Alligator attack patient lauded for courage
Florida, US-based fixed wing air ambulance provider Global Jet Care recently under took an inspiring and amazing repatriation of a 19-year-old who was attacked by an alligator in Bolivia.
Florida, US-based fixed wing air ambulance provider Global Jet Care recently under took an inspiring and amazing repatriation of a 19-year-old who was attacked by an alligator in Bolivia. Chief flight nurse Marcy Phipps explains how the mission was completed
In February 2017, Global Jetcare repatriated a 19-year-old German citizen suffered an alligator attack in the vicinity of Trinidad, Bolivia. The mission was completed in a Learjet 36XR and included stops in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Antigua and Ponta Delgada, Azores before reaching the final destination of Dresden, Germany. The trip required two sets of pilots and the medical crew included a physician, nurse and paramedic.
Our patient, Patricia, had spent many months in Sucre, Boliva as part of a gap year opportunity with the International Youth Cultural Exchange (IYCE). She was working with the foundation Sayari Warmi – Levantate Mujer, helping indigenous families by providing educational workshops and materials on topics related to health. She’d been staying with a host family and volunteering while immersing herself in the Bolivian culture, becoming fluent in the language and proficient in cooking native foods while developing bonds with the community.
On a weekend excursion with friends, Patricia took a night bus to the Chuchini Ecological Reserve, a jungle lodge approximately 15 km (nine miles) north of Trinidad. The lodge, which appears to be an idyllic haven near the Ibare River, serves piranha for breakfast and promotes interaction with native wildlife. Orchids and tropical birds abound, and river tours are conducted at night by the lodge owner, an experienced veterinarian with expert knowledge in the animals of the rainforest and a lifetime of experience in the Amazon jungle.
The lodge’s website describes how the intrepid owner makes night-time expeditions, silently paddling a shallow canoe and using a flashlight to point out the hundreds of alligators on the riverbanks. It continues: “Like a flash of lighting, he’s dropped his oar and picked up an alligator out of the water. Don’t be frightened. He’s done it so often since his childhood that it’s become as easy as picking flowers to him (then he lets them go).”
Water sports are encouraged in the nearby lagoons. There are opportunities to water ski and swim with pink Amazon river dolphins. There is no denial of the presence of alligators, but they are not typically a threat to the people visiting the reserve. In fact, our patient had been told there hadn’t been an alligator attack in the area for over 40 years – an assertion that our Trinidad hotelier begged to dispute. According to him, people are eaten by alligators ‘all of the time’.
Our young patient remembers everything about the alligator attack: “I was floating in the lagoon in the morning when I looked and saw the head of a giant alligator maybe 20 cm from me. It didn’t seem to be swimming straight towards me, and I was about to try to swim away from it. In less than a second, and without a sound, it opened its jaws and grabbed me. I remember putting my arms over my head; I must have thought I could pry its mouth open. It took my head and shoulders and shook me under the water for a couple of seconds, then suddenly disappeared. I didn’t feel any pain, I just screamed and screamed and swam to shore.”
Patricia suffered a laceration of significant depth to the left side of her face with nerve damage, bilateral auricle injuries, a right temporal-parietal laceration, a comminuted superior maxillary sinus fracture, orbital fracture, a large laceration at the right deltoid, and puncture wounds over her neck and thorax. She was taken to a Trinidad hospital where all wounds were irrigated, debrided and sutured by a plastic surgeon. The facial fractures were reduced and she was treated with multiple intravenous antibiotics and a cervical collar as a precautionary measure. When our crew arrived at the hospital for pre-flight evaluation, we found our patient to be in surprisingly good spirits.
“I wanted to stay here in Bolivia,” she said. “I love it here so much and my wounds have been repaired.” But after a long conversation with a German doctor with experienced in crocodile accidents, Patricia decided to return to Germany to be with her family and for additional evaluation and rehabilitation for her wounds and unilateral facial paralysis.
The medevac flight went very well. She received aggressive pain management and remained stable and comfortable throughout. CT scans in Dresden, however, revealed additional undisclosed facial fractures and a cervical fracture. The right shoulder wound became inflamed and infected, requiring a new course of antibiotics, and rehabilitation exercises for the facial paralysis have commenced.
The emotional scars are healing as well. She had nightmares after the attack in which she relived the experience, seeing images of the crocodile’s head and hearing again the muffled sounds she heard when she was pulled under the water. She’s also had to recount the exact details of the attack many times, to many different people, something that has forced her to relive the experience, to a degree, but that she says may ultimately be helping her deal with the trauma.
She remains in excellent spirits. In love with the Bolivian culture, she plans to return to South America to finish her volunteer commitment as soon as possible. In the meantime, she will shore herself up at home while she heals. And forever more, she will remain the best example I’ve seen of courage under attack, fortitude and inner beauty, all qualities too strong to be thwarted by an alligator attack.