By Scott Roblin

SEASAR receives donation to increase mobility in the field

Jan 29, 2018 | 4:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – For South Eastern Alberta Search and Rescue, proper tools in the field can mean the difference between life and death.

After a busier than normal year, the non-profit has received a grant that will prepare rescuers to become more mobile on the job.

Presented at their annual general meeting on Thursday, a cheque for $5,600 was earmarked to SEASAR by the Medicine Hat Realtors’ Charitable Foundation to create mobile command posts in the field.

SEASAR president Paul Carolan said this grant will allow team members to better focus on the task at hand.

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“Our search managers can sit in the passenger seat and still complete all the paperwork and planning they need to do while our teams are in-route,” said Carolan. “That way, we can hit the ground running when we hit the site.”

October’s fire near Hilda served as a catalyst for the group, wanting to increase their response times and mobility once deployed.

Murray Shivak is a board member for SEASAR and has been a search team member over the last two year, and said this had been a long time coming for the organization.

“It’s been a dream that we needed it to come into place, but it was just more of how are we going to make that happen and what are our priorities?” said Shivak. “So, it’s great that this happened.”

The entire grant was raised through donations and fundraisers through local realtors and the Realtors’ Charitable Foundation, with the grant being awarded twice a year.

Charitable Foundation president Patrice Morrison said supporting those who put their lives on the line was the least they could do.

“If we could assist by giving some funding to put equipment into a vehicle that’s going to keep them safe while they are saving other people, we were all for it.”

It’s a special donation for Shivak, who works as a realtor with Royal LePage when not volunteering with SEASAR.

“We’ve got the ability to not just give to the community, but give to an organization that takes those funds and give back to the community in a great way,” said Shivak.

According to SEASAR, over 5,700 volunteer hours were spent at 23 separate calls in Medicine Hat and the surrounding areas in 2017.

Carolan said those calls add up over time, which makes last week’s donation even more important.

“Fuel, cellphone bills, repairs on the vehicles, anything else that we need to acquire, we rely on these community groups to make that possible for us.”

From river rescues to missing children cases, Carolan is confident this grant will help protect lives in the future.

“They can know that team that’s sitting back with the truck or command post is taken care of what they need to do, so that our teams in the field are safe and well taken care of,” he said. “That way, the teams in the field can focus solely on looking for that lost person or making sure they can make the difference they need to make.”

SEASAR is hoping to have the mobile command units outfitted by late spring.