 Alaska National Guard's Operation Santa Clause makes life-saving detour by Belinda O'Neill, Alaska National Guard Public Affairs. Bethel, Alaska The Alaska National Guard's Annual Community Outreach Program. Operation Santa Clause, took an unexpected turn this year as its mission to bring holiday joy to the village of Toluksak became a vital lifeline for a resident of the nearby village of Napaskyak. On November 15, the Alaska Army National Guard, a 60-black Hawk helicopter supporting Operation Santa Clause, was on route to deliver gifts and holiday cheer to the children of Toluksak. When an urgent call for assistance came into the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center at joint base Elmendorf Richardson. A critically ill patient in Napaskyak required immediate medical evacuation, but adverse weather and icy runway conditions prevented civilian air ambulances from landing there. Napaskyak is five miles south of Bethel on the other side of the Cuscock Worm River. With river ice-restricting travel by boat and insufficient snow and ice for travel by snow machine or ice road, evacuation by helicopter was the only option. As soon as the Akkering accepted the mission from the Akkirk, the pilots, chief warrant officers Tew Colton Bell and David Berg. Assigned to Gulf Company, 2nd 211th, General Support Aviation Battalion, altered their mission plan to prioritize the Medevac. Having just completed one of two scheduled Operation Santa Clause flights to Toluksak, the air crew added two life-med paramedics and equipment onto the helicopter with the remaining gifts and volunteers already on board and immediately headed to Napaskyak. Bell said chief warrant officer Three Nick Lime, an aviation maintenance technician and crew chief assigned to Delta Company, 2nd 211th, GSAB, played a crucial role in the team accomplishing both missions within seven hours despite rainy and icy weather conditions. He assisted greatly in the configuration of the aircraft and loading and unloading of patients, medics and passengers, even with. The mission changes and difficult weather conditions, said Bell. Our A-60 leaders is able to transport up to 13 passengers with a full assortment of seats. In this case, we didn't need all of them, so we took out the extra seats to make room for the presence, medical equipment and paramedics. Less than five minutes after departing Bethel, the helicopter touched down in Napaskyak, delivering. The paramedics and medical equipment to stabilize the patient for travel to the local clinic, a process expected to take 30 to 40 minutes. The air crew flew 15 minutes to Toluksak to deliver the remaining volunteers and gifts. They immediately returned to Napaskyak to pick up the paramedics and patient. They flew them to the Army Aviation Operating Facility in Bethel, where the patient was transferred to a life-med ambulance. As of November 16, the patient was in stable condition and awaiting transport via civilian air ambulance to an anchorage hospital. The integration of the life-med folks went seamlessly due to previous detailed cold-load trainings and lessons learned in past Joint Medevac missions, said Bell. The coordination with life-med was extremely smooth since, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Brian Cruz, was in the hangar during the mission and coordinated with life-med, RCC, and, A, State Army Aviation Officer. While the crew continued executing the ops and a mission simultaneously. While the Black Hawk and crew completed the Medevac mission, Santa, Mrs. Claus and 10 other Alaska National Guard and Salvation Army volunteers delivered an early Christmas to the children of Toluksak as planned. After celebrating with gifts, ice cream and photos with Santa, the team loaded back onto the Black Hawk for the trip back to the Akring Aviation Facility, where they transferred to an Alaska Air National Guard C-17 Globemaster III for the final leg back to Jaber. This mission was a great example of how the Alaska National Guard is able to work jointly between Army. Air Force and multiple civilian agencies to support the local population through state missions like Operation Santa and through federal missions such as this RCC request for assistance, said Bell. This mission specifically showcases our abilities to adapt to multiple, rapidly changing missions while operating in adverse weather while still completing them efficiently and safely.