The Badland Search and Rescue Team is celebrating its tenth anniversary, and for the occasion, they visited Strathmore on Saturday to meet community members and explain what they do.
President of the organization Scott Campbell explained they're a volunteer organization with a very important job.
"Our major job is going to look for lost, missing, overdue people that are in outdoor settings. we also assist law enforcement with evidence based searches as well as long term missing person investigations."
While the service is important, Campbell explained they're not that busy, which is a good thing. He said most people don't get lost in Wheatland County, as most have phones, and with farms everywhere a lost person could go there and get help. However, when they do get called, it's usually quite serious.
"When we do get called for lost person stuff, it's normally people that are high risk, that don't recognize that they're lost, whether to mental health issues or they don't want to be found, or people that are incapable of calling for help, like children or people that are potentially injured. So we're a low call volume but a high risk region."
Campbell said the organization has found people in the past, like a lady near Hussar with dementia who walked away from the family farm. Rescue planes and around 130 volunteers showed up to help with the search, and thankfully she was found ok.
Being a volunteer for this team takes dedication and a lot of work, but Campbell said the work is worth it because of the people they've been able to help. He explained he was inspired to start the organization when he thought about people he's encountered before who may have died.
"I saw this lady starting to walk across the road. It was January, bitterly cold. She was wearing light pants and a light jacket, and I recognized and knew that she had dementia related issues. I went out to talk to her and she thought she was just a teenage girl going to visit her friend. We were able to get in the vehicle and drive her back to the house and get her safe. If we hadn't come along in like 2 minutes, she would have been across the road, and it's stuff like that that tells me this was a great need."
Another inspiration came when he had his first son, as he worried his son may be like him when he was younger and explore a lot. When he thought about the potential of losing his son, he knew he had to do something to help prevent something like that.
To learn more about the organization or sign up to volunteer, contact The Badland Search and Rescue Team through their Facebook page.
Click HERE to register today!
Fri, May 17, 10:00 AM
Part-time, Permanent, Healthcare