My Very Last Patient on the Perito Moreno Glacier

By Sam Chakraverty, RSGS Collections Team

A highlight of our travels in Argentina was a guided tour of the Perito Moreno glacier. I was being fitted with crampons in a refugio hut when I was distracted by a commotion about 20 metres away. A man had collapsed suddenly on the icy ground. I initially assumed that he must have fainted after the strenuous walk on difficult moraine, however almost immediately a shout went up, “Médico, médico” - they were calling for a doctor.  

The Perito Moreno glacier in southern Argentina is a major tourist attraction where you can see (and hear) the ice break up during calving events into the lake (Lago Argentino) almost right in front of you. We had arranged to go on a guided tour on the glacier itself which started with a 45-minute boat trip to the other side of the lake. In groups of about fifteen, we walked with a guide for about an hour over the moraine, during which time we were told about the area, glaciology and the peculiar circumstances of this glacier which even with global warming, was not then receding, unlike almost all others elsewhere.    

I had recently retired and given up my medical registration, so my first thought was that I was no longer really a doctor. However, I went across and realized that the man had not just fainted, he was blue and not breathing and had clearly had a cardiac arrest, presumably a heart attack. 

Several guides joined me and I ended up taking charge of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (in Spanish), although I thought it would be futile. We were in a very remote setting and had no equipment. Even from the boat embarkation point across the lake, the nearest hospital was two hours away.  But suddenly another guide appeared carrying treasure - a box of airway equipment, and a defibrillator! While this guide was preparing the defibrillator, I was able to establish an unobstructed airway. We continued chest compressions while yet another guide bag-ventilated the patient with just one of his huge hands. The patient’s colour markedly improved. Initially the defibrillator failed to work, but after implementing the time-honoured solution of turning it off and on again, this was solved. After 3 shocks his heart restarted, and he began shouting some juicy expletives in Argentine Spanish. This was our first clue as to his nationality! 

I must confess that little in my training had prepared me for a successful result - but I was happy to take the win. We put the gentleman on a stretcher in the recovery position and started carrying him across the moraine with the defibrillator close at hand. Fortunately for me, a young Spanish doctor who had completed her tour on the glacier was able to take over – the boat had already been called from the other side of the lake. 

I rejoined my friends at the refugio and the guide sensibly made me take a little time before putting crampons back on again. I had lost my gloves in the confusion, so I was lent some spare ones, and we were able to set off. Exploring the glacier itself and learning about its behaviour was an incredible experience which we will never forget.  

On returning to the car after the boat journey back, I was ceremoniously presented with my gloves  They  had been left under the patient on the stretcher. We then drove to our next accommodation on an estancia a couple of hours away. Two days later, I was surprised to receive a package with a small gift of a branded water bottle and key rings, and most importantly a note to say that ”J” had reached hospital, was alive and doing well. I am still not sure how they knew where we were staying – we had only exchanged first names during the day! 

The guides from this company (Hielo y Aventura ) were superb. As well as having extremely well-practised first aid skills, some guides had had the presence of mind to retrieve well-maintained equipment from the refugio, to summon the boat from the other side of the lake and arrange onward transport.  Others had continued to take large numbers of people onto the glacier to continue their trip as normal, thus keeping them out of the way.   

I had sometimes felt that hospital CPR training and outdoor first aid training (for my involvement in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award) was very repetitive – now I know why: everything becomes automatic. And just sometimes it will save someone’s life. 

On a more worrying note, Perito Moreno does appear to be now rapidly succumbing to the effects of global warming. Our children may never get the same experience.