October medical skills training

BAMRU held its annual medical skills training in Huddart Park on October 26-27. Lucas Marciniak, a BAMRU technical member and registered nurse, organized a day of lectures and breakout sessions, followed by a day of awesome scenarios we called the “Medical Olympics”. Twenty-three active BAMRU members showed up, along with five guests and a handful of BAMRU's friends.

Day 1 started out with a fascinating lecture by Dr. Zina Semenovskaya, on wilderness medicine. The group discussed the unique risks associated with environmental exposure, and spent a lot of time deliberating sticky questions about acute mountain sickness (AMS): How do you recognize it in the field? When do you make a decision for search teams to descend? What are early warning signs for the life-threatening forms of AMS?

Dr. Semenovskaya Lectures on Wilderness Medicine

The team then split up into groups by certification level (EMT, WFR, WFA/First Aid), and began rotating through stations manned by knowledgeable BAMRU members. RN Abi Fitzgerald educated first responders and EMTs alike on the value of taking good baseline vital signs and an accurate medical history. Kyle Barbour walked each group through the contents of BAMRU’s jump bags - no one wants to be searching for the right piece of equipment in an emergency! Former BAMRU member and practicing anesthesiologist Dr. Victor Tubbesing mediated a discussion on patient medical scenarios and airway management, and Lucas Marciniak drilled the teams in how to properly package patients with cervical spine immobilization.

Dr. Victor Tubbesing Teaching the Airway Station

Lucas Marciniac, RN, Teaches Litter Packaging and Spinal Stabalization

At the close of the day’s training, some of the group headed home while others camped at Huddart Park (and, after contemplating a dinner of dehydrated food, made a late-night taqueria run instead).

Day 2, the Medical Olympics, began with the creation of mixed certification level teams. Friends of BAMRU as well as some generous paramedic students from Foothill College volunteered to act as patients for the Med Olympics scenarios.

Each team had a full day of patient care! The training scenarios included a hiker with a broken ankle who was having an anaphylactic reaction to a bee sting; a teenager, alone in the park, experiencing food poisoning; a woman having tonic-clonic seizures following head trauma; a diabetic backpacker in DKA who'd left his insulin at home; and a lightning strike on a member of the BAMRU rescue team.

Evacuating a Diabetic Patient in the Medical Olympics 

In addition to each BAMRU member getting invaluable practice with patient care, patient packaging, and equipment handling, each group vastly improved in communication and teamwork over the day. The scenarios also prompted discussions on managing bystanders, interacting with minors, approaching potentially dangerous patients, and handling the incapacitation of a team member.

Overall, the BAMRU members present at the training had the chance to refresh their EMS skills, gain familiarity with BAMRU’s equipment, and experience how rescue teams might conduct patient care in the field. It’s safe to say that no matter the certification level, we all learned a ton!

BAMRU Team: Abi Rankin Fitzgerald, Alexa Fredston-Hermann, Alex Grishaver, Brian Ducay, Charles Dimmler, Chris Seffens, Christiaan Adams, Christopher Nielsen, Dominique Freckmann, Eric Mcdonnell, John Chang, John Zirinsky, Kimberley Craig, Kyle Barbour, Kyle Smith, Lindsay Chromik, Lucas Marciniak, Mike Dacre, Patti Viri, Rachel Allen, Sarah J Roth, Thom Dedecko, Tom Grossman

Personal Rock Skills

If you are going to climb for fun it's a good idea to know how to get yourself out of a pickle.  Better yet, it's a good idea to know how to avoid them.  If you're volunteer mountain rescuer, it's imperative to know both.

The personal rock skills training that we do provides a technical foundation for climbing and self-rescue.  Skills covered include knots, anchors, belaying, rappelling, ascending fixed lines and self-rescue.  On the weekend of June 16th-17th, just under 20 BAMRU team members assembled in Tahoe to review and practice these skills before we move on to technical and advanced technical trainings in the fall.  It was a wonderful weekend that took a lot of planning.  The weather was amazing and it was great to see new BAMRU team members out there on the wall!      

If you are a recreational climber and would like to move on to sport or trad climbing, or even mountain rescue, it is important to know how to help yourself or your climbing partner(s) if things go awry. It isn't safe to rely on one other person who knows what they're doing or to assume that they won't get injured.  So before you play a risky 800 vertical foot of game of follow the leader, check out your local instructors or ask an experienced friend to show you the ropes.  Here is an option for folks in the Bay Area: http://www.mtadventure.com/pages/rock/workshops.html#rescue    

If you do get into a pickle and need help, hopefully we'll be able to be there for you.  Climb safe everyone. 

Tying Purcell prusiks at night
Credit: Alex Grishaver

The practice wall
Credit: Emilie Cortes

Happy Climbers! Credit: Emilie Cortes

Rachel, getting out of a pickle practice.  Credit: Sarah J Roth

Jon  Credit: Emilie Cortes

Credit: Emilie Cortes

SJR takes a well deserved break   Credit: Emilie Cortes

  

Dana Couloir Alpine Training

Another small alpine training has come and gone successfully!  This time, a team of three set out for the summit of Mt. Dana via the Dana Couloir.  At 13,053 feet, Mt. Dana is a wonderful venue for an alpine training as it offers the perfect mix of steep snow (35-45 degrees), 3rd-4th class rock, a rappel on the descent and a taste of what it's like at altitude.  


Kito, Blake and Kyle set out on June 8th and headed over Tioga pass to camp for the night.  On Saturday morning gear was packed, and they hiked from Tioga to Dana Lake, where they set up camp and did some snow skills training.  Blake led the team as they practice snow anchor placements, self arrest, and climbing with a running belay. On Sunday they headed directly up the couloir, placing snow pickets and rock pro along the way up. 


"Despite the low snow levels this year, conditions allowed for solid crampon placements and enjoyable climbing. A few pitches of rappelling and downclimbing followed by a hasty retreat to the trailhead left us at our car just before dark."  -Kito


As some of you may know, Sierra peaks this time of year can often bring unpredictable weather, hail, thunder, lightening and wind and it can come in very fast.  Always have a Plan B and maybe C or D just in case you need to bail off a route due to weather.  As you can see from the photos, they were able to follow Plan A all the way!


Nice work guys!  Thank you Kito for the write up and Kito and Blake for the photos.

Springtime Donner Traverse

Green grass, tulips, and chocolate bunnies are some things that may come to mind when we think of spring.  For BAMRU, it's all about the corn!  Not on the cob, but backcountry spring corn.  Spring is when we get our last licks of snow in before the big melt comes, Tioga pass opens and the climbing season begins.

With the growth of our team, we have recognized the need to create several alpine trainings of smaller size so that everyone can have the opportunity for alpine travel in safe numbers.  In mid-April, a team of four journeyed out to enjoy the long awaited conditions by heading out into the Tahoe backcountry on this year's first in a series of alpine trainings.  With some late snowfall, there wasn't much corn at all.  More like fluffy, fresh powder!  So much in fact that the team had to choose an alternate route due to risky avalanche conditions.

As a reminder, always travel in the backcountry with a beacon, probe and shovel and know how to use them.

  Here are some photos of their powdery journey.

Rigging for Rescue 4/2012

In April, John Gibbs, Blake Gleason and Chris Kantarjiev participated in the Rigging for Rescue course that was offered in Yosemite. Other participants included members of YOSAR, Monterey County SAR, and Douglas County SAR.


We are looking forward to practicing these skills as a team during our advanced technical rescue training in September. 


Here are just a handful of the many awesome shots captured over the week.  

Nice place for a cat nap!

March tRAINings, Operations and Promotions

March finally brought us some of the rain that we had been waiting for all winter long.  With multiple operation periods for one search as well as our SAR Basic training weekend in Huddart Park, as a team we logged almost 500 hours out in the spring weather hiking through mud and rappelling over cliffs.  Working with, and being supported by such wonderful teammates is what kept everyone's spirits up even when enduring physically and emotionally challenging conditions. 

We had 18 guests join us this past weekend for SAR Basic; a 20 hour training intended to orient prospective members to the basic skills required to contribute effectively to a search and rescue operation.  For those that decide to apply and are accepted onto the team, they will be able to participate on searches right away under the guidance of more experienced team members.

Emily & Penny

On day one we covered basic knots, patient assessment, radio communications and navigation before moving on to patient packaging, litter handling and a high angle rescue demonstration.  On day two we were honored to have California Rescue Dog Association and BAMRU member Wayne Behrens and his dog, Penny (a.k.a. "no Penny no"), to review searching with dogs, followed by Ed Daley with an introduction to tracking.  

To wrap up the training, guests were divided into teams, given a briefing and sent out on a mock scenario search.  It was great to see everyone stay focused and working so well together in the rain.  Cold and wet weather makes for a challenging learning environment, so kudos to the guests and instructors for such dedication.

PROMOTIONS AND ENDORSEMENTS

This month Chris Kantarjiev received his third and final endorsement; Navigation & Wilderness Search.  Endorsements indicate that the member has a depth of experience and set of skills in that discipline that allows them to confidently and safely use them in the field.  This means that soon, Chris will be joining the ranks as a Technical Member, BAMRU's highest level of membership.

Jim Lohr was sworn in as a BAMRU trainee after having completed his extensive Sheriff's Office background check.  Jim brings to the team his previous experience with SAR in Southern California and has been an excellent addition.

Abi Fitzgerald was promoted to Field Member after completing all of the required skill sets to do so.  Abi joined the team in Spring of 2010 and is grateful for the guidance and teaching moments that her teammates continue to provide through this process.  

BASARC Training

Over the weekends of February 11 - 12 and 18 - 19, 2012, four BAMRU
members attended and successfully completed Bay Area Search and Rescue Council's (BASARC) Managing the Lost Person Incident (MLPI) course.  One BAMRU member assisted with instruction.

The course discussed search management, particularly the
section chief roles, in all phases of a search from the initial
decision to initiate a call out, through hasty and multiple operational
periods, and through successful finds, suspension decisions,
demobilization, and continued search efforts in the event that a
subject is not found. 


All BAMRU members gained greater knowledge of
the BASARC standard of search management and experience working with
other Bay Area teams in a management capacity.  We extend our thanks to
BASARC for the invitation for us to attend and providing the
opportunity to learn from our search and rescue colleagues.

Additional Promotions of early 2012

We've had such a great start to the year that it's been hard to keep up!

Ranger Gibbs at rock skills training.

Kurt instructing comms to new recruits.

In addition to the members in the previous post, BAMRU also promoted Kurt Gross early this year from trainee to field member.  Kurt is an EMT and spent several seasons as a back country ranger in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park.  Kurt is one of two experienced NPS Rangers on our team, the second being John Gibbs who joined us towards the end of 2011.

Ed Daley kicked off 2012 as another one of our newest Field Members.  If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend that you sit down with him sometime and ask him about his pilot days and about his experience working with NASA....or climbing with Chouinard.

Ed on Andesite ridge in January.

Last but not least, this year we also welcomed John Lissoway onto the team as a trainee.  John is an M.D. who has come the Bay Area to complete a fellowship at Stanford in wilderness medicine.

John L. trying his hand at placing pickets.

Congrats and welcome!  BAMRU is honored to have such a breadth of experience on the team.

All Dressed Up And No Place To Go

What's a mountain rescue team to do when there isn't enough snow in the mountains to bury a picket? Well, if you're all dressed up for snow and there isn't any around, strip a few layers and head to the beach!

This year's unusually low snow fall has us all a bit stirred up. As a team accredited by the Mountain Rescue Association (MRA), each year we are required to go through a re-accreditation process in one of three mountain rescue disciplines; Technical Rock, Technical Snow & Ice, and Wilderness Search. This year, we were slated to join other MRA teams from the region in early March for the technical snow and ice re- accreditation. Sadly, last week the decision was made to postpone the event until next year due to inadequate snow cover.

As San Franciscans have basked in the sun and enjoyed a beautiful "June-uary" here by the bay, BAMRUvians have been cancelling or rescheduling snow trainings, and scrambling to find areas where we can practice these important rescue skills.

The last weekend of January, 12 team members headed up to Tahoe and camped out near Donner Summit. There was just enough snow to demonstrate an avalanche pit and build a few impressive snow shelters. We were able to place snow pickets, build a few bollards, practice beacon searches and a probe line. While we were able to accomplish all of our goals, the snow level was less than impressive. Soon after this lack luster introduction to winter, what little snow there was has continued to melt even more.

Two of our dedicated team members weren't going to let this dry season get in the way ofrefreshing their crevasse rescue skills. Eszter and Chris made the best of the blue skies and headed out to the beach this past weekend to brush up on their Z-rigs and snow anchors.

The results are below:

"It proved impossible to pound a snow picket in vertically more than 6" - at least, not without using a heavier hammer than we had brought. That happens in hard-pack snow sometimes, at which point you either dig a T-slot (bury the picket horizontally) or declare it ice and use a screw.

Digging a shallow T-slot in wet sand proved completely reasonable, which was 
really surprising. It's a lot like digging one in snow - there's enough
cohesion in the sand that the slot maintains enough integrity that you can form
all the component parts and bury the picket and have something that looks like
an anchor.

But it isn't really an anchor. The big difference shows up here: if you stomp on snow, either before digging to "work harden" it, or after burying to compact it, you are forming new, larger, crystal structures that contribute to the integrity of the anchor.

This doesn't happen in sand. So all you have for anchor integrity in the sand is, basically, the weight of the sand plus a *little* "mud effect", where there is some localized cohesion of the particles, basically through the surface tension of water (I'm guessing).

So light tension on the line to simulate a load while building and operating

the system was completely reasonable. But once we started to try to haul even a bodyweight load, the anchor ripped right out."

Hopefully the snow will eventually come, and we will be able to put our beach skills to use. In the meantime, three thumbs up for creative and fun training solutions. Our puffies, shovels, ice axes and pickets are waiting!

Mock Search

This year, with the MRA ice and snow re-accreditation scheduled for early March, BAMRU has begun the recruiting season early. On Saturday January 14th we held the first of two trainings intended to introduce those who are new to search and rescue to the ins and outs of a search scenario.

We started the day at 0800 in Redwood Memorial Park. After brief introductions, the 18 guests were divided up into teams, each led by a BAMRU team proctor. Individuals were assigned roles within their team such as lead medical, navigator and comms (communications). With little to no search and rescue experience, the guests did an impressive job of carrying out their search assignments safely and efficiently.

Along the way we discussed search tactics such as how to call out to a subject, probability of detection in various landscapes, how to safely split up to perform hasty searches up drainages, how to manage clues and even a little bit of tracking.

Once the subject was located the finding team requested the needed resources from CP and we soon all converged in the area where the subject was located. Thinking we were on our way "out of the woods" so to speak, the proctors threw in another twist and one of the team leaders found herself with a lower tib-fib fracture. The guests quickly devised a plan to get her splinted up and carried out of the field.

While one patient was carried out on the shoulders of her teammates, the initial patient was packaged into a litter and the guests proceeded with what became an arduous carry out including a cold stream crossing and a surprise flat tire on the litter wheel which made the evacuation quite difficult. Despite many detours and obstacles the group did a great job and never gave up. It was wonderful to see a group of strangers come together and complete such a difficult task.

After lunch and a well deserved break, the BAMRU attendees set up a high angle system demonstration over the side of a bridge. It was a great opportunity for the guests to get their hands on a 1:1 hauling system and see what it feels like to hoist a patient, a litter and a litter attendant up 25 feet or so during a rescue.

We really appreciate everyone who chose to spend their entire Saturday working with us in the cold shade of the Redwoods. It was a pleasure getting to know you!

Below is a video of the tired team rolling the patient into CP (Comand Post).  Well done team.

2011 Awards and Recognitions

Thanks to all of our dedicated team members, we had a wonderful year in 2011. We celebrated the close of our 40th year of service with a year end holiday party graciously hosted by our recruiting officer, John Mandish. Many thanks to John and the folks at Baker & Mckenzie for allowing us to gather together in their space.

The efforts of every team member and trainee make what we do possible. This past year we recognized a few people on our team who far went above and beyond the regular call of duty.

Searcher of the Year

The 2011 searcher of the year award was presented to Ethan Frantz. In addition to his willingness to assist in our team trainings, Ethan volunteered 166 search hours to the unit in 2011. Ethan is always willing to help newer trainees in the field and

his role as Operations Leader allowed BAMRU to participate on several searches this year. Without someone stepping up to perform this vital role, we cannot deploy team members on a search. Ethan has also been elected to serve as the team's Executive Officer. We are all looking forward to a great year ahead under his leadership.

Member of the Year

Blake Gleason was awarded the member of the year award for 2011. Blake organized and taught multiple trainings this past year, some very technical and in alpine environments which requires a great deal of attention, logistical details, and long hours to make sure that we were all learning the needed skills for technical alpine rescues while maintaining a high level of safety. With searches and trainings combined, Blake volunteered a total of 668 hours to the unit in 2011. With seemingly endless energy he is often the first to volunteer for needed roles, to host skills days at his house, and is one of the newly elected members of our Board of Directors.

Recognition

In addition to Ethan and Blake, BAMRU is very grateful to the following members for their exceptional service to our team:

Sarah Roth: served as executive officer in 2011 and helped us to have a record year in fund raising.

Will Gilmore: BAMRU's secretary whose countless hours behind the scenes is bringing our team a new level of organization.

And to the following for their year's on the team:

Wayne Behrens (25yrs)

Tom Lass (20 yrs)

Gerald Stone (10yrs)

Bill Parker (5yrs)

Ben Yaffe (5yrs)

We are very lucky to have such wonderful teammates and look forward to getting to know more skilled searchers during the 2012 recruiting season!

Fall Training Summary

It's been a busy fall for the Bamruvians.

We kicked off the season of change with a succesful North Peak summit in September; the final in a series of summer alpine trainings which brought us to Mt. Abbot, Laurel and Conness.

In October, we held our medical training in Redwood City. This two day course was designed for SAR volunteers and presented by Tom Lass (Firefighter Paramedic) and Dr. John Lissoway of Stanford.  We covered patient care issues encountered in outdoor and high altitude emergencies, basic patient assessment, triage in the wilderness, wilderness emergency scenarios and use of various search and rescue equipment. 

For November's training we found ourselves hanging over a rocky ledge in a Berekeley park as we reviewed and refined skills from triangulating to building and running technical rope hauling systems.  Our skills training day  is an opportunity for team and field members to get important, hands on skills practice in any area.

This past weekend, we took the opportunity to stay local once again before the snow hits, and we practiced setting up the field antenna with our beloved truck "Baby Blue".  The field antenna can be set up to extend well above the height of the truck and provides us with a better radio range for vital communications on searches.

This month, members of BAMRU will be digging out their snowshoes, crampons and ice axes as we say goodbye to the fall and prepare for the winter season.  This winter our team will be readying ourselves for participation in the Mountain Rescue Association's snow and ice re-cert on March 3rd, 2012 in June Lake.         

Mock Search Training

On Saturday, March 26th, BAMRU conducted a Mock Search Training with 18 guests that have expressed interest in joining BAMRU. The scene was cold and rainy, and provided a great venue for an introduction to our people and search techniques.

During the mock search, we organised our group into 5 teams, and handed out search assignments. Our victim was placed somewhere near the swollen Pescadero Creek, where he had fallen and suffered a sprained ankle, with a possible spinal injury and symptoms of diabetes.

The finding team quickly started the patient assessment process, while maintaining c-spine precautions. Another guest crafted an improvised rigid splint using trekking poles, duct tape and emergency blankets. They administered food and water to elevate the patient's level of consciousness, and kept him insulated.

The team did a terrific job with our patient.

To wrap up the day we discussed guest's next steps before the April Meeting (completing the ICS-100 course), previewed the SAR Basic Training in April, and reviewed BAMRU's application and interview process.

This training was completed while BAMRU was simultaneously responding to a Mutual Aid search. Many thanks to all our guests, and to BAMRU members who led this training.

MRA Recertification

Last weekend, BAMRU completed the annual Mountain Rescue Association (MRA) recertification, this year held near Lone Pine, CA.

The Lone Pine Recert focused on technical rock rescue. Teams were engaged in scenarios involving an injured climber who was immobile in a high-angle environment. Once the subject was located, teams were expected to administer appropriate medical treatment, then extricate and transport the subject back to a command post.

On all accounts, the event was a huge success. BAMRU attended the event on the heels of a number of recent mutual aid responses across the state.