Combing the homes of Pāuanui residents for a person suffering from Alzehimers who had wandered off from a local motor camp was the focus of last weekend’s Waikato Search and Rescue Exercise (SAREX) training in Coromandel Peninsula.
A total of 72 people, including 12 Waikato Police SAR members and 60 Land Search and Rescue volunteers from across the district, gathered in Pāuanui to undertake two days of workshops and scenario-based training on March 13 and 14.
Waikato SAR Sergeant Vince Ranger says the training is imperative to building relationships between police and volunteers, and training on search techniques and technology in an urban environment that is becoming more commonplace across New Zealand.
“When we respond to these search and rescue events, in particular on the larger scale, we call on these volunteers so it’s important that we get together for this training and build those relationships.”
With an aging population, Vince says search and rescue squads are undertaking more urban searches for people who may have wandered off from their residences, and may be suffering from medical conditions like Alzheimer’s or dementia that affect their cognitive functions.
Advances in technology through the use of cellphone locations and personal locator beacons have cut down the time involved in bush searches, moving them from a search and rescue to a ‘rescue’ only scenario.
“Because of that technology we have the ability to get the person’s position without having to do a search for them,” says Vince.
The two-day training included stretcher techniques, navigation, rope skills, shoreline searches and radio and communications training, culminating in an urban-based scenario where a person had gone missing. This involved going door-to-door at residences, using search methodologies to forecast where the person had likely gone and combing properties.
“It was a test of our initial attendance to these types of searches – where we have minimal information, and then we build on it from there – gaining more information and mapping search areas to where the person is likely to go.”
Vince says the Pāuanui township is a great place to undertake the training as the community is immensely supportive and the township is compact to navigate.
He wanted to thank the Pāuanui community for being so accommodating, with residents opening their properties to participants.
“A big thank you for their support and thank you for giving us the opportunity to do that.”