Help - My Loved One Is Missing
by John Bullaro, Lead Evaluator
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Search & Rescue Unit
The Country Sheriff's Search & Rescue Unit (SAR) gets frequent calls to search for lost and missing citizens from the Central Coast area, including Los Osos, Morro Bay, Cayucos, and Cambria. Search subjects come from all age groups: men, women, boys, girls, some with physical disabilities, and more than a few mentally challenged. By far the most common search victim in these coastal areas is the cognitively challenged - those with dementia or full blown Alzheimers. This group of subjects will be the focus of this month's column.
The SAR process is much more than bringing together volunteers and spreading out to look for the missing person. The search and rescue process starts with a trained management staff that dispatches K-9 handlers and their canine partners, trackers, ground teams, motorized units, technical climbers (cliff rescues), and, occasionally mounted posse for the open country. In some cases, the Aero Squadron is dispatched as is the CHP helicopter, H70. A search is a well organized, planned, and precisely executed event that is guided by a variety of search theories, including probability statistics.
A SAR operation cannot begin until someone calls the watch commander at the Sheriff's office. As soon as the subject is deemed missing, the watch commander should be contacted. The watch commander may determine a SAR operation is required. The watch commander then contacts the SAR duty officer who will initiate a callout by pager, cell phones, and email.
Discussion of a typical search operation will covered in another issue of the Journal. In most cases, however, between 20 to 30 volunteers assemble at a predetermined command center, often a CDF Fire Station, schoolyard, churche, or park - even the local cemetary.
For a search to begin (for an Alzheimer's patient, for example) the reporting party (RP) must have an idea where the lost person was going, the last time the person was seen, or some information as to a likely location the individual was heading or direction they walked. In one recent case, an elderly local area Alzheimer's patient rode his bicycle thirty miles to visit an old girlfriend in another city, a girlfriend he hadn't seen in forty years. Obviously, he didn't find her, but the RP knew of the old girl friend, and noticed the bicycle missing, so we had someplace to start looking. I'm sure the former girlfriend would have been flattered the missing subject still remembered her.
Los Osos, Morro Bay, Cayucos, and Cambria have many places a confused and frightened cognitively challenged victim might hide - the ocean, streams, cliffs, drainages, and open country to the east. It is not unheard of for an Alzheimer's patient to walk out into the ocean.
Caring for a cognitively impaired person can be very challenging, whether from dementia/ Alzeheimer, autism, psychosis, or chronic drug use. When a family member or friend finds their charge missing, it is very traumatic. If the subject is not on a road, they are usually in a creek/drainage and/or caught in briars/bushes, often very deep, frequently injured. In some cases, it is days before the victim is found.
The longer the search is delayed, the longer it can take to find the victim, given that the victim can walk at approximately two miles per hour. In one hour, the search area might be 560 square miles. A three-hour delay in starting the search could possibly increase the potential search area to 1680 square miles. Of course, geography can reduce these numbers, but you get the idea. Should it be needed, the Sheriff has a dive team standing by for searches in the ocean or in a reservoir/lake.
Fortunately, there is technology to help locate a victim with cognitive impairment. A radio bracelet is available from the SAR unit that acts like a radio beacon. A search team can often find the victim wearing this bracelet in a matter of hours. Project Life Saver bracelets are on several Central Coast individuals. Anyone can take advantage of this service, which has a very modest fee, by calling the watch commander at the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office. A SAR member will come to your home and explain how the program works.
Residents and visitors on the central coast can be assured a response by a SAR unit will be forthcoming should the need arise.
Future columns will cover how you may become part of SAR, the training required, and how SAR missions are organized.
John Bullaro is an Emeritus Professor in Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Studies from California State University, Northridge, and a retired Lecturer from Cal Poly. For thirty-four years John has taught classes in Commercial Recreation, Tourism Planning, Management and Leadership, and Wilderness Survival. He earned his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University in Organizational Development and Curriculum Design in Higher Education.
John joined SLO search and rescue team in 1994. He moved to Los Osos in 1993 from Southern California, and now lives in Atascadero with wife, Cynthia. He completed California's Managing The Search Function and the Air Force's Inland Search & Rescue Planning. He is a National SAR trainer, and an EMT. John is a current member of the Atascadero Writer's Club and can be contacted by calling 805-440-9529 or at JohnBullaro@slocoastjournal.com.
Wolf image on banner by Don Joseph.
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