In all it's been a quiet month again, just two missions since the last
meeting. We've been keeping ourselves busy, of course. Our search techniques
eval was well attended, and the 9-person search team that went out was
able to find more than 90% of its clues in about an hour. The litter training
that Mickey and Aaron put on was very well attended. It's good to see our
members getting into the spirit of these trainings and working together on a
regular basis.
The team's had a bit of good publicity lately. "Every Second Counts," the
magazine of the National Safety Council, did an article on wilderness search
and rescue, and Cibola was one of the featured teams. Larry Mervine is quoted
prominently, and three whole paragraphs are spent on describing Cibola! I'll
have a copy of Every Second Counts at the meeting, and they sent a copy to
Larry to keep in the Public Relations committee files. And just recently we
were contacted by a writer from Backpacker magazine who was looking for SAR
workers and SAR subjects to interview for an article he's doing. We'll let
you know how that pans out.
I'm sad to say that our Equipment Committee chair, Chris Murray, has
resigned from that position because of time constraints. I have fished around
for a new chairperson, and Tony Gaier has agreed to do it. Thank you, Tony!
Many of our members are very eager to help out with the team, and I applaud
that; the more people we have working for the team the better for us all. But
I'd like to channel the efforts through the appropriate committees so that
there is no duplication of effort, so that full accountability is possible,
and so that all such activities are conducted in a manner that reflects the
team's policies. So here's a quick run-down of what committees are
responsible for which activities:
Public Relations, Education and Fund-raising Committee (usually
referred to as the PR committee): This
committee is our primary interface with the non-SAR community. This year's PR
committee chair is Larry Mervine. The PR committee is responsible for
arranging
interviews with newspapers and magazines, posters, information tables, and any
other technique that would get Cibola public exposure. It includes
educational presentations to schools, Boy and Girl Scout troops, and Forest
Service "Fireside Chats." But in addition it also includes
solicitation of discounts from vendors for team members --- the act of writing
or calling a vendor to describe the team enough to get them to open up their
purses and donate should be considered a PR activity, and the PR committee
should be involved in that process. If you are interested in any of these
activities, please let Larry know and join up with the PR committee. I'm sure
Larry would appreciate the help.
Equipment Committee: This is the committee that handles purchasing
and maintaining equipment for the team gear cache. They also purchase certain
consumable items that we all use on missions, such as batteries and trail
tape. If you can help acquire gear or are willing to help maintain it, then
please hook up with our gear committee chairman.
Budget committee: The budget committee is responsible for mapping
out the way the team will spend its money each year. Although "fund-raising"
is part of the PR committee's domain, the budget committee has done most of
the work for United Way and the Combined Federal Campaign in recent years. If
you want to help out with those things, please head on over to our budget
committee chair, who is traditionally the Treasurer.
Boots and Blisters
by James Newberry, Training Officer
It's April, I hope everyone had fun at the Cibola Goretex quilting bee
at Pres. Russo's Casa April 1st?
Last month's litter training was right on the mark, what a good training
it was. Great Big Kudos to Mickey and Aaron. I hear they have started
planning the next one. It does this training officer's heart good when
we have lots of members attend the trainings. The instructors work
really hard at making the trainings interesting and informative. Please
continue to show up en mass, it shows them you appreciate their efforts.
** GO TEAM GO **
In keeping with the spirit of this month's holiday, (you know, suffrage
and doing without and being with SAR friends and SAR family), this
month's land navigation training should fit right in. April 21 at 6:30
PM, Bear Canyon trail head, East end of Spain. "All the dog poop in
this area is just the beginning of what's to come, and don't forget
your Full SAR Pack!", the sadistic training officer says with a grin.
May's training will be Escape, the annual SAR conference. Wear your
really cool orange shirts while you are there. You'll want everyone to
know you are with CIBOLA, the Best Darn SAR team in All of New Mexico.
Start planning for June's Training, "the annual summer bivy".
It will be the weekend of June 23 and 24. Rain (liquid sunbeams) or
Shine.
Paratus Et Vigilans
Business as Usual:Meeting Minutes
by Jeff Phillips, Secretary
Minutes of 08 March, 2001 Meeting
Members Attending
26 Members: Mike Dugger, James Newberry, Larry Mervine, Joyce Rumschlag, Adam Hernandez, Frances Robertson, Jeff Phillips, Lili Ziesmann, Tom Russo, Aaron Hall, Brian Koester, Tony Gaier, Paul Donovan, David Dixon, Brian Lematta, Mickey Jojola, Art Fischer, Chris Murray, Janice Campos, Doug Davenport, Erik Aspelin, Charlie Irland, Karen Cavanaugh, Danielle Groeling, Terry Hardin, Steve Kolk.
3 Familiar Faces: Mike Ziesmann, Jennifer Dellinger, Steve Hochmann.
President's Report
Tom opened the meeting at 1915 by introducing the officers. He then had everyone in attendance introduce themselves and their status on the team. There were no first time attendees.
Tom reminded everyone to leave a definative message on the hotline when a mission is called, especially if planning to attend, to help with accountability. He spoke about the pager answering responsibilities of Pager #1, #2 and Tree Tops. Tom agreed to inquire about a "9999" page received from ARES on Mission # 010505.
Membership
David acknowledged the three newest prospective members, Lili Ziesmann, Janice Campos, and Brian campos. David announced the resignation of longtime member Don Gibson. Individual team members will contribute toward a plaque for Don and a party is planned for immediately following the April business meeting.
David reminded mentors to help mentees keep track of their progress with regard to becoming active. He then handed out business cards to members and announced a 40% off coupon from Brunton. An order will be put together by May.
Secretary's Report
Jeff announced plans to write letters of thanks to contributors of the United Way Combined Federal Campaign and others. The Annual Report for the Attorney General is in process.
Treasurer's Report
Brian reported the net income for February and the final 2001 budget after minor adjustments. Brian stated that he is working on Form 990 for use with submittals to Attorney General, NM State Employees Charity Campaign and the United Way Combined Federal Campaign. Finally, Brian asked that members include the nature of the mission on gas vouchers.
Training Officer's Report
James reminded everyone to call the hotline often for information on training and to state intentions to attend evaluations. James made a call for evaluators and for pre-meeting training. He then announced I100/200 and I400 courses (contact Rick Goodman) and conducted a poll for interest in Section Chief courses this year. After discussing the next two training sessions James announced that this year's Escape will be May 4-6 at Bonita Park near Ruidoso. The team voted on reimbursement for Escape. Finally, James implored the team to participate in pre-meeting training sessions in his unique way.
Equipment Committee Report
Chris stated that he is still working to get batteries for the team radios after a second flawed shipment.
Public Relations Committee Report
Larry announced the next PR meeting will be on Thursday, 25 April,
2001 at 1830 at the Frontier restaraunt. He said he will have a table at the Banff Mountain Film Festival.
Medical/Continuing Education Report
Mike announced that all documentation is now in from team members. Mike pointed to the extensive article in the March Newsletter for information about the current designation our medical responders are allowed to perform under and about CEs.
Old Issues
By-law revisions are complete per Brian. Tom will update the Member Guide.
New Issues
Susan Corban will lead a Hike of the Month Saturday, 3/10/01 after the training. It will begin at the South Piedra Lisa Trailhead and will be a bushwack to spots where named rock formations and canyons are clearly visible. Mickey Jojola and Paul Donovan are participating in the Bataan Death March at White Sands in April. Finally, a discussion about the need for crampons and rope on La Luz ensued.
Pinching Pennies
by Brian Lematta, Treasurer
It has been a busy month in the Treasurer's office, finalizing and filing the corporation's Bylaws, and preparing the New Mexico Attorney General's Charitable Organization Annual Report Form, the New Mexico State Public Regulation Commission Nonprofit Corporate Form, the United States Internal Revenue Service Form 990 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, with Schedule A, and the Central and Northern New Mexico Combined Federal Campaign Application for Unaffiliated Organizations, with Attachments A, B, C, E, G and H. Still to be completed is the New Mexico State Employee's Charity Campaign Application, when it comes in the mail. All in all, it's no wonder people go off into the wilderness and get lost!
Who's Who and New
by David Dixon, Membership Officer
Larry Ebaugh and Stephen Hochmann have done their orientations and are our newest prospective members. Welcome to search and rescue guys. Let's all help them out at missions and trainings.
Andy Nielsen and Erik Aspelin have completed their prospective memberships and become our newest active members. Congratulations, you made it! We wish upon both of you many more years of rewarding search and rescue service. Now you can become mentors.
Speaking of being mentors, we all know the experience of being new to the team; trying to understand member requirements, keeping track of trainings and evals, the excitement of our first mission, and hey, all those new personalities. Well you as a mentor can help. A call now and then to your mentee or better yet a few minutes of face to face can really make a difference. If you know they need a specific evaluation that's coming up give them a quick reminder. If you saw them at a mission, give them a call soon after and see if they have any questions. I'll bet they do. Or just talk to them sometime about their job, family, favorite headlamp, anything. Remember how you felt and how much it would have done for you. And although being a mentor is not a requirement of membership, to continue to function as the great team we are we need prospectives to stay with us. Those people need knowledgeable, helpful mentors to make that difference.
(Not a mentor but feeling like you want to be now. Let me know you're interested and I'll fix you up with the next prospective).
Member Spotlights in the newsletter are a great way to get to know each other and further team camaraderie. And we have enough members right now that we can have a new one each month. If you have not done one of these mini-autobiographies, get in line. The procedure for submission is to notify the membership officer (that's me right now) that you have done one. I will then assign you the next available month and give that information to the editors. I'll remind you when it's your turn and you then submit it to the editors before that month's newsletter deadline. (Mike would like it at least a week before the Business meeting). You can then tell your mom to get online and read it.
Coming Attractions
by Tom Russo
So far, nobody has stepped to the plate to do new hikes of the month, feature
articles, or minilessons. There have been a few suggestions for supplementing
trainings with minilessons, but so far no concrete plans for articles have
come of that. Anyone want to help out?
Medical News
by Mike Dugger
Update on Recognition of Wilderness Skills
Readers may recall from last month's medical article the fact that specialized wilderness protocols learned as part of First Responder (FR) or Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training are not recognized by the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Bureau in New Mexico. As far as the state is concerned, we are simply FRs or EMTs. Regulations as of today require "special skills approval" to do anything that is not in the scope of practice listed for your level in the EMS regulations. This is a very involved process that requires documentation of training, maintenance, quality control, and continuous improvement. During the last month, Cy Stockhoff of the EMS Academy at the University of New Mexico has spoken to the EMS Bureau in favor of officially recognizing wilderness training. Apparently, there have been efforts for years to get EMS to recognize the wilderness component of our training, and Cy's preliminary meeting with the Medical Director Committee went "better than hoped for." There was a formal meeting of this committee on April 6, the results of which are too late to be posted to this version of the newsletter. I'll let you know how it turned out next month. Cibola and several other teams around the state provided letters of support to Cy for his meeting with EMS. It will require changes to legislation, and I am not sure what form "official recognition" would take. My guess is, those who received wilderness training initially and updated that training during regular refresher courses would be allowed to practice certain wilderness skills under "medical control," otherwise with the approval of our team's Medical Director.
Types of CEs for FR Renewal
Last month we reported the requirements to renew EMS medical provider levels such as FR, EMT-B, EMT-I, and EMT-P (the letters after EMT stand for Basic, Intermediate, and Paramedic, respectively). Each level has specific requirements of continuing education (CE) course credits. CEs also come in flavors of nonmedical, Basic Life Support (BLS), Intermediate Life Support (ILS) and Advanced Life Support (ALS). So, of particular interest to most of us, FRs require 8 hours of BLS CEs every renewal period, while EMT-Bs require 24 hours of CEs of which at least 12 must be BLS.
I inquired with the EMS Bureau whether ILS or ALS CEs could be used by FRs to fulfill the requirement of 8 contact hours of BLS medical CEs. In one respect, the course material in the former would be more advanced than that in BLS courses, so would exceed the requirement. Conversely, ILS/ALS course material might teach skills beyond the FR level of knowledge or ability to practice. EMS replied that at present the ILS or ALS CEs would not count toward the 8 hour BLS medical CE requirement for FRs. This may change in the future.
Medical Knowledge Required of CE Course Instructors
Mickey and I have been planning to request medical CEs for some of the training we already do, such as patient packaging and litter hauling, as well as develop new training with a medical focus. Mickey reported last month that as FRs we cannot instruct courses at the BLS medical level. I asked EMS to specify for us what level of medical training is required to instruct courses at different levels. For BLS medical CEs, the instructor must be an EMT-B or above. For ILS or ALS CEs the instructor must be an EMT-I or EMT-P. That rules out getting CE credit for the training we already do, unless we can get an EMT-B to teach the course. However, we can still put together a review session or two with our Medical Director, and get credit for that. Perhaps we can come up with 2 to 4 hours of CEs this way annually, if we can persuade our Medical Director to conduct a couple of sessions.
Medical Training at ESCAPE
The planned schedule indicates that there will be a medical track at the Emergency Services Council Annual Preparedness Event (ESCAPE - bet you wondered what that stood for, huh?). This is our annual statewide search and rescue conference for New Mexico, and will be held May 4-6, 2001 near Ruidoso, NM. The courses and CE credit hours are:
First Person Aid or How To Take Care of YOU - BLS, 1.5 hour
Cold Weather Injuries - ALS, 1.5 hour
Patient Care by Radio - ALS, 1.5 hour
Acute Mountain Sickness is NOT Really Cute - ALS, 1.5 hour
Medical Tools for SAR - BLS, 1.5 hour
I have informal confirmation that the above hours and levels have been approved by EMS. Too bad in a way that more BLS hours were not arranged, since they can be used by all EMS levels while ALS can only be used by EMT and above. Just out of curiosity, I wonder how many EMT and above will be at ESCAPE versus FRs? Might be worth getting a show of hands at the opening general meeting. If this stands, our FRs could pick up 3 hours of BLS medical CEs at ESCAPE, which is less than it could have been but better than nothing. There is nothing wrong with a FR attending the ALS courses, though, and we will probably get some useful information from them. However, we'll get no CE credit toward renewal of our certification. Remember that advanced registration for ESCAPE must be postmarked, phoned or emailed by April 15.
Member Spotlights
by Aaron Hall
Well, you've seen me on a few missions and now I'm a top of tree, so it's probably time that I told you all something about me and how I became interested in search and rescue. I'll start with my childhood. I grew up on a small ranch in South-central Oklahoma near a little town called Ada. My family raises beef cattle and keeps a few horses there. That's where my love of the outdoors really began. I have a twin brother and we grew up playing and working together on the farm. As kids we were rarely indoors unless food was on the table.
When I was a teenager we both got involved with a very good Boy Scout troop where I learned to love hiking and camping. After high school, my brother and I both went to college in Tulsa, Ok to study Mechanical Engineering. The summer after my sophomore year in college I went to work for the Boy Scouts as a Guide at the Northern Tier High Adventure Base in Ely, Minnesota. My job that summer was to lead small groups of scouts on ten-day canoe trips into the Canadian wilderness. On one trip, I got lost. I got lost with three other members of my crew in the middle of 5 million acres of wilderness in Northern Manitoba that had required an hour ride on a float plane to get into. The chance of rescue by anyone other than the rest of my crew (who, as it turned out, were almost as lost) was exactly zero. Fortunately, we found each other after about 6 hours of searching. That experience taught me just how quickly an outdoor adventure can turn into a frighteningly serious situation. The summer ended, I went back to college and later on to graduate school in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (Materials Science this time). I continued to hike and camp whenever I found the time and I never forgot my experience in Manitoba. In fact, I often wondered what could have happened and how long it would have been before anyone would have come to look for me.
Sandia Labs brought me to New Mexico at the beginning of last year when I accepted a Post Doc position working with Mike Dugger. I think Mike told me about search and rescue almost as soon as I met him. I decided almost as quickly that this would probably be a great thing for me to do. I know I sure wanted someone to come look for me when I was lost. I also figured that search and rescue would help me improve my outdoor skills, let me explore some of New Mexico's wilderness, and introduce me to a really good bunch of people. I was right.
Web News
by Tom Russo
Only one little new feature to the website this month: on the mission logs
page you can now get some statistics on how many and what types of missions
the team has been called for since 1998. Click on "Display CSAR mission
involvement from 1998 to date" on the mission logs page, and you'll be
presented with a table of missions broken down by year and mission type.
Click on a year and you'll get a pie chart of the types of missions that year,
click on a number of missions and you'll get a table of all those missions
tallied by that number. This is the same as the table of recent missions:
click on the mission number and you'll get the mission log. I hope that those
of you with as much time on your hands as I have will find this a source of
countless seconds of good, clean fun.
The team website can be accessed at http://www.cibolasar.org/
Statewide SAR Notes
by Mike Dugger
Just a quick reminder to new members who have not taken their PACE exams yet. I'm referring to the field certification exam administered by the Policy Action Committee on Education, that tests basic knowledge of Safety, Search Techniques, Gear and Clothing, Map and Compass, and Communications. The planned schedule for ESCAPE suggests that PACE exams will be given all day Saturday and up until the mock mission on Sunday (May 5 and 6). Since this is only one of two regularly scheduled examination sessions all year, it would be a great time for new members to take the tests. Remember that passing this evaluation is required for membership in Cibola SAR.
Well, you've seen me on a few missions and now I'm a top of tree, so it's probably time that I told you all something about me and how I became interested in search and rescue. I'll start with my childhood. I grew up on a small ranch in South-central Oklahoma near a little town called Ada. My family raises beef cattle and keeps a few horses there. That's where my love of the outdoors really began. I have a twin brother and we grew up playing and working together on the farm. As kids we were rarely indoors unless food was on the table.