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Local fire and rescue companies responded to two separate instances of elderly hikers in need of medical assistance while on nearby mountains last week.
On Wednesday, first responders were called to the Blue Ridge Parkway near Vesuvius to a 79-year-old male struggling with a cardiac condition, Rockbridge County Fire & Rescue Captain Kevin Moore told The News-Gazette.
The hiker, who had a history with cardiac afflictions, was struck by a flare-up while hiking with his spouse. The couple had begun their journey near milepost 39 of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
To answer the distress call, dispatched companies ventured through national forest and private land to reach the hiker via ATV. Once taken off the mountain, the hiker was transported by helicopter to the University of Virginia Medical Center.
“He was stable,” Moore said, “but he had some issues that he needed to go to his cardiologist …” Responding to that call were the Raphine, South River and Rockbridge Baths fire departments, Fairfield Rescue Squad, Rockbridge County Fire & Rescue, and the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office.
On the following day, May 4, a 75-year-old woman found herself in a similar predicament. Rockbridge County Fire & Rescue, Buena Vista Fire Department, Buena Vista Rescue Squad, and the Rockbridge County Sheriff’s Office were once again dispatched to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
A Rockbridge County resident, the hiker had stepped onto a platform and lost her balance, causing her to fall backwards and strike her head on a patch of rocks below, explained Moore.
Traveling to Parkway milepost 51.5 near Buena Vista, dispatched companies partnered with the U.S. Forest Service to reach the injured hiker, Moore told The News-Gazette.
Despite some minor injuries and dizziness, the woman was deemed healthy after visiting Carilion Rockbridge Community Hospital, he said.
