Injured During Training!

Injured during training is a headline you read and think, man, that sucks. What could have been done to prevent this type of accident? During the Nov. 2011 ITRS conference a paper was presented which discussed a training accident and ultimately a near miss. It was the classic scenario, it was the last evolution of the day and a miss communication about who was in charge and a general complacency that seems to develop in many training situations.

If you’ve done any all-day training events you’ve been there. You’ve seen the attitudes start serious in the morning and then in the evening a cavalier attitude develops. Why this happens seems to be that people are getting comfortable with the evolution and a general expectation of how things work. This is kind of what we want, but the loss of focus especially when using live victims or putting people over the edge can have significant consequences.

I wish I had some sort of solution or suggested action to help teams prevent training accidents or even training complacency, but the only thing that comes to mind is to remain vigilant during training. Instill a sense of significance in what people are doing, especially at the end of a long day of training. In any case, keep yourself and your team safe and remind them that accidents typically happen late in the day of training. Call a “Stop” if people are not focused, anyone should be able to call a “Stop” at any time during a training or real mission.

If you have any data or solutions, please feel free to share them either  in comments below or with me directly and I’ll see about getting them to the BCR readership (emai BCReditor@gmail.com).

ITRS - 2011

This weekend I’ve been attending ITRS (International Technical Rescue Symposium). This has been a great opportunity to listen to fellow rescuers present papers on topics ranging from comparative breaking strength between basket hitches vs wrap 3 pull 2 anchors, to reports from IKAR (International Commission of Alpine Rescue).

This is my first experience at ITRS and I fully plan to attend as many of these in the future as possible. The opportunity to talk with other rescuers from around country as well as other countries has been a great learning experience.  http://www.itrsonline.org/

9/11 Reflection

As we washed the rigs at the station this morning, we did so in silence. The silence was only broken by the sound of the water spraying on the rigs and the brushes moving over the metal removing the dirt from the previous day's calls. This moment of silence wasn’t planned but just happened as we prepared the rigs for the day. As I washed the rig my thoughts went to fire fighters and first responders who 10 years ago this morning were doing the same thing, preparing their rigs for the day. As they washed their rigs I don’t think any of these brave individuals could imagine the events that would unfold on that day.

This was my personal reflection on the events of 9/11 and to all of the individuals who were killed that day. Silently preparing, remembering and honoring.

Finding the Right Balance

My pager goes off for a hiker who has called for help along the Pacific Crest Trail. The page comes in around 8PM and the general location of the hiker is about 5 to 8 miles in. I'm immediately compelled to go and begin making a check list of things I might need in my pack. I also consider the possibility of being out all night and either being late for work and non-functional or missing work all together because of the unknown injuries of the hiker. At work, we are busy working to release a product and it is crunch time.

As I'm changing clothes my wife looks at me and asks about the call. Then tells me about something going on in her day or something about the kids. My mind is only focused on my packing list and what I might encounter on the trail. Then it dawns on me that I've been on a lot of rescues lately (August is busy for our team) and haven't spent much time with family. When I call the in-town operations leader for our team to tell him I can't go on the mission, I feel a sting of guilt for leaving my teamates to do all of the work. My feelings of guilt are enhanced when I learn that we have a low turnout for this mission. I briefly reconsider going, but realize that family is far more important and work plays into the mix because I need my job to help support the family.

My ultimate rationalization is that while I am a member of a SAR unit and need to be available to respond to untimely missions, I need to take care of myself first, my SAR teamates second and lastly the subject needing help.

Also, by turning down a mission, maybe it will lessen the blow over the weekend when I look at my wife and say, "there's a mission, do you mind that I bail on whatever we have planned for this weekend."

Keeping the same radio frequency in the field

I was recently on a SAR mission where base was getting inteferring radio traffic on our "dedicated" SAR frequency. We had several teams in the field and the plan was to have each team change frequency and report in. Unfortunately, my team did not have the new frequency.  In theory we all should have picked another universal frequency, unfortunately, base moved each team to the new frequency which we didn't have and kept us on the old frequency. While base has the capability to monitor multiple frequencies, our team felt quite alone.

Once we reached the search area, coordinating with the other teams became a nightmare as we had to contact base to get each team's location and assignment. Eventually, our team caught another team and borrowed one of their radios but the confusion and leaving one team essentially in the dark seemed a bit of poor form.

On the up side though, we had a nice hike and were not bombarded with a bunch of radio traffic. The good news too was that this area is well known and frequently traveled by both myself and my teammate so we were not too concerned about our location or progress moving up the 4 mile 3,500ft elevation gain mountain side.

PHTLS worth the two day course

I recently completed a Pre-Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) course taught by Backcountry Medical (www.backcountrymedical.com). This was an intensive course in trauma care which included a few things beyond my EMT-B scope of practice (cricotomy, needle thoracostomy, and endotracheal intubation). I found it good to have a knowledge and understanding of what an EMT-P would be doing so that I can better assist if needed.

The PHTLS course focuses on ABCDE’s of trauma. The “D&E” were somewhat new to the standard ABCs. The D & E stand for Disability (level of consciousness) and Exposure (visualize all the wounds, or the standard trauma, “strip & flip”). Of course the primary focus is still the ABC’s with management of the airway being paramount.

Another important focus of the course was minimizing prolonged scene times (greater than 10 min) for trauma patients. In order to pass the course, we had a scenario where we had to assess backboard & c-collar, treat major bleeding and be ready to transport in less than 10 minutes. This emphasis of reduced scene times forces the EMT to overlook distracting, non-life-threatening injuries and focus on getting the patient to definitive care.

I highly recommend the PHTLS course for EMT’s of any level. I also recommend the Backcountry Medical folks too. One of the instructors was a combat medic in Iraq with the Army and has a unique perspective on treating trauma patients. Additionally, the Backcountry Medical folks are all SAR volunteers so their understanding of the unique challenges of treating patients in the backcountry.

Well defined roles promote mission success

I was recently on a mission for a pack-out of a hiker with an injured leg. We were in the trees but above the snow line. The trail was compact snow and ice from the number of hikers on the trail the previous days. Our team treated the subject and packaged her for a long pack-out. Initially I set out roles of medical and rigging. We needed the rigging because of the steep snow/ice and management of the litter down the slope.

I quickly found myself jumping between setting up anchors, tending the main line, patient care and running the rigging. The initial patient care provider was much in the same assortment of roles as I was. Eventually, it was pointed out to me that it would be more efficient if I ran the rigging. I then appointed one team member to medical/patient care and the rest of the mission seemed to move more smoothly.

I should point out that patient care was always the primary focus but the swapping around of EMT’s providing care seemed to slow our progress.

My take away from this mission is to establish a Rescue Group Leader and have that person run the field portion of the mission ensuring the big picture is being managed. Additionally, assigning one person for medical and one for rigging would have helped in having a singular focus for each task.

Overall the mission was a success, however I felt there was room for improvement.

Arizona Governor Proclaims April 16th, 2011 Search and Rescue Day!

Thanks to Raul Limon of SAR 10, Cochise County Sheriff SAR for sending this.

In response to a request by the Arizona Sheriff's SAR Coordinators, and in

conjunction with the 2011 Arizona SAR Conference, Governor Brewer has

proclaimed April 16th, 2011 as Search and Rescue Day in honor of the Search

and Rescue personnel in the State of Arizona.

The proclamation reads:

____________________________________________________________________________

Whereas, Search and Rescue is a mandated function of the County Sheriff in

Arizona; and

Whereas, to fulfill that duty, Arizona Sheriffs rely on dedicated Search

and Rescue Volunteers and Search and Rescue Coordinators; and

Whereas, Search and Rescue is a noble endeavor of community service to the

State of Arizona which involves dedication, compassion, and personal

sacrifice; and

Whereas, April 15-17, 2011 is the Arizona Search and Rescue Conference where

Search and Rescue personnel will meet and train to be ready to respond to

fulfill the Search and Rescue motto, " So That Others May Live."

Now Therefore, I, Janice K. Brewer, Governor of the State of Arizona, do

hereby proclaim April 16, 2011 as

*Search and Rescue Day*

in honor of the Search and Rescue personnel in the State of Arizona.

/s/ Janice K. Brewer, Governor

/s/ Ken Bennett, Secretary of State

Way to go AZ SAR!

Maybe Best Not to Taunt the SAR gods

So I guess I’m no longer “Jones’in” for a mission. With three missions over the past three days and local rivers flooding expected to crest today, I’ve had my share of missions for the month. OK, so I was Base OL for the mission on Monday for two stranded climbers. I didn’t do any of the hard work so when the mom comes over to us and gives us all hugs after the mission, I feel a bit sheepish knowing that the three team members on my right did all of the real work.

The next mission was for a couple of lost hikers. OK, I didn’t get to this mission because I had to pick up the kids from school, but I think it counts at least to make the story sound better…

Last night was unfortunately a recovery mission from below a trestle. From a technical stand point this was reasonably interesting as we setup a steep angle raise. The raise was pretty straight forward as we set up a 3 to 1 and a belay. The raise was completed with about 4 to 5 resets and the mission completed in a few hours.

I guess I should have listened to the wisdom of my father when he would remind me to, “be careful what you wish for.”

Jones’in for a Mission

Am I some crazed adrenaline junkie? Is my feeling self-worth or ego impacted because I’m not on the trail or is it something less complex? I’ve already been on a few missions this year, but I’ve either been Base Operations or In-Town Operations Leader (ITOL) or the mission was essentially done by the time I arrived at base. Holy cow, I don’t think I’ve been in the field yet this year! How can this have happened? Now, I’m sitting here waiting for my pager to go off, checking the batteries and making sure the thing is on. Maybe I should have them send a test page to make sure my pager is working.

I find myself in this situation every now and then, not wishing harm on anyone of course, but if someone does need help in the backcountry, well then it might as well be my pager that goes off, right? Even just a snatch and grab mission for a hiker without a flashlight would satisfy my need for a fix.

Oh Man, I feel like a dork! I just remembered I’m signed up for ITOL until Thursday. OK, SAR gods, no missions till Friday. OK?

BTW, I do realize some readers have been quite busy in the SAR business lately and I need to be careful what I wish for.

Organizational Politics & SAR

In many cases it seems frustrating to have to deal with organizational politics in Search and Rescue. After all, we are there to help and we are volunteering our valuable time to provide resources for whatever overseeing agency you “report” to. We are here to save lives right? Not bicker about the various aspects of day to day operations.

Well, as much as I hate to admit it, organizational politics are likely here to stay. In every organization I’ve been part of since my early teens as a Sea Explorer there have been politics. Sometimes it was someone working toward a leadership role and other times it was drama about who said what and how words and thoughts get turned around. Whatever the case, it can seem like one or a group are trying to sway the crowd to go along with their way of thinking. Often times, the reality is that perceptions get clouded because of personalities. Unfortunately, there are times when actions are because of personalities usually resulting in feeling getting hurt and a wedge gets pushed deeper causing a further separation of the unit.

I have learned that, like it or not, politics are part of any organization. However, I have a very low tolerance for politics while on a mission and zero tolerance when a life is on the line (especially mine). To avoid this I have found that finding a working relationship or agreeing to disagree seems to work. While I probably have a bigger ego than I’d like to think, trying to remove egos from a heated topic is often difficult, but ultimately effective. Realizing that politics exist is the first step, the next step is never losing focus of the mission of Search & Rescue, to help people.

Base Operations Leader

During a recent search for a missing skier, I took the base operations role to support our teams going into the field. The initial planning and coordination of objectives and teams was naturally hectic but once we had teams in the field headed into the night for a four hour hike in the radio traffic died down and we had long periods of quite time in the communications van. The two of us in the communications van did our speculation of the mission and what had happened as well as some minor planning in the event the teams located the subject.

Finally the radio came to life with the sound of teams reaching their objective and dropping into the search area. Anticipation and hope draped the Comm van followed by long periods of radio silence. I’ve been in the field when base keeps calling asking this and that telling me where I need to search or what to do next but I have found that to be distracting from the task at hand. In the field, if I need direction or have completed a task I will call in and inform base. So sitting in base not feeling part of the active search I had to remind myself to let the field teams do their job and not bother them with radio traffic unless it was especially important. Of course, I couldn’t think of anything especially important to tell the teams so there I sat.

Then around 3AM the two teams had merged and were beginning to ask about avalanche and weather forecasts (we had done a preliminary avalanche and weather review prior to the teams entering the field, but were looking for an updated forecast). Finally some way to help in the search effort. We jumped on the laptop, evaluated the temperatures, forecasted rain/snow and avalanche forecast and provided it to the teams. The teams decided on a concrete turnaround time based on their current conditions, forecasted warming temperatures and increasing avalanche forecast.

While I wanted the teams to stay in the field so they could achieve their goal both for their success and the success of the mission, I know that people in base cannot make a call based on the conditions teams are experiencing in the field. Also, my responsibility is to do what I can to take care of my team members, listen to what they are telling me about conditions and relate that to the Incident Commander to give him/her a knowledgeable answer about why “I” am pulling my teams out of the field.

While in base I felt an unusual helplessness despite being involved in the mission, but did feel engaged with my teams in the field being able to relate to what they were seeing and doing. It took more than I thought to sit quietly and let the teams do their jobs without interrupting them every few minutes to get an update. I’m not a fan of being in base, but I do value having someone there watching out for our teams and being able to relate field information to the Incident Commander and explain why things are going the way they are. I do plan to be in the field on the next mission. I don’t think I can drink that much coffee again…

Outside Magazine's article, "The Man Who Saw Too Much"

If you haven't seen this article yet, I highly recommend reading it. Here's the link: THE MAN WHO SAW TOO MUCH

Follow up from Blog:

Good Article in the Jan. 2011 edition of Outside Magazine

I thought that looked familiar

I was reading through the January Rock & Ice (R&I) magazine when I came across an article that I thought sound interesting. The article was about emergency communication devices for backcountry travelers. Naturally, my attention was piqued and I started looking at the page with interest. Then I had a feeling that I had seen something like this before and I started thinking ah ha, might be an interesting poll for the BCR site. I had read a detailed article in Lowell Skoog’s Northwest Mountaineering Journal (NWMJ) called, “Climber 9-1-1 – Should  mobile communications be mandatory?” Then the hammer dropped on my cleaver poll idea. The author of Climber 9-1-1, Rad Roberts was also the author of the R&I article. If you are an R&I subscriber, you can get a quick breakdown of the pros/cons of the different devices available. If you want the detailed version click the link above to go to the NWMJ version. There are also some nice action shots of Portland Mountain Rescue in action.

Anyway, the topic of requiring mobile communication devices in the backcountry comes and goes so there may be an article on the BCR site at some point. Last year, Washington State toyed with legislation requiring backcountry travelers going, “above tree line” to carry a mobile communication device, but I believe that legislation died in committee (thank goodness).