Go On A Rescue! How do people get rescued in the mountains?

Start of a Rescue First, when someone gets hurt, you or a friend will go to a phone and call The Emergency Phone Number. –Many times, cell phones do not work in the mountains, so they will have to run to the nearest house or ask some one else to go for help.

How Rocky Mountain Rescue Gets Called The person who answers when you call 911 is called a dispatcher. You or a friend will tell the dispatcher what happened and where you are. The dispatcher will call Rocky Mountain Rescue to go help the hurt person... –Other agencies such as firefighters, ambulance and police will also come.

Rocky Mountain Rescue drives their truck with all their rescue gear to the rescue.

Lots of rescuers come to help Rescuers sometimes have to leave work or school and drive long distances to get to the rescue. All rescuers are volunteers - they come on rescues because they like to help people, but often it costs a lot of time and money to do this.

The rescuers put bandages on the hurt person (who is called the patient) and put them into a litter. A litter is a very strong metal carrier for moving the patient. RMR has lots of specialized gear to safety carrying someone down a mountain.

Sometimes this might involve going down a vertical cliff. This looks scary, but it is actually very safe - notice, for instance that the litter bearers are tied in.

Walking down a steep hillside is called a scree evacuation. We use ropes to help the litter get back down to more level ground.

...to the ambulance. The ambulance goes to the hospital where doctors in the emergency room examine the patient.

Patches worn by a mountain rescuer