Ron Corkish, left, president of La Plata County Search and Rescue, talks with John Melser, a registered nurse who works for Flight for Life, when Flight for Life began serving Mercy Regional Medical Center in August 2011. The Flight for Life helicopter was called out about 8:30 a.m. Sunday to transport Elenea Heath, 45, from the site of a motorcycle accident west of Durango on U.S. Highway 160. She was listed in “good” condition Monday afternoon.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald file photo

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Ron Corkish, left, president of La Plata County Search and Rescue, talks with John Melser, a registered nurse who works for Flight for Life, when Flight for Life began serving Mercy Regional Medical Center in August 2011. The Flight for Life helicopter was called out about 8:30 a.m. Sunday to transport Elenea Heath, 45, from the site of a motorcycle accident west of Durango on U.S. Highway 160. She was listed in “good” condition Monday afternoon.

STEVE LEWIS/Durango Herald file photo

The couple who were injured in a motorcycle crash Sunday have been identified as Jerry and Elenea Heath of Harwood, Missouri.

The accident took place about 8:30 a.m. in the 5000 block of U.S. Highway 160, west of Durango. An elk entered the road, and the motorcycle struck it.

Off-duty paramedic Capt. Tom Walsh was first on the scene.

Elenea Heath, 45, was airlifted to Mercy Regional Medical Center. Jerry Heath, 63, was transported by ambulance to Mercy. As of Monday afternoon, Elena Heath was listed in “good” condition, and Jerry Heath had been treated and released, said Mercy spokesman David Bruzzese.

“I’m almost positive they were wearing helmets,” Colorado State Patrol Capt. Adrian Driscoll said. “They would have been in far worse shape than they were if they weren’t.”

And the condition of the elk, the other victim in the encounter?

“The trooper’s notes just say, ‘Could not locate elk,’” Driscoll said, “so apparently he was able to walk away.”

abutler@durangoherald.com