto Park after the ship had gone under the Skyway Bridge. Once ashore  probably via the dock for the ferry that goes over to Egmont Key could be taken to a Hospital.

 

Not a good day cause a friend of ours called  from Peru. She was on the Amsterdam doing the world cruise and has had to leave the ship due to her problems. This is the 2nd year in a row this has happened so we are now kind of standing by to find out when she it going to try and fly back and any help she may need.

Edited February 3, 2019 by rjbean4

[Krazy Kruizers]

It would be a rare thing for passengers to find out what the medical problem was when a passenger needs blood and needs to get off the ship as soon as possible.

 

All we can do is hope that the passenger will be all right.

[Krazy Kruizers]

3 hours ago, rjbean4 said:

Wow. This same scenario happened while we were on Nieuw Statendam for 18 days over the Holidays with the announcement looking for donors. Appears that the passenger involved also ended up making it to a hospital to be treated further once we were back in to Port Everglades. For us happened at the end of the 7 day Christmas Cruise if I remember. We later met up with one of the medical staff and when we asked if everything turned out O. K. the answer we had in return was a simple yes and that's all we would have hoped for.

 

Yesterday (Feb. 2nd) it was on our local news here in Tampa (WFLA our local NBC affiliate) that there was a medical emergency on one of the Carnival ships that had sailed. They showed  the person involved taken off the ship by boat to Ft. DeSoto Park after the ship had gone under the Skyway Bridge. Once ashore  probably via the dock for the ferry that goes over to Egmont Key could be taken to a Hospital.

 

Not a good day cause a friend of ours called  from Peru. She was on the Amsterdam doing the world cruise and has had to leave the ship due to her problems. This is the 2nd year in a row this has happened so we are now kind of standing by to find out when she it going to try and fly back and any help she may need.

 

 

Prayers that your friend will be all right.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks Copper for the pictures and info.

 

 

[ski ww]

Watched a med-evac on the Amsterdam on the way to Vancouver  from Singapore.

 

[g&gtravel]

Another asset available in all of the Caribbean is connection back to US hospitals via fixed wing aircraft.  Once evacuation takes place to nearest land, AEROMD, which flies out of St Croix, can be at any runway by the time a patient arrives and transport to any island or mainland air field.  Their planes are flying ICU's, fully equipped and staffed with trained crews.  The owner/CEO is a practicing ER trauma doctor.     

While I hope we never need their services, it is comforting to us to know that they are there and capable of caring for our needs.  

[TiogaCruiser]

So do the medical crew members go through evacuation training or simulation prior to having to do it in the field for real?

[rjbean4]

6 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

 

 

Prayers that your friend will be all right.

Thanks. I did actually talk to her and she was  hoping to fly out to come back last night but when I did some looking for flights out of Lima and she has to fly 1st class that wasn't going to happen. This time she didn't even make 2 weeks into the WC. Last year wasn't much longer then that. Unfortunately maybe this time reality will finally set in and she will realize that doing these big cruises are something she just shouldn't be doing any more as much as we give her credit for trying. 

 

In the latest post from tennisbeforewine (John & Diane) they did mention they sailed a half hr late yesterday from Callo because someone had to be taken off due to a heart attack but this is likely  not our friend and someone else. Our friend was probably already off the ship and she was not in a hospital.

[Overhead Fred]

14 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Medevac off Oosterdam roughly some 230 miles south-west of San Diego by a crew from Coast Guard Air Station San Diego

 

I believe we were on that cruise. It was a very impressive operation! The entire ship was watching intently. We had to vacate the spa, gym, Crow's Nest, and other forward areas for safety reasons. There was much cheering when the USCG successfully completed the evac. 

 

It was a circle Hawaii cruise in December of 2017. The patient was crew; our assistant table steward it turns out. We never got to meet him since the evac was very early in the cruise. Word was that it was an appendix issue and that he rejoined the crew when we got back to San Diego.

[Copper10-8]

49 minutes ago, Overhead Fred said:

 

I believe we were on that cruise. It was a very impressive operation! The entire ship was watching intently. We had to vacate the spa, gym, Crow's Nest, and other forward areas for safety reasons. There was much cheering when the USCG successfully completed the evac. 

 

It was a circle Hawaii cruise in December of 2017. The patient was crew; our assistant table steward it turns out. We never got to meet him since the evac was very early in the cruise. Word was that it was an appendix issue and that he rejoined the crew when we got back to San Diego.

 

Correct, December 2017 - I was with you 

[Copper10-8]

This was the medevac of an Oosterdam crew member (ambulatory with an appendix issue) by a crew from Coast Guard Air Station San Diego some 250 miles southeast of San Diego when Oostie was on her way to Hawaii. The crew member fully recovered and rejoined the ship on her return to San Diego

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

This was the medevac of an Oosterdam crew member (ambulatory with an appendix issue) by a crew from Coast Guard Air Station San Diego some 250 miles southeast of San Diego when Oostie was on her way to Hawaii. The crew member fully recovered and rejoined the ship on her return to San Diego

 

 

 

 

Check out the nick name of the rescue swimmer, Southern California  The second individual is Oostie's first (Deck) officer in his role as on scene commander

 

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

This was the medevac of an Oosterdam crew member (ambulatory with an appendix issue) by a crew from Coast Guard Air Station San Diego some 250 miles southeast of San Diego when Oostie was on her way to Hawaii. The crew member fully recovered and rejoined the ship on her return to San Diego

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

This was the medevac of an Oosterdam crew member (ambulatory with an appendix issue) by a crew from Coast Guard Air Station San Diego some 250 miles southeast of San Diego when Oostie was on her way to Hawaii. The crew member fully recovered and rejoined the ship on her return to San Diego

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

4 hours ago, TiogaCruiser said:

So do the medical crew members go through evacuation training or simulation prior to having to do it in the field for real?

 

All involved crew on a medevac by air go through regular training about once every three months. The training is a power point presentation given by the lead nurse with the emphasis being on every one involved knowing their role. This includes all Deck officers, fire team leaders, certain hotel dept members and medical

[cccole]

As referenced above, our Coast Guard members do so much to keep us safe and save our lives.  They were recent hostages in a government shutdown and if it happens again please reach out in your community to see if there is anything you can do to help our Coast Guard troops and their families.   Cherie