Here's what the new president of Coquitlam Search and Rescue will prioritize
Coquitlam Search and Rescue will soon be recruiting new members, which is just one of the many priorities of newly elected president Helena Michelis.
Michelis, elected to the position last week, will be heading up the volunteer-run organization for the next three years.
“Search and rescue all over (the province) is seeing a huge influx of calls,” Michelis said.
In her professional life she works in building automation and controls, and has been volunteering with the organization for eight years. The 50-person team she is now managing is receiving twice as many search and rescue calls as it was two years ago, before the pandemic. And there are two big parks in its service area that will either be expanding or opening up in the coming years, B.C. Parks’ Pinecone Burke Provincial Park and Metro Vancouver’s Widgeon Marsh Regional Park.
“Pinecone Burke Provincial Park, I think they're really hitting the gas on their development plan, just because of the demand on the other parks around … (with) the growth of outdoor recreation,” she said.
“And then also, Metro Vancouver has got a development plan in place ... for the Widgeon Marsh Regional Park, which again is going to really open up a whole lot more backcountry, which hasn't been accessible in the past.”
But the increase in calls and the increase in backcountry access doesn’t mean the team will be growing. The recruitment process, the dates for which haven’t yet been finalized, will be necessary because several team members will soon be retiring.
To meet the growing demand of search and rescue calls, the organization will focus on more training for its existing members, procuring more equipment, and increasing the organization’s efficiencies. That, she said, means not sending more people than necessary to respond to calls.
“(Our neighbours at) North Shore Rescue (are) a great example where you know, if a call only needs two people they only send two people,” she said.
But an organization like Coquitlam Search and Rescue, which gets fewer calls, will sometimes send a couple more people than absolutely necessary, she said, in order to keep the volunteers engaged and their skills sharp.
“Us, we need to have that fine balance, we want to keep people engaged,” she said.
Michelis, a mother to a 19 and 20-year-old, is the first woman to head up the 50-year-old organization. And while she knows that it may be encouraging for other women working in search and rescue to see, it isn’t something she likes drawing attention to.
“I guess because I've always worked in a male-dominated field in my professional life, I don't really think about it too much,” she said.
“I don't really regard it as an issue or an advantage or anything like that. I have lots of support from the senior members.”
Earlier this year, the organization made a public call for help finding a storage space for a new search and rescue boat. Michelis says they’ve had a few offers, and they’re working on narrowing down their options. But she’s also dreaming of a larger, centralized space where everything can be stored together.
“Obviously the real estate climate in the Lower Mainland is not conducive to somebody just handing you, you know, three quarters of an acre and saying, ‘Go have fun," she said.
“As a non-profit, we're not capable of going out to the market to actually purchase a piece of land like that or a building so at this point we’re considering our options and putting out the feelers … that's like a long term goal for us in the next five to 10 years to have our own building that has enough space to house all this equipment, that we can train in freely without having to book spaces and, you know, put up our plaques and awards.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
'Sophisticated' cyberattacks detected on B.C. government networks, premier says
There has been a "sophisticated" cybersecurity breach detected on B.C. government networks, Premier David Eby confirmed Wednesday evening.
Police handcuff man trying to enter Drake's Toronto mansion
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launch major invasion of Rafah
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs to start for Canucks in Game 1 vs. Oilers
Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs will start in net for the Canucks as Vancouver kicks off a second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night.
Nijjar murder suspect says he had Canadian study permit in immigration firm's video
One of the Indian nationals accused of murdering British Columbia Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar says in a social media video that he received a Canadian study permit with the help of an Indian immigration consultancy.
Pfizer agrees to settle more than 10K lawsuits over Zantac cancer risk: Bloomberg News
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec premier defends new museum on Quebecois nation after Indigenous criticism
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. had a brain worm, has recovered, campaign says
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.