Rescue group extracts sledder from Graystokes Provincial Park after heart attack

CENTRAL OKANAGAN – A sledder who suffered a heart attack on the weekend is being treated in Kelowna General Hospital after rescue by Central Okanagan Search and Rescue.

It took a helicopter to extract the sledder, gender and identity unknown, and deliver them to hospital after a SPOT emergency beacon was activated around 2 p.m. Sunday, according to a press release from search manager Ephraim Nowak.

The rescue organization responded with 16 members, a snowmobile and UTV ground crew, which drove to Graystokes Provincial Park east of Kelowna.

Three members with advanced medical training flew in with a helicopter and pilot provided by Valhalla Helicopters.

A landing strip prepared by Kelowna Snowmobile Club members proved unnecessary as did a back up snowmobile crew and the patient was successfully extracted and flown to Kelowna International Airport then delivered by ambulance to the hospital.

The patients condition is unknown.


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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca