660-mile rescue flight highlights Alaska's unique challenges

📆 4/6/2023 10:30 PM

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📆 4/6/2023 10:30 PM
📰 AP

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The Alaska Air National Guard flew nearly 660 miles to rescue a pregnant woman on an island 2 miles from Russia, reflecting the challenges patients face in the most remote areas, with no roads and hospitals hundreds of miles away.

“It’s very different here in Alaska because we don’t have the infrastructure that they have down in the lower 48,” said Alaska National Guard spokesperson Alan Brown. “You’re looking at the civilian agencies have a more robust capability; there are more of them.”

“Our guys, fortunately, because of the nature of their federal mission for search and rescue, they have to be capable,” Brown said. “They have to train regularly in extreme weather conditions all across the region and that just makes them prime for this type of rescue.” Compounding the rescue was not only lingering fog from sea ice, but also a power outage in Diomede, Warren said. Townspeople would call the nearest hospital in Nome, 130 miles away, every hour providing updates on the woman’s condition and then shut the phones off to conserve power. A doctor in Nome would then relay the most current information back to those at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

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