The vast expanse of Larimer County’s wilderness presents considerable challenges for search and rescue first responders. However, a collaboration between Larimer County Search and Rescue and UCHealth Lifeline helps to mitigate some challenges and enhance community safety and preparedness.

Lifeline is a critical care air and ground transport arm of UCHealth Emergency Medical Services. Lifeline offers community support by partnering with first responders in Larimer County to help in search and assist missions, flying from low-lying river valleys to lofty mountain peaks. Lifeline also helps to back up police during tactical calls and provides essential training for first responders.

A missing boy in the Rawah Wilderness

It was nearly dark on a summer day in 2022 when a call about a missing 14-year-old boy came into Allison Yelton, a volunteer for Larimer County Search and Rescue.

“There was this sense of urgency because of the distance, time and this being a kid,” Yelton said.

The boy had been camping with his church group about 6.5 miles from any roadway within the remote Rawah Wilderness in northwest Larimer County. Yelton and her crew had about a 2-hour drive to the trailhead and, from there, another 6.5-mile hike to the group’s camp. Search and rescue crews organized that evening but had to wait until morning before setting out.

Around 9 p.m., UCHealth Lifeline Pilot Samantha Poirier and two medics equipped with night vision goggles, boarded the chopper and took off from UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. They spent an hour scanning the vicinity where the boy had disappeared, but they were not successful. They returned in the morning to continue offering support.

At dawn, some rescuers set out on horseback. Yelton and Trouble, her 10-year-old certified search and rescue dog, and other rescue crew members were airlifted by Poirier to a safe landing area about a mile from the camp.

“With canines, they’ll spend all their working energy just getting to a scene,” Yelton said. “My dog was already 10, so it wasn’t realistic to hike in 6.5 miles and then have him be effective to search.”

When they arrived at camp, Trouble picked up the boy’s scent. Trained to find directional travel, Trouble located the area where the boy had spent the night. Soon after, a camp counselor came across the boy. The boy was hungry and thirsty, covered in bug bites, but OK. He traveled out of the wilderness with rescuers by horseback.

“Lifeline was so critical to that search,” Yelton said. “Getting us there quickly was huge, saving us drive and hike time. Getting us on scene quicker is important, especially in those remote areas.”

Finding three young women from Longmont in the wilderness

In another rescue mission, Lifeline transported three very dehydrated and tired young women out of the wilderness after getting lost and spending the night outdoors.

“We found the one (missing woman) in the morning, and she was so weak that I had to put an IV in her in the woods,” said Jeffrey “Bam” Basamanowicz, emergency operations medical coordinator for the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office. “The women didn’t meet the criteria for a critical patient, but Lifeline still transported them to a secondary location so they could get to ground transportation.

“The amount of time (Lifeline) shaved off that call and the number of responders we would have had to commit to the field to complete that mission would have been vast,” Basamanowicz said.

Disabled veterans get ‘stuck’ in remote areas on adventure trip

The nature of the calls can vary. For instance, at the start of a five-day trip for disabled veterans through No Barriers USA, an adventure recreation organization, two vans hauling 12 participants got bogged down on a backcountry road about 20 miles west of Red Feather Lakes, Colorado.

The group’s leaders, led by Michael Smith, then a program manager for the organization, had started a self-rescue plan. Co-workers were making a four-wheel drive to the area to meet the participants and extract the vans. Unbeknownst to them, a participant had hit SOS on his iPhone.

Lifeline got the call and headed to the remote area with no information besides “SOS.” After making a landing a half-mile from the scene, the Lifeline crew talked with Smith and verified it wasn’t an emergent situation.

“They had to land and make contact,” Smith said. “But I was so worried we’d be charged, but they assured me there would be no charge and explained what they could do to help us.”

Lifeline radioed for the Mountain Rescue team, which arrived with a suitable tow truck.

Basamanowicz said Lifeline often helps to search for people from the air to pinpoint their locations, which is a huge help because it speeds ground rescues and mitigates exposure to the elements for the person who is lost.

“Those (Lifeline) people were amazing and have my gratitude,” Smith said. “We got our participants out and back to base camp, where they had a great time and a good story to tell.”

Lifeline serves as a ‘backup’ for the SWAT team.

Lifeline also works with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office to offer assurance of nearby lifesaving care.

When the sheriff’s office activates its SWAT team to handle a situation involving a violent individual, there is a higher risk of potential injury to officers and the suspect than there is during regular police calls, Basamanowicz said. When those incidents occur in more remote communities, like Estes Park, Colorado, EMS ground transportation can take more than 40 minutes to get an injured individual to an appropriate critical care facility, such as Medical Center of the Rockies, a Level I Trauma Center.

“Lifeline is amazing at backing us up on tactical calls,” Basamanowicz said. “They will put a helicopter on the ground in the area of the call so we know they are ready to transport if an officer or suspect is injured.”

Lifeline’s training programs are a huge part of community partnerships’ successes

UCHealth Lifeline has five helicopters stationed across the Front Range, covering an area from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to La Junta, Colorado. It also has a Pilatus PC-12 fixed-wing aircraft and three ambulances that four pilots, 14 medics, and two mechanics operate to transport critical patients and assist with requests from Larimer County.

The expertise of Lifeline’s crew allows them to offer training to search and rescue crews as well as officers and other first responders in the communities it serves.

Yelton, the former training coordinator for Larimer County Search and Rescue, said Lifeline’s training is invaluable.

“The main benefit of their training is basic safety,” she said. “UCHealth and other helicopters are often on the scene on our cases, and our team needs to know how to operate safely around that helicopter.

“Our job also is to find a safe landing zone for that helicopter, so training helps us understand what to look for. And in the wilderness, there are higher risks for the pilot and crew in a helicopter, so they train us on basic procedures and communication, including emergency procedures like how to shut down a helicopter.”

Training is usually held at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies. Attendees spend about two hours in the classroom and then get hands-on experience in a helicopter. Canine first responders—both search and rescue and police dogs—also attend training to get the exposure they need to a helicopter so they’re ready for rescue and tactical situations.

“We want attendees to be comfortable both in and out of the helicopter,” Poirier said.

Lifeline also attends career days and many community events, especially in smaller, remote towns, to educate the public about Lifeline and its public services.

“So when you see us flying around, we aren’t always doing patient transport,” Poirier said.

Basamanowicz said the community partnership and outreach are priceless.

“Lifeline is a tremendous asset to our region,” he said. “All these things they’ve done to assist is incredible, and we are grateful for all of it.”