Page 17 - Giv'er Miramichi Magazine - Christmas Giver 2023

MIRAMICHI GROUND SEARCH AND RESCUE

The Lost Person’s Behaviour

By Paulette Arsenault

In this issue of the Giv’er magazine, I will explain the lost person’s behaviour.
There are as many as 34 different MGSAR will then try to gather information on the subject
lost person behaviour profiles in the Miramichi Ground and list all the past addresses going back as far as possible.
Search and Rescue guide on where and how to look. When Some of the inquiries are: what jobs did the subject have at
MGSAR is activated to coordinate and support a search each location? Did the subject move recently? Formulate a
effort, one of the first decisions to make is: what is the lost list of immediate relatives the subject communicated with
person’s profile, what type of psychological behaviour can during their lifetime. Are they familiar with the area where
be expected. they were last seen? What is the subject’s favourite place?
Does the lost person What are their daily habits?
suffer from dementia, In general, lost persons
depression, or substance will use different strategies to
abuse? Is it a young child or get unlost and reorient
an elderly active person? Are themselves. These strategies
we looking for a hiker, hunter, include: randomly following
or fisherman? All these lost the path of least resistance to
person types have different find a place that looks
lost person behaviour profiles familiar; route traveling on a
and will impact the search trail, path, drainage or other
decisions made by rescue travel aid; direction traveling,
organizations. certain that safety lies in one
The importance of particular direction; view
pinpointing the right profile enhancing to try to gain a
and its attributes is paramount position of height to view
to an effective initial response landmarks; backtracking in an
and enables MGSAR to hit the attempt to follow the exact
ground running when time is MGSAR members performing a mock rescue exercise on route out; or staying put which
of the essence. Beaubears Island. can be an excellent strategy
For example, the hallmark for reorientation if a search is
behaviours of a lost person suffering from Alzheimer’s organized.
disease are: In conclusion, according to statistics, even after 72 hours
1) They keep going until they get “stuck”. lost, 55% of dementia subjects are found alive. A good reason
2) They appear to lack the ability to turn around and may to keep searching.
ping-pong off a wall, fence, or barrier. Unknown to most people, MGSAR is activated and
3) The direction of travel will help in finding their location. deactivated only by law enforcement authorities.
4) They are often oriented to past experiences, a former work Miramichi Ground Search and
area or residence. Rescue membership is composed
5) In urban areas, the person is typically found in buildings exclusively of volunteers of all ages.
or on the road. MGSAR is always looking for new
6) In the wilderness, the person is usually walking or gets recruits, if you are interested, please
stuck in brush/briars or drainages. contact us at: join@mgsar.ca
Help us find lost people.
Having pinpointed the lost person behaviour profile,

Giv’er Miramichi is published by MCG Media 17