It was a race against the clock.
New York state troopers sprung into action when a 64-year-old heart transplant patient was snowbound on an upstate roadway — just as the juice in her battery-operated heart pump was running out.
The drama unfolded Friday, when the woman and her husband set out from the Rochester area for the life-saving operation at a medical clinic in Cleveland, only to get trapped on Route 5 near upstate Portland as a massive snowstorm buried much of the Empire State, police said in a release.
With time ticking away, the woman, whose name was not released, and her frantic husband called the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, which reached out to New York State Police to relay the situation.
Troopers reached the couple with their Utility Task Vehicle and transported them to the Portland Fire Department, which got the woman to Westfield Memorial Hospital in New York’s Chautauqua County to assess her medical condition.
Cops then escorted the woman to Jamestown Airport in Chautauqua County where she was flown to Ohio in time for the life-saving procedure, state police said.
“This is an incredible story of perseverance and coordination,” troopers said in a statement. “The actions of the troopers, medical staff and transportation teams highlight how critical teamwork and quick thinking can save lives, even in the face of severe weather conditions.”
The incident was the most dramatic rescue pulled off by state troopers between Thanksgiving and Sunday, when heavy snow bands wreaked havoc upstate.
Over that span, state police assisted 111 disabled motorists along the I-90 corridor from Erie County to the Pennsylvania state line, while investigating 82 property damage crashes and seven collisions with injuries.