A team from Squamish Search and Rescue (SSAR) and a doctor from Lions Bay who specializes in treating hypothermia patients played key roles in what’s being called a “miracle” recovery of a Vancouver-area woman who was found unresponsive in Garibaldi Provincial Park near Squamish last week.
Christine Newman, 24, went missing in the snow about a half kilometre from the Elfin Lakes Hut on April 1 at around 2 a.m., Squamish RCMP officials said.
John Howe, SSAR search manager, on Monday (April 7) said Newman apparently “went to the outhouse and somehow got waylaid.” Media reports said she fell into a tree well, about 10 metres off the trail.
When she was found, Newman was “severely hyphothermic, non-responsive and in cardiac arrest,” Howe said.
A group of six skiers and snowshoers who had been staying at the hut found Newman in the morning. To her good fortune — the first of several fortunate steps — some members of the group had CPR training, Howe said.
The group called for help and took turns performing CPR until a rescue team arrived, about two hours after Newman was found. The group even boot-packed a landing area for the helicopter, he said.
The SSAR team that arrived by Blackcomb Helicopters rescue craft included SSAR’s Katy Chambers and John Willcox, a retired advanced life support paramedic.
After hearing of the situation, Howe said he contacted Dr. Doug Brown, a Lions Bay emergency room doctor in Burnaby and a leading expert in the treatment of hypothermia patients.
Brown was able to convince B.C. Ambulance officials to allow the rescue helicopter to fly not to Squamish General Hospital for stabilization and helicopter transfer, but directly to Vancouver General Hospital.
VGH has one of B.C.’s three ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machines, which provide respiratory support to the patient while gradually warming the body and blood.
When Newman arrived at VGH, she “completely had no signs of life,” Dr. Vijay Dhingra told Global News. Thanks in part to the ECMO machine, the VGH team was able to
revive Newman.
Ernestine Newman, Christine’s mother, described her daughter’s recovery as “a miracle” — coming as it did after more than four hours of continuous CPR.
On Monday (April 7), Newman was in stable condition in intensive care, suffering from frostbite to her fingers and toes, but was talking
and laughing.
“As far as I know, this is the longest duration of CPR ever performed in North America for this condition, probably any condition, with a good outcome,” Brown told Global News.
Howe said the group that found Newman and kept up the CPR, as well as the SSAR rescue team, deserve a huge helping of praise for the roles they played.
“It’s a really amazing story from beginning to end, with an incredible outcome.”
