The Navy search and rescue team out of Whidbey Island conducted a medical evacuation out of Friday Harbor on Sunday, March 5.

The crew was notified of a 71-year-old-male suffering from complications due to cancer requiring immediate medical evacuation from the PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center in Friday Harbor. The crew assembled and readied the alert aircraft for an immediate launch and left for the island airport just after 9 p.m., arriving 10 minutes later. The medical technician conducted the patient turnover with local medical professionals, loaded him into the aircraft and the crew departed at 10 p.m. Weather along the route was significantly better than predicted, allowing the crew to fly directly to Snohomish County Airport (Paine Field) in Everett, where an ambulance was waiting. The patient was transferred to the ambulance and the medical technician accompanied him to Providence Regional Medical Center just after 10:30 p.m.

This was the twelfth medevac of 2017 for NAS Whidbey Island SAR, which has also conducted one search.