Venturing Crew Scouts from units 903, 579, 335 and 224 participated in a unique high adventure experience. These Venturers teamed up with law enforcement, search and rescue, EMS representatives, and the Portneuf Life Flight Services to conduct hands on search and rescue exercise.
The location of this exercise is in itself a daunting task, given it was January 25th and 26th. The Snow measured between five and six feet in depth. The temperature at 7:00 a.m. was a nice cool -2 degrees.
Crew members used cross country ski’s and snowshoes to travel the four miles through the mountains of Southeastern Idaho into Camp Bartlett, one of the Trapper Trails Council’s premier Boy Scout Camps.
On Friday night crew members explored the backcountry, made preparations for the next day and played games around a warming fireplace with members of the Portneuf Life Flight and Idaho State Police Academy Cadets.
On Saturday Morning Camp Bartlett became a beehive of activities as law enforcement from Bear Lake County Sheriffs Office, EMS representatives from Bear Lake County, Caribou County, and numerous search and rescue members arrived. Search Teams with Search Dogs from Idaho, Utah and Wyoming were scheduled to participate in this training exercise but with the prior evening’s winter storm were called out on actual searches.
At 8:30 a.m. Avalanche and Beacon training began with crew members getting a first hand experience. Portneuf Life Flight Nurses from the Eastern Idaho Medical Center demonstrated proper patient assessment, treatment and care. The demonstration moved into hands-on with each crew member teaming up with others for hands on application. Each team was now tasked to practice assessing a volunteer patient who had injuries, followed by properly treating, splinting, and packaging the victim in preparation to be transported to a Command Center or and awaiting a Life Flight Helicopter.
After lunch all present were separated into teams. A real life practical exercise began to unfold. Each team was given GPS coordinants where an accident with unknown injuries and an unknown number of victims was located. Their mission: to locate the victims, evaluate injuries, assess the team and patient needs then obtain the necessary equipment and personnel needed to treat the victims and transport them back to the command center.
Throughout the exercise the search teams maintained contact with the Incident Commander Sheriff Craig Bunn of Bear Lake County. Sheriff Bunn as the Incident Commander coordinated equipment and personnel needed for the search teams to facilitate the transportation of the victims back to the Command Center. At the Command Center the victims received further medical treatment or evacuation.
At the conclusion a course evaluation a debriefing took place bringing the training full circle.
This exercise not only provided these young adults with valuable hands on training, but fulfilled several of the requirements of the Venture program. In the words of the Venturers who participated when asked to describe this event their first words were “WOW, INCREDIBLE, I CAN’T WAIT 
UNTIL NEXT YEAR, THAT WAS SO COOL!”
Trapper Trails Council is accepting reservations for this event in 2009.
For further information contact Gary Weeks @ 801-475-7498
2 comments:
Great pictures!
I had a great time. I learned a ton and the people here knew what they were doing. The snow rescue simulation was awesome.
H- Venturer participant from 903
Post a Comment