As temperatures rise, more people want to get outdoors. Getting outdoors can sometimes mean that a person can venture too far off the grid, which can leave someone with no cell service. That combination of being in a remote location with no way to communicate with the outside world exponentially becomes a dangerous, and sometimes lethal, combination if things turn bad and someone needs to be rescued.
“If you’re out in the wilderness , hunting, hiking, whatever you’re doing, get a GPS locator,” recommends Nicci Urbigkit, Program Director for Northern Wyoming and Montana for Guardian Flight. “This is Wyoming. There are places where you will have no cell service,” she adds. That’s why she is stressing to make sure someone can find you if you’re in the backcountry or if someone is in an unfamiliar spot and they get lost.
GPS locators ping the nearest 911 center, which is Park County dispatch. Urbigkit explains how the process works after someone activates their GPS locator. “Park County dispatch has what’s called our ‘Online Ordering System.’ You can go into the system, drop a pin, and tell [Guardian Flight’s] helicopter where to go.”
The Search and Rescue season is busier in the summer based on warmer weather, easier access to remote areas, and people coming from outside of Park County and Wyoming to explore the natural wonders the Cowboy State has to offer.
“The scene calls do pick up in the summer because we’re out doing stuff…there are more people out-and-about. It’s not uncommon for [Guardian Flight] will be called to a bear mauling,” Urbigkit says. “We have to make sure the scene is safe before we land,” she adds and then chuckles, “We can’t fight bears.”
When a bear may be in the area of a person who needs to be airlifted, Wyoming Game and Fish will assist by either going out to the site ahead of the helicopter or with the crew.
“Summer is definitely [Guardian Flight’s] busy season,” explains Urbigkit. “Unfortunately, there’s more car wrecks and horse [accidents], and ATV wrecks.”
Once a person is loaded into the helicopter, the clinicians make the decision about what the best option is in terms of hospital care for the patient. It depends on the level of care that is needed, says Urbigkit.
“If you have an open bone leg fracture, [Guardian Flight] isn’t going to take you to the rural clinic because that’s something they can’t handle, and they know they can’t. So they will go to a trauma center,” Urbigkit explains. She also says that Wyoming is really good at accessing what care is needed at that moment and hospitals are realistic about their capabilities.
If need be, Guardian Flight helicopters have the ability to take a patient to a major city like Denver or Salt Lake City if that’s where the patient needs to be transported.
