Forest Service plane responds to medical emergency on Gaskin Lake

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office received a call from the International Emergency Response Coordination Center just before 1 p.m. today, June 22, informing Cook County that a camper was in need of medical attention. A 14-year-old boy had fallen, hit his head and had a seizure.

The call came from the southeast corner of Lake Gaskin in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, which is part of the Poplar-Brule BWCA route, near Winchell Lake.

The Gunflint Trail Ambulance and Gunflint Search and Rescue were paged. U.S. Forest Service Officer Ed Belmore requested a Beaver airplane to pick up the patient, as response time of the Gunflint responders would have been roughly two hours. Gunflint responders stood by at Fire Hall 1.

At 1:50 p.m., Cook County Ambulance was paged to meet the Beaver at the Devil Track Lake landing. The Beaver landed and picked up a Cook County paramedic at 2:23 and the patient was on-board the plane by 3:01 p.m. The Beaver returned to Devil Track Lake with the patient at 3:36 and the patient was transferred to Cook County Ambulance, where he was transported to Cook County Hospital.

The patient was conscious and answering questions when responders reached him. No further information is available on the young man’s condition.