Roanoke County Fire and Rescue has saved a man experiencing cardiac arrest while hiking the Dragon’s Tooth trail. Authorities say the man in his 60s was a little over a mile from the trail head yesterday evening at the parking lot off Route 311. Officials say CPR and advanced life support measures were used to bring back the man’s pulse and breathing during the extraction. He was then sent to a hospital in critical condition.
From news release: Roanoke County Fire and Rescue received a call for service today at approximately 4:45 p.m. for a male in his 60’s who was experiencing chest pains while hiking the Dragon’s Tooth trail with a friend. The couple was a little over a mile from the trailhead at the parking lot off of Route 311. The first medic unit from Catawba Station #4 mmediately accessed the trail upon their arrival at the parking lot. Other crews from Masons Cove, Hollins, Clearbrook, Salem Fire and EMS, and the Operational Medical Director for Roanoke County Fire and Rescue, also responded to assist with getting the patient off the trail. As the patient was being assisted back down the mountain by the rescue crews, he went into cardiac arrest. CPR was started immediately while on the trail and advanced life
support measures were administered, resulting in the return of a pulse and breathing before the patient was extricated off the trail around 7:10 p.m. The patient was then transported via ambulance to rendezvous at a nearby landing zone with a Carilion Lifeguard helicopter which took him to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital in critical condition.
