{"id":37970,"date":"2021-02-23T09:24:57","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T16:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/?p=37970"},"modified":"2021-02-23T09:29:39","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T16:29:39","slug":"greyrock-mountain-hiker-uchealth-lifeline-helicopter-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uchealth.org\/today\/greyrock-mountain-hiker-uchealth-lifeline-helicopter-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"Greyrock mountain hiker grateful for UCHealth LifeLine helicopter rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"LifeLine
LifeLine medical helicopter atop of Greyrock mountain in Larimer County, Colorado during the hiker rescue on Jan. 7, 2021. Photo by Samual Boyer-Groff, UCHealth LifeLine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Phil Sheridan had hiked to the summit of Greyrock mountain in Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest multiple times before. The 3.1 miles to the summit on Greyrock Trail is a challenging one, but views of northern Colorado and Poudre Canyon from atop the rocky peak are worth every step, said Sheridan, a lifetime hiker and volunteer ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Around noon on Jan. 7 \u2014 a sunny, crisp winter day \u2014 Sheridan and his hiking companion took in the sights of the Colorado winter below from atop Greyrock summit. They enjoyed the majestic view for only a short time, then decided to head back down since another hiking companion was waiting in the meadow, about a mile below.<\/p>\n

Sheridan took his time navigating the steep, rocky terrain, about 300 yards below the summit, his left foot hit a patch of ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so small I didn\u2019t even see it, but it was enough where I lost traction and my right foot caught behind me on the rock,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As his left leg slid forward, his backend fell onto his right heel. Immediate pain shot up his right leg. He reached out to brace his fall, jamming his arm against another rock. He then slid down another two feet catching his front leg against a tree to stop his slide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m hurt,\u201d he shouted to his friend.<\/p>\n

Hurt atop of Greyrock mountain<\/strong><\/h2>\n

After a few minutes of grueling pain and shock, the reality of the situation began to soak in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the weirdest sensation when you tell your body to move but it just won\u2019t,\u201d Sheridan recalled a few weeks later. \u201cI was really in excruciating pain \u2014 I\u2019d finally reached that 10 on the pain chart.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two hikers knew they needed to get help since there was no way Sheridan could get down the mountain by himself.<\/p>\n

As he lay in pain among the boulders, Sheridan and his hiking companion pulled out their cell phones and to their surprise, had service. They called 911 and reached a search and rescue commander, who immediately deployed a search and rescue crew.<\/p>\n

As a longtime volunteer ranger, Sheridan knew what getting a rescue crew together entailed. He was three miles from the trailhead and parking lot, which was 30 minutes from Fort Collins off of State Highway 14, and he knew the crew wouldn\u2019t be there anytime soon. His hiking companion left to update their friend in the meadow, saying he’d return, hopefully, with more clothing to keep him warm while they waited.<\/p>\n

While Sheridan waited, he again called dispatch to provide more details:\u00a0 He was a 71-year-old male, 6 feet tall and about 180 pounds; he was not able to move his leg at all and his arm mobility was limited.<\/p>\n

\"LifeLine
LifeLine crew member, right, helps Phil Sheridan atop Greyrock mountain during a medical rescue on Jan. 7, 2021. Photo courtesy of Phil Sheridan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Deploying search and rescue to Greyrock mountain<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sheridan has a GPS unit, but he doesn\u2019t always hike with it. Fortunately, he had it with him, and the rescue team had his exact coordinates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was still going to be more than two hours before they were going to get to me,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew this could be an issue as the sun was getting lower.\u201d<\/p>\n

The search and rescue commander must have had similar concerns as he called UCHealth LifeLine, a medical transport helicopter, to see if they could get to Sheridan first.<\/p>\n

A majority of UCHealth LifeLine<\/a> calls include transferring a patient from one hospital to another that’s better equipped to treat the patient. However, LifeLine does respond to outdoor-related calls for horseback riding injuries, snake-bites, and injuries to people who are recreating in lakes and rivers. In most “search and assist” cases, search and rescue teams have already arrived on the scene and assessed the patient, then requested the medical helicopter for quicker extraction.<\/p>\n

When LifeLine got the call, flight paramedic Sam Boyer-Groff, flight nurse Matt Simek and pilot Erin Norton took a quick look at Google Maps to see where they might land atop the summit \u2014 a rock-ledge landing was almost certain \u2014 and headed to Poudre Canyon trail.<\/p>\n

\"LifeLine
LifeLine medical helicopter atop of Greyrock mountain for a hiker rescue on Jan. 7, 2021. Photo by Samuel Boyer-Groff, UCHealth LifeLine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The flight was Boyer-Groff\u2019s first on-scene call, but he didn\u2019t lack experience. Though he\u2019s only been with LifeLine a few months, he has served as a paramedic with UCHealth Emergency Medical Services and its special response team. Simek has been a flight nurse for more than three years, and has helped with many \u201csearch and assist\u201d calls, but this too was his first \u201crescue call.\u201d Simek knows Greyrock well, having hiked to the summit many times himself. And Norton, before becoming a LifeLine pilot in 2015, flew helicopter rescue missions in Wyoming\u2019s Bighorn and Wind River mountain ranges, and the Grand Canyon, making several rock-ledge landings in his career.<\/p>\n

A helicopter rescue atop of Greyrock<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cI could hear the helicopter coming,\u201d Sheridan said. \u201cThey did several circles looking for a place to land and the only place they could find near me was on the edge of a cliff about 100 yards above me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The large meadow along Greyrock trail would have been a perfect landing site for the helicopter, had it not been so far down the trail from Sheridan.<\/p>\n

As the crew circled, they identified a safe and stable landing site.\u00a0 Norton landed the craft safely on the mountain\u2019s ledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, everything lined up for Phil,\u201d Norton said. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have landed there had there been wind. I wouldn\u2019t have landed there had I not done previous landings like that. And I wouldn\u2019t have landed there with all my crew members \u2014 I had my two lightest members with me that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boyer-Groff and Simek exited the helicopter with a stretcher but weren\u2019t able to access a leg brace in the tail compartment due to the positioning of the aircraft on the mountain ledge. Norton had to stay with the helicopter and keep the rotors and engine running, so he could not help extract Sheridan from the rocks below.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because where we were at, I didn\u2019t want to shut it down in case the wind picked up or something like that.\u00a0 I wanted to make sure I maintained control of that helicopter. When you shut it down, you lose that control,\u201d Norton said.<\/p>\n

After reaching Sheridan and assessing his condition, the two LifeLine crew members began extracting Sheridan \u2014 not an easy task.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily for Phil he had limited injuries to just his leg and arm. He wasn\u2019t in imminent medical peril,\u201d Simek said. \u201cOur main concern was getting him off the mountain before he became hypothermic. But Phil outweighs us both so we had to improvise a way to get him to the helicopter.\u201d<\/p>\n

With a webbing strap under Sheridan\u2019s arms, the two crewmen, with help from Sheridan\u2019s 73-year-old hiking companion, slowly inched Sheridan up the rocky embankment to the stretcher located 100 feet from the helicopter. But with Sheridan\u2019s companion now exhausted from his two treks to the meadow and helping Sheridan up the rocks, the two crewmen realized they wouldn\u2019t be able to get Sheridan to the helicopter without additional help. Sheridan, they thought, would have to wait for a ground team to arrive to extract him from Greyrock mountain.<\/p>\n

\"LifeLine
LifeLine medical helicopter atop of Greyrock mountain during the hiker rescue on Jan. 7, 2021. Photo by Sam Boyer-Groff, UCHealth LifeLine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A rescue day on Greyrock mountain full of miracles<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Good fortune smiled upon Sheridan again. \u00a0Two young hikers happened to arrive at the summit. The hikers helped get Sheridan in the helicopter for a 10-minute ride to UCHealth Poudre Valley Hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a list of God\u2019s miracles and there are 19 on it,\u201d Sheridan said. \u201cFirst, having cell phone range, having my GPS on me, that pilot making that landing, and then these two hikers.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few weeks later, he was scheduled for surgery on his leg injury, which turned out to be a ruptured quadriceps tendon.<\/p>\n

After four miracles in the course of a few hours, he counts miracle No. 5 as this: \u00a0The on-call orthopedic surgeon that day at PVH just happened to be his wife\u2019s cousin.<\/p>\n

Recovering from his Greyrock hiking injury<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Phil
Phil Sheridan after leaving PVH emergency room awaiting his next-day surgery on his leg. Photo courtesy of Phil Sheridan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sheridan has a cast that stretches the length of his leg. He\u2019s not allowed to put weight on his leg until it heals more. He spends most days resting in a medical bed in his living room. Once his cast is removed in a few weeks, he\u2019ll start physical therapy. Mid-March, he\u2019ll return to\u00a0\u00a0 Poudre Valley Hospital for surgery to repair severed and torn tendons in this shoulder and then have physical rehabilitation. All-in-all, he won\u2019t be doing much of anything until perhaps July.<\/p>\n

Despite the pain, doctor visits and immobilization, Sheridan knows it could have been much worse. His list of miracles \u2014 hanging where he can see it from his medical bed \u2014 reminds him of that, and he\u2019s grateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s you, you understand how caring (health care workers) are \u2014 they really care about you and your well-being,\u201d Sheridan said. \u201cThey kept saying, \u2018We are going to help you manage through this; we are going to help you off this mountain.\u2019 And the skill \u2014 you can tell these guys are so skilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to tell them thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phil Sheridan had hiked to the summit of Greyrock mountain in Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest multiple times before. The 3.1 miles to the summit on Greyrock Trail is a challenging one, but views of northern Colorado and Poudre Canyon from atop the rocky peak are worth every step, said Sheridan, a lifetime hiker and volunteer ranger […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2164,"featured_media":37972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[235,1393,67,2182],"class_list":["post-37970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-emergency-care","tag-lifeline","tag-orthopedic-care","tag-uchealth-poudre-valley-hospital"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGreyrock mountain hiker grateful for helicopter rescue - 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