FRISCO, Colo.—According to Summit County Rescue Group mission coordinator Dan Burnett, if you’re going to go up on a mountain and get seriously hurt, Summit County is the place to do it.
“The Summit County Rescue Group is one of the most active mountain rescue groups in the United States,” he said. “We have several things we can be proud of, and one of the biggest things we have to be proud of is the relationship we have with the Summit County Ambulance Service. When we have calls that require a higher level of medical need, we can take paramedics with us that bridge that gap significantly—to the point where it makes the difference between life or death.”
The Summit County Ambulance Wilderness Paramedics are comprised of fully certified paramedics from the ambulance service who work in conjunction with SCRG. Members go through training with both organizations: They must pass the rescue team’s rigorous six-week training process, as well as obtain additional medical training in backcountry medicine from the SCAS. Marc Burdick, director of SCAS and the paramedic arm of search and rescue, said members tend to already have backgrounds in wilderness medicine through past experiences as ski patrollers, rafting guides or backcountry guides.
The group was formed in 1994. Tom Resignolo, now the EMS coordinator at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center, was one of the first members—one of only four. He said the group formed after a few calls to the SCRG that required advanced life support in the field. Both a paramedic and a member of the rescue group at the time, he said other SCRG members appreciated his paramedic knowledge (SCRG members have a CPR certification and advanced first aid training) and set up protocols for ambulance service members to become trained in backcountry rescues.
“We didn’t really want to have paramedics just jumping off the ambulance and hiking five miles in,” Burdick said. “Maybe they didn’t have the right footwear, they weren’t prepared for overnight or they didn’t have the right clothing or food. (Search and rescue) wanted people who were prepared.”
“Since then it’s been a great alliance,” Resignolo said.
Wilderness paramedics aren’t deployed to every SCRG mission, but only those with known injuries or avalanches with a possible burial. Burdick said they probably average about 20 missions a year, compared with SCRG’s 120. They will also accompany the rescue group if they’re searching for someone with a known medical problem, like a diabetic. And when paramedics do arrive in the backcountry, their biggest task is usually pain management. They’re authorized to start an IV 10 miles into the woods, even if they can’t get in touch with the hospital first to approve it.
“It doesn’t just benefit the patient; the mission itself goes better,” Burdick said. “If the patient’s more comfortable, it helps the whole search and rescue team run the mission.”
Burdick said paramedics also carry special concerns into the backcountry; they have medicine that needs to be kept warm, and equipment that needs to be maintained.
When Burnett said Summit County is the best place to get injured in the backcountry, it’s because most rescue groups don’t have paramedics accompanying them.
“Our program is regarded as one of the first in the state and the country,” Burdick said.
Eagle County now has a similar group, but are studying Summit’s to see how they operate.
“We have calls that are oftentimes intense,” Burnett said. And that little bit extra the Summit County paramedics provide “absolutely makes a difference of life and death.”
Burnett said a few years ago, a woman in a snowmobile accident was saved by the paramedics’ presence. She was “within two minutes of death,” and wouldn’t have survived the ride to the hospital without early intervention.
“We do not take them for granted,” Burnett said. “The ambulance service makes a significant difference; it costs them to provide that program to us.”
“We dedicate equipment, training time and staff time to making the program work,” Burdick said. “We work in support of the search and rescue team.”
Resignolo is no longer a member, but said he misses being out on the field.
“It’s a unique experience, it’s an opportunity to use our skills to some advantage to help people,” Burdick said. “It’s a challenging environment, so there is some enjoyment to the challenge. It’s nice to help people and make them more comfortable.”
Burdick said one of his most memorable missions was a few years back, when a woman broke her femur skiing above Janet’s Cabin. The weather was so bad by the time she was rescued—around midnight—the group had to extricate her to the cabin for the night and provide pain medication before a helicopter could complete the rescue in the morning.
Matt Schultz, a Wilderness Paramedic for six months now, said he joined the ambulance service a year-and-a-half ago after working for ski patrol. And while he hasn’t been able to go on a mission yet, he feels good about being available to help those injured enjoying the same place he loves—the backcountry.
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Information from: Summit Daily News,
