A Live One

When I got back into government service some years ago, one of the now-established search and rescue (SAR) groups was just getting started. I was the administrative contact for the provincial program that supported them, but this foundling team was formed of dedicated men and women who gave freely of their time and expertise to help find lost hikers, rescue stranded climbers, and coordinate the occasional evidence search for police investigations. They also spent evenings and entire weekends training in both classroom and live exercises so they could get the RCMP stamp of approval and start taking calls. They’d tromp through the bush or rappel down a cliff for nothing more than expenses and the satisfaction of knowing they had helped to reunite a family or save an injured person.

A search is considered a rescue until either the victim is found deceased or the police call off the operation. For this group in particular, the first few calls they took turned out to be body recoveries. The group director would come by the office and drop off the paperwork (government pays their expenses), we’d do an informal debrief, he’d say, “Thanks, Ruthie,” and off he’d go. As time went on, group morale began to suffer and no wonder. It’s never the team’s fault when a body is discovered, but they get into this work to save lives, to give a family hope and contribute to their communities. I can’t say enough about these volunteers; they truly are heroes and I was exceptionally fond of this crew. They started when I did, so I had a kind of proprietary pride in them and wished more than anything for their success.

One day the director came by with more paperwork, but this time his eyes were alight and his face on the brink of a grin. “Ruthie!” he crowed when he saw me, “we finally got a live one!”

Sure enough, the search had served up a grateful hiker who had simply lost his way.

It’s funny what your mind does. Hockey is in no way as important as the work of SAR volunteers, but when the Flyers got their first win of the season, Mike’s joyful voice rang in my head. Hallelujah, I thought, we finally got a live one!