The brave heroes at VMR Whitsunday were tasked to attend a serious situation on Sunday morning when a man suffered a suspected Box Jellyfish sting at Butterfly Bay on Hook Island.
The individual was a guest on a charter boat vessel.
With the RACQ CQ Rescue Helicopter unable to attend the incident, the volunteers at VMR Whitsunday jumped to action, transporting Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) paramedics to the remote location as quickly as possible.
Whale Song VMR2 was deployed first, racing the paramedics to the site at 37 knots and arriving at the scene in just 27 minutes.
Coral Sea Marina VMR1, the patient transfer vessel, followed shortly behind arriving 45 minutes later.
By the time the teams attended to the patient he had been transferred to Hayman Island Resort marina where he was being looked after by the island’s emergency care staff.
As soon as the paramedics arrived, they stabilised the patient which took roughly 45 minutes.
A third paramedic from Hamilton Island also came to support the crew, transported to the site on a fast charter boat to ensure there was enough assistance.
The patient was transferred to Coral Sea Marina VMR1 along with his brother and the pair were brought back to the marina, tying up alongside at 12.55pm.
The entire operation had taken less than two hours.
After the incident, a test uncovered that there was a troponin leak in the patient’s body – this is an enzyme that is released when the heart is under extreme stress like a heart attack – and it was likely the paramedics saved his life.
“A great team effort by all concerned!” said Mal Priday from Whitsunday VMR.
“Di at the base, staff at Hayman Island Resort, the Hamilton and Airlie Beach paramedics, and both rescue boat crews – to help a patient that was in a very dangerous situation. Well done, everybody!”
