Hiker Suffering From Heat Exhaustion Rescued From Canyon

Late in the afternoon of Thursday, June 30th, park dispatch received a call from a visitor reporting that a man in his early 60’s was suffering from heat exhaustion on the Grand View trail. Preventative search and rescue ranger Tom Bruno responded and located the man on the trail approximately a mile below the canyon rim. Bruno began to treat the man for heat exhaustion by rehydrating him and cooling down his core temperature. The man was showing little improvement two hours later, so Bruno began making arrangements to extricate him from the canyon. Given the steep and narrow terrain, a litter carry was not feasible. After learning that the park helicopter was not available, preventative search and rescue ranger Ian Buchanan hiked down to their location with overnight gear and additional supplies and prepared the group to spend the night in the canyon. Park paramedic Lisa Hendy hiked in the following morning, provided IV therapy, and prepared the man for transport to the South Rim via short haul. From there, he was transported a short distance to the medical clinic on the South Rim. Although he hadn’t complained of chest pain, clinic staff found him to be having asymptomatic cardiac disrhythmias upon arrival.  He was immediately flown to the Flagstaff Medical Center, where he underwent emergency cardiac bypass surgery later that day. The man had been hiking with his brother when they ran out of water. The air temperature at the time of the incident was 104 degrees.