App launched by Search and Rescue Volunteer Association looks to make outdoors life safer and more fun

By Medicine Hat News on February 15, 2019.

The Search and Rescue Volunteer Association of Canada has launched a new app to help people “Get informed and go outdoors.”

The AdventureSmart Trip Planner is designed to help outdoor recreationalists with the three ‘T’s: trip planning, training and taking essentials.

It also makes it easier for trippers to be rescued in the event they get lost by providing emergency contacts of your choice with detailed information on the trip, including time of departure and expected return, location and purpose of a trip, as well as names and contact information for all participants.

“When you do up a trip plan, you send it to a responsible adult and if you become overdue, then the information given in that trip plan will help get the SAR team started,” said Sue Berner, the Alberta AdventureSmart co-ordinator.

AdventureSmart doesn’t have direct access to the trip plan, so an overdue tripper must be reported by their contact, but it makes the SAR team’s job much easier when their services are required by providing them information about the tripper’s general vicinity.

“It gives us a little bit of a head start,” Berner said.

According to a news release from AdventureSmart, there are about 15,000 search and rescue incidents each year in Canada, with national search and rescue programs providing assistance to 25,000 people.

The app’s development was funded through a Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund program, which was established by the federal government in 1988,and is managed by Public Safety Canada in partnership with other federal, provincial and territorial SAR organizations.

South East Alberta Search And Rescue, the local affiliate of SARVAC, offers presentations about outdoor safety to community groups and schools, which can be arranged by going to http://www.adventuresmart.ca.

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