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50-year-old woman slipped while hiking
By Kevin Walker
"Only 20
more minutes till lunch!" That was my exact
thought when the telephone rang at work with word
of a rescue mission in the San Jacinto Mountains.
I was informed by RMRU day coordinator Jerry
Muratet that a 50 year old woman had slipped
while hiking in the Deer Springs area, and
possibly fractured her leg. Jerry also told me
that a helicopter had been ordered, and the
rendezvous point would be the Banning Municipal
Airport.
John Dew, my dad and I rode to
Banning. Shortly after that Jim Fairchild
arrived. We were met there by Capt. Ray Canova
and Sgt. Weakly of the Banning S.O. The Capt.
told us that Don Landells was on his way with his
Bell jet Ranger, and that the Rescue Van was
about 30 minutes out. Don arrived before the van
did, so we decided to go in with first aid gear
and a full leg air splint. John, Walt and I
climbed in the bird, and Jim would wait at base
for the van. Even though it was a warm day it did
not take the powerful turbine powered helicopter
long at all to reach the 8,000 ft. level and soon
after that, we were circling Deer Springs. After
making a few passes at the upper end of the camp,
Don moved to the lower end of Deer Springs. It
was soon after that Don spotted the camp out of
the right side of the chopper. About a quarter of
a mile below that was a fairly good sized meadow
to land in. With the three of us let Off, Don
started back for Banning.
It took about
ten minutes to reach the parties camp. Upon
arriving, we were indeed confronted by a possibly
fractured ankle. The subjects name was Shirley
Albertson. She, her husband, her daughter and
daughter's boyfriend had hiked over from the tram
on Tuesday. Approximately half a mile out of
camp, Mrs. Albertson slipped on a wet log. At the
time she could still walk (with help) but soon
after making camp her ankle swelled up, and
became quite painful. Wednesday morning her
husband started down for Idyllwild, and that is
when RMRU came into the scene.
I was assigned
to be first aider, so upon examining her, I found
there to be nothing wrong with her other than the
ankle injury. While I was doing the exam, Walt
radioed back to base, and asked for the wheeled
litter. It was the type of day that you could
have just sat out in the warm sun and enjoyed the
view for hours. Our quiet break did not last
long, for soon after that we could hear the
familiar sound of the turbine.
With Don
waiting in the meadow, Jim and Darryl Hand
brought the wheeled litter to our location. It
then did not take long to wheel Shirley down to
the waiting helicopter. After loading Shirley
into the back, I climbed in to help steady her
foot. With Walt and Don (the Lone Ranger and
Tonto), in the front, it was a hearty hi-yo
chopper, and away.
After being thanked many times while
going into the Pass Hospital, we left Shirley in
care of the doctors, and returned to the airport.
Don then returned to the mountain to get John,
Jim and Darryl. Once that was complete, it was
thanks again to Don for his usual great flying,
and see you next time. After finishing an early
dinner, we stopped at the hospital to get the air
splint and check on Shirley. Luckily it was only
a badly sprained ankle, but the proper
precautions had been taken on our part, by
treating it as if it was a fracture. A happy
ending for all concerned.
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