HAPE or Heart Attack?

HAPE or Heart Attack?

Two hours by plane, three hours by car, then a helicopter ride to the cabin. When Ben Debney goes backcountry for a trip, he travels to the most remote place with the best terrain: a tiny lodge in the heart of the Selkirk Mountains in British Columbia, Canada.

“I’ve taken this trip three years in a row,” the Portland, Oregon resident said. “It is 3,000 to 5,000 vertical feet of snowshoeing, skiing or hiking per day. You have to be in shape.”

Because he’s familiar with the Sunday-to-Sunday trip, Debney was fully prepared for his adventure. The former EMT trained with a heart rate monitor, purchased a Global Rescue membership and knew his strengths and weaknesses.

“I’ve always had a tough time at high altitude. I’m used to Portland at sea level and now I’m traveling to a lodge at 7,300 feet above sea level,” Debney said. “I’m usually at the back of the line at the beginning of the week and at the front of the line by the end of the week. It takes me a few days to get my altitude legs but, once I do, I have a great time.”

Debney ran into trouble on a hike on Thursday. “I just could not catch my breath,” he said. “I bonked.”

He went back to the cabin to rest — and used his heart rate monitor.

“My normal resting rate is usually 72. This time it would not go below 120. I know what my recovery time should be and I knew it wasn’t good,” he said

Debney was sharing the lodge with other skiers, including three doctors, who started working him up.

“They weren’t sure if it was a cardiac event and couldn’t rule it out,” Debney said.

With nighttime looming and a winter storm predicted to come in that weekend, it was a precarious time to have an illness in a remote area. The lodge, located near the northern boundary of Glacier National Park, is helicopter access only. Once you fly from the lodge to the staging area on Rogers Pusher Station Road, weather and road conditions can make transportation unpredictable. Road closures are frequent on Rogers Pass and the Kicking Horse Pass into Golden, which is where the closest hospital is located.

“I was deep in the backcountry with a possible heart issue and a storm bearing down that would mean days of delay if I didn’t get flown out at first light,” he said.

Debney’s fellow trekkers used a satellite phone to make arrangements with the lodge’s helicopter company to evacuate Debney Friday morning.

They also called Global Rescue.

“Global Rescue took an extensive medical history over the phone,” Debney said. “After the helicopter flight out of the lodge, there was an ambulance waiting to take me to the hospital.”

It was a short ride to the hospital, where Debney had two EKGs and a test for troponin, a protein which indicates a heart attack.

“I took photos of my EKG and blood test results and sent it to Global Rescue to have everything double checked. Global Rescue was on top of it the whole time,” he said.

Global Rescue’s medical operations team confirmed the hospital’s capabilities, via telephone vetting and obtained a possible destination hospital should Debney require advanced cardiac care. Fortunately, all tests came back negative for a heart attack.

“From start to finish, Global Rescue had me protected — from the helicopter flight out to their paramedics gathering my symptoms to having their doctors review my EKG and test results while on standby to get me to a bigger/better hospital if needed,” Debney said. “I always felt Global Rescue was right there ready to act if things went south.”

Today, all is well for the 50-year-old father of three. His follow-up appointments at home in Oregon also came back negative for a cardiac event.

“I highly recommend Global Rescue based on my experience,” Debney said. “It was not fun having a cardiac scare and I felt that I was in great hands with Global Rescue.”