SARA Happenings, March 9, 2000

Table of Contents

• Provincial SAR Conference
• Lethbridge Region Mock Search
• Grande Prairie TSAR Training Schedule
• SAR Venture 2000
• Edmonton Regional Search and Rescue GSAR Course Schedule
• Golf Tournament
• SARVAC Trip Plans, Safety Cards
• Search Managers Course
• SAR Fundamentals, Parkland SAR
• Standards and Training Committee Report
• Call for Statistics
• Bear Safety Course
• SAR Alberta Board Meeting
• Introducing SARA Happenings Co-Editor
• Let's Hear from You!

Hi,

This is a regular mailing intended to improve communication within the Search and Rescue community in Alberta. It's going out to over 130 e-mail addresses that are listed as the primary contact of SAR Alberta member groups or which were requested to be added to the mailing list. If you want to be added or removed from the list, please send mail to sara-happenings-request@castrov.cuug.ab.ca.

Here are some of the happenings in SAR in Alberta:

The 4th Annual Provincial SAR Conference will be April 7-9 2000 at the Harvard Business Park (old Penhold base just south of Red Deer).

Please send in your registration soon, so we have an accurate count of participants.

Your group and past attendees have been mailed information packets.

For more details contact: Rodney Dietrich, Conference Chair, (403) 343-6219, E-mail: accountinggod@home.com

To Register contact: Nelson Johnson, Registration Coordinator, (403) 431-5634.

The Lethbridge region will be hosting a mock search exercise March 18. For Details Contact : Chris Jorgenson, Lethbridge Regional Representative (403) 327-1950 E-mail : cjorg@telusplanet.net

Grande Prairie Technical Search and Rescue Association is offering these following training activities:

March 17 - 19 - SAR Fundamentals

April 15 - Mock Search

May 15 - Dive training

May 20 - Highline Exercise

June 17 - Swift water

July 22 - Mantracking

For details on how to be involved Contact: Noel Hill (780) 532-5449 E-mail njh@telusplanet.net

May 26-28 2000, several SAR groups and Tasking Agencies from the Calgary area are taking part in this joint exercise. Observers are welcome and will be briefed at the SAR AB 4th annual conference. To find out how to become involved Contact: Guy Kerr E-mail : kerr@ezpost.com OR Greg Ursel E-mail : Greg.Ursel@home.com.

The following courses are currently being offered :

March 22, 26 Navigation with practical. Fee $20.00

April 10, 11, 13, 15, 16 Wilderness First Aid. Fee $100.00

April 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 Wilderness First Aid. Fee $100.00

May 10+14 Wilderness Survival with practical. Fee $20.00

May 24+28 Wilderness Survival with practical. Fee $20.00

For more info contact: Daryl Black pager: 671-4739 or (780) 992-1346 Dar Holden pager 671-1328 or (780) 457-4313 Please leave a message.

Parkland SAR, CSDA, and Edmonton Regional GSAR SAR Golf Tournament will be held at the Victoria Golf courses in Edmonton on June 17, 2000. An invitation is sent out to the SAR world and beyond to join them in 18 holes of golf, dinner, with prizes to be won. Cost: $65.00 per person. For more details Contact: Shannon Dyrland (780) 464-7063 Fax: (780) 464-6683 E-mail: sdyrland@hotmail.com

SARVAC (the national volunteers association) has trip plans and wallet safety card available for all volunteer SAR groups to give away as they please. Each trip plan has a blank on it for the local group to stamp their name on it.

Contact: Paul Olmstead polmstead@compusmart.ab.ca.

RCMP "K" Division will be hosting its next Search Managers Course in Edmonton, June 12-16, 2000. It is suggested that individuals be recommended by a tasking agency. For more information, please contact Larry Moore tvulm@connect.ab.ca, 780 412-5393.

Parkland SAR (Stony Plain) is hosting a SAR Fundamental course March 18-19 and the April 1-2. The hours are from 08:30 to 16:00 each day. Contact Gerry Gallagher SurvivalAB@aol.com 780 968-8857.

On February 5 the Standards and Training Committee met in Red Deer. This meeting was to create a new direction for the committee to coordinate, develop and encourage SAR Training in the Province. The present SAR Standards were reviewed and little change will take place, as they are the basic standards. Some wording will change and updated copies will be available at the SAR Conference and on the net in the spring.

Some of the things we are looking at defining are the Low Level Rope Courses and contents so this training can be available for all the groups. The committee will attempt to locate all the trainers and venues for the courses in Alberta and make this information available, so groups only have to come to one place to locate information on trainers and courses. Examples of these will be Avalanche Aware, Ice Rescue, Snowmobile and boating safety. The group will try to have more Mantracking Instructors available in 2001 and we are looking at Provincial training for interested members of all groups to train in Peer Support and Critical Incident Stress Management.

Depending on opportunities we will try to locate funding so that we can pay the costs for some training courses in Alberta.

A number of subcommittees were formed with more to come. The members of this committee are ready to go to work and will work very hard on their own time, bringing positive results to our meetings. The Standards and Training committee will make themselves available at the Provincial Conference to speak on issues and hear your ideas. It is time we as a Provincial Group moved ahead on some important issues, and keeping your groups informed and up to date will be our biggest reward.

Contact Paul Olmstead polmstead@compusmart.ab.ca.

Each year, we ask all SAR organizations in the province to administer and send back to SAR Alberta, a completed Statistical Request Form. What is the significance of this data collection to your organization you may ask? There are many reasons for you to complete the simple one page form and send it in to SAR Alberta:

Grants -- Many of you are aware of Ground SAR's 25% requirement regarding the NIF grant. However, organizations such as the Coast Guard and Department of National Defense do not have to front the 25% and they tend to get the majority of the money. Why is this you ask? Do they respond to more incidents than Ground SAR volunteers in Canada? No. Do they keep statistics to prove their worth? YES! If you would like to see equality in regards to your next NIF application and other such opportunities, the only way is to help yourself and the SAR community by submitting your statistics.

Government/Corporate Support -- Do you think SAR Alberta should be pursuing government/corporations for funding of training, equipment and operating costs on behalf of our member organizations and their volunteers? The first questions always asked when canvassing for support are: How many volunteers are there, and how busy are they? Our current answer: We don't know. The resulting answer from them: Get back to us when you do.

Advocacy -- Would you like to see formal recognition of you SAR efforts? Should the government declare a "SAR Day" to bring exposure to our cause and hard work, maybe helping you with local public relations, fundraising and preventive education opportunities? Would you like to be personally consulted when important decisions are made, influencing how SAR is done in this province? If the government thinks that there are only 200 voters volunteering in SAR in the province, other more important issues will always take priority. But if government knows there are 2500+ voters in the province, that are SAR volunteers, they will seriously consider our input and requests.

Planning -- It is difficult from a provincial perspective, to know what the SAR need is currently and more importantly, what the needs will be 3-5 years from now. Statistics can help us in projecting the amount and types of responses SAR volunteers are and will be expected to fulfill and give all of us the opportunity to pro-actively prepare to meet the challenges we all face in preparing everyone for the future SAR trends.

Please mail your 1999 statistics to SAR Alberta's mailbox at your earliest convenience. If your organization does not have a copy of the 1999 Form, please contact your SAR Alberta Regional Representative to receive one. A few minutes of your time, can make a big difference to us all.

Contact: bmarshall@canada.com 780 417-6604.

On April 30th 2000, Hinton SAR is hosting, Gary Shelton a well known author of two books on bear attacks: Bear Encounter Survival Guide and Bear Attacks - The Deadly Truth. The course he's giving consists of a 7 hour session that covers bear behavior, bear avoidance, and encounters, and encounter survival strategy including the correct way to use bear spray. A film plus slide show which puts the information into a visual context along with hand outs and information package rounds out this presentation. Prices single $65, couple $100, family $150 (max 4). The Crestwood Hotel (where the provincial conference was held 2 years ago) offers special rates of $49 single and $54 double.

Contact: Paul Grimley grimley@telusplanet.net 780 865-5047.

The SAR Alberta board will be meeting Saturday March 11. As always, the meetings are open to everyone in the SAR community. If you would like to have some time in the meeting agenda, please let me know. Meeting time is 12:00 to 16:00. The location is the Community Room at the West Edmonton Police Station, 16505 - 100 Avenue. The meeting is being hosted by the Northern Alberta Aquatic Rescue Society. Contact Brett Wuth wuth@acm.org 403 627-2460.

Starting with this edition, contribution to SARA Happenings are being co-edited by Mary-Ann Warren. Contact: 780 939-2675 Oopstikm@netcom.ca. Thank you Mary-Ann.

What's happening in your group? What training exercises do you have coming up? What would you like help with? Send a note and We'll pass the word along. Contact Mary-Ann Warren Oopstikm@netcom.ca, 780 939-2675 or Brett Wuth wuth@acm.org, 403 627-2460.

This document was generated on 9 March 2000 using the texi2html translator version 1.54.