SAR: Patient wanders away from rehabilitation facility

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20130611/NEWS07/130619778/0/SEARCH

A trail up the mountain starts adjacent to the facility, hopefully the summit was searched earlier but she was hiding

Hopefully, if I ever get put in a "facility" there will be the opportunity to "walk away". Even with only pajamas would be OK.

the facility she walked away from is mainly for people with traumatic brain injuries... glad, she was found and is o.k.

I always comment that its prepared hikers who make a huge difference in the Whites. There are many rescues performed each year during which prepared hikers assist those who, for whatever reason, find themselves in the wilderness in a bind without any resources. My take away from this article is that, despite a two day search effort, it was a hiker who wound up finding the girl. Taking Roy's many posts as a whole, its clear that he's an individual who also promotes and respects responsible hiking, and also points out instances where the "usual suspects" in WMNF assist those in need.

Thanks for the post, Roy.

Am very glad this lady was found - with her medical situation and lack of clothing it could have ended badly. Hope she'll be OK.

Without mentioning the specifics of her case in anyway - it does remind us that the current proposed "solutions" for funding F&G's SAR efforts should include provisions for situations such as this one. Does anyone know if they do?

I don't think anyone would disagree with you, Maddy. However, a rescue is a rescue - staff have to be paid, gasoline purchased, etc. The money has to come from somewhere.

Will this be counted as a 'hiker' in the SAR statistics? Reason being, this is not the first time a patient at that facility has gone missing (I don't mean that as a criticism of the facility) on Green Mountain in recent years. For those not familiar with the area, the High Watch Trail is located next to the facility's dumpsters. Are these instances all rolled into the hiker category?

rocket21 said:

Will this be counted as a 'hiker' in the SAR statistics? Reason being, this is not the first time a patient at that facility has gone missing (I don't mean that as a criticism of the facility) on Green Mountain in recent years. For those not familiar with the area, the High Watch Trail is located next to the facility's dumpsters. Are these instances all rolled into the hiker category?

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It should not be. Quoted from the NH fish and game site:"The elderly, missing children and escapes from medical facilities are often of great interest for news outlets and the general public. In spite of the extensive press coverage they receive, these types of incidents account for just 17% of all search and rescue services each year. "

http://www.wildnh.com/Law_Enforcement/sar_funding_FAQs.html

I shudder to think of how certain ailments are going to be removed from consideration from the F&G witchunt, and others are not. I know this sounds cold, and I don't mean it to be, but what will qualify as "elderly"? And, regarding the 17% number, are a couple of high-profile missing hiker cases (i.e. the Mason Case) skewing the numbers toward "legitimate" S&R?

Define "HIKERS".

This thread can continue on the subject of non-hiking rescues. Or, it can go into any one of the recent threads on SAR. That seems like a reasonable thing to discuss and not completely off-topic. Try to limit it to that folks, OK?

Tim

bikehikeskifish said:

This thread can continue on the subject of non-hiking rescues. Or, it can go into any one of the recent threads on SAR. That seems like a reasonable thing to discuss and not completely off-topic. Try to limit it to that folks, OK?

Tim

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I have edited the thread to reduce it to discussion of SAR for non-hikers vs. hikers. Please do not go where it was going earlier or it will disappear.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation,
Tim

I read this article with great interest because Green Mtn. is near our Freedom abode and for over 20 years the High Watch Trail was my default hike when time was limited. I've hiked it over 100 times and once had to visit the main desk of the rehab facility to use their phone to summon a towtruck, when I managed to strand my car on a big sheet of ice at the trailhead. The impression I've formed is that this place serves the gravely impaired. In fact, I've never seen a patient, as far as I know, only staff and visitors. I'm very surprised to learn that this happened once before, and applaud the hunter whose diligence led to this woman's rescue. But what was he hunting in June?

There are legitimate hunting seasons in spring and summer but let's keep the thread from going there.

bikehikeskifish said:

I have edited the thread to reduce it to discussion of SAR for non-hikers vs. hikers. Please do not go where it was going earlier or it will disappear.

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Without permission of the original poster, and carelessly removing from the discussion the information that the individual was clad in pajamas.

Kevin Rooney said:

Without mentioning the specifics of her case in anyway - it does remind us that the current proposed "solutions" for funding F&G's SAR efforts should include provisions for situations such as this one. Does anyone know if they do?

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The current bill only proposes a hiker card at uncertain cost, and a fee for rescues for those who don't have one (or hunting license, etc.)

skiguy said:

Quoted from the NH fish and game site:"The elderly, missing children and escapes from medical facilities are often of great interest for news outlets and the general public. In spite of the extensive press coverage they receive, these types of incidents account for just 17% of all search and rescue services each year. "

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So shouldn't a way be found to bill this 1/6 of the users? In this case, a helicopter was used although state police not National Guard.

Amicus said:

I'm very surprised to learn that this happened once before, and applaud the "hunter" whose diligence led to this woman's rescue. But what was he hunting in June?

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The article I posted calls the rescuer a hiker?

The article I posted calls the rescuer a hiker?

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I was referring to a longer article I read in the Conway Sun. I paste the relevant sentences from that:

A hunter told investigators that his game camera captured her image on Sunday. The hunter brought the image forward about an hour before Joelle was found.

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I had no intention of stirring up any "hunting" ruckus. I was merely surprised because I don't recall encountering any there in June.(Incidentally, I don't think I put the quotes around "hunter" in my first post.)

Definitely an interesting subject when SAR is called for a person who is not a fully capable adult. Whether it's a small child, or an adult with some kind of mental disability, it may be a different case from the case of a fully capable adult. Ther are differences in at least two dimesnsions:

SAR: "Lost person behavior" can be different among some of these folks than among capable folks, and that can change how you search.

"Fee for service" debate: This is another case where IMO it would be a mistake to try to use the facts of the case to try to determine whether to charge a fee for SAR service. The argument of "how disabled were they, and should they have been able to avoid getting lost" will really be no different than the argument of "how reckless were they" for the capable hiker. Both will just end up in the courtroom, and waste a lot of time and money.

I'm glad the disabled person was found, and I applaud the folks that helped find her.

For members who hunt, and there are a lot of them here, hunters as "hunters" is seen as flattering as the term "hiker"

Okay, I've pretty much reached my limit with this one.
There are no serious proposals to impose any fee for services provided in such cases. The patients are generally persons with fairly serious neurological issues, occasionally as the result of motor vehicle accidents, strokes and the like. The facility in question (and some family members) have made voluntary contributions in past instances like this case. You can see examples at http://tinyurl.com/meu6sj9.
People walk away from facilities like this, from assisted living centers, from nursing homes, etc. all the time. It is one of those things that other states take care of with a SAR appropriation from general revenues. Unfortunately, the rockheads in the NH legislature take pride in not doing what makes sense here.

Amicus said:

I was referring to a longer article I read in the Conway Sun

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Thank you for posting that article which is longer than the one I read in hard-copy, which I couldn't find a link to so my link was to a shorter one yet.

Hunters put out game cameras before the season to identify good hunting areas before the season starts, often moving the camera to many places.

Think an attorney wrote that statement from Lakeview?