Amanda Eller’s Road to Recovery: Maui Hospital Press Conference

Family members, volunteer search organizers and hospital administrators at the Maui Memorial Medical Center held a press conference downstairs at the hospital where Amanda Eller was medevaced on Friday afternoon.  Amanda was lost in the forest for 17 days and was found on Friday by a team of volunteer searchers that spotted her from a helicopter in a deep ravine above the Twin Falls area of Haʻikū.

Among those participating in the press conference were: Amanda’s mom Julia Eller; her doctor, Dr. Zora Bulatovic; Maui Health Systems CEO Michael Rembis; Sarah Haynes, volunteer search organizer; and Javier Cantellops, volunteer search team leader.

Amanda also provided a video statement from her hospital bed on Saturday, May 25, 2019.  It was her first time publicly addressing the ordeal after being found alive in the forest on Friday afternoon.

https://www.facebook.com/mauinow/videos/2032012126907435/

Dr. Bulatovic said she became emotional when she learned that Aman

“What she’s been through, you would never be able to tell,” said Dr. Bulatovic, saying she thinks Amanda will have a “quick recovery.”

According to Dr. Bulatovic, Amanda has a fractured tibia that made it difficult to walk, and severe burns in her lower extremities from the sun.  Doctors are also trying to get a skin infection under control as well as offering care for leg wounds.

Doctors say Amanda was able to manage to stay hydrated with the river water, and keep her nutrition up by eating fruits from the trees.  “I was expecting to see more,” said Dr. Bulatovic. “You’d expect to see electrolyte imbalance, severely dehydrated, but nothing of that. Amazingly she looks great.”

Initially, Amanda was given introvenous antibiotics, but she will be downgraded to oral antibiotics. Doctors are hoping to deliver wound care so that Amanda heals from the inside out.

Doctors say they anticipate Amanda will be hospitalized for a few days.