As a member of the Sault Search and Rescue team, Randy Roy has saved many from peril.
“I joined this organization in 2005 and I’ve never looked back. I’ve loved it,” Roy told SooToday.
Sault Search and Rescue consists entirely of trained volunteers on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With an impressive array of vehicles and equipment, the organization is supported solely through fundraisers and donations.
It currently has 30 members with a core group of 15. Its team searches the wilderness surrounding the Sault and area for lost snowmobilers, hikers, hunters, fishermen and others that EMS ambulances and paramedics can’t get to. Upon locating lost individuals Search and Rescue will bring them to a safe area where paramedics await as many individuals they locate need medical treatment.
Roy can recall countless rescues in which he has played a key role.
One involved the rescuing of two teens in the Hiawatha Highlands.
“The police found them just as we were getting there. They said they heard someone screaming for help back there. They found them but they said ‘we need you guys to come in and bring a paramedic with you.’ We couldn’t get a vehicle in. It was in a cedar swamp. By then it was ten or eleven o’clock at night. It was pitch black. So we carried one gentleman out on a stretcher from eleven-thirty to two in the morning. We had to keep stopping and rubbing his chest to keep him awake and alert,” Roy said.
He said his arms were extremely sore after that long stretcher-bearing trek.
“But we got him out and he lived. That was my actual first call out with Search and Rescue.”
That was one of many night searches Roy has been part of.
“One of them involved a missing snowmobiler. We got a call at eight o’clock. There was wet, blowing snow that turned to freezing rain. All we knew was this snowmobiler had gone fishing and was lost. We had a command post. I was talking with my search partner at three o'clock in the morning and he said ‘I don’t think I would survive a night like this.’ We’d been out for many hours and we were cold and wet but we kept coming back to the command post to warm up.”
After a rest, Roy was sent out with another team member on a snowmachine.
“He found a scarf lying on the trail. We stopped. I hollered and the missing person hollered back. The feeling was ecstatic. I knew it was the person we were looking for. We got her out and took her to an ambulance. She was soaking wet and it was cold and she was alone. She’d been missing since six o’clock the night before and we found her at five in the morning. That rescue I’ll never forget. That was my first actual rescue.”
Not all search and rescue stories have happy endings.
Search and Rescue members sometimes have to recover the bodies of individuals who haven’t survived in the outdoors.
“One that sticks with me involved a drowning. They recovered one person and they were looking for a second one. We heard it was a child. That affected me so badly. But then they realized the gentleman was alone and he didn’t have anyone with him. Just finding him was bad enough but knowing a child may have been involved was upsetting. That really stuck with me because I have grandchildren,” Roy said.
Roy was instrumental in bringing Project Lifesaver to Sault Ste. Marie beginning in 2012.
Project Lifesaver uses radio-transmitting bracelets to locate people who are prone to wandering due to dementia, autism or Down Syndrome.
Caregivers may contact Sault Search and Rescue, complete the necessary paperwork and purchase a radio transmitting bracelet for a loved one to wear making it easier to locate them if they should wander away from home and go missing.
Caregivers are required to check the bracelet’s batteries every day.
If an individual wanders off it is critical to call 9-1-1 immediately.
9-1-1 operators then contact Sault Search and Rescue, who will then work with Sault Police or OPP to locate that person. The Project Lifesaver bracelet gives off a signal which is picked up by the Sault Search and Rescue receiver and the missing individual is found.
“Right now we have 46 people signed up for Project Lifesaver. It’s a big program. Personally, I was called out three times to search for people last fall. The system’s working. They’ve been found whether it’s us, the police or family members,” Roy said.
Sault Search and Rescue is unique in that it is one of few such organizations involved in not only land but also water and air operations.
Roy has volunteered as an aerial spotter in planes - including Canadian Forces Hercules planes - used in search and rescue missions.
He has also pulled people out of the water and brought them to safety in Sault Search and Rescue boats.
SooToday accompanied Roy and the Sault Search and Rescue team on a training mission on the St. Marys River in 2018.
“Training is extensive,” Roy said.
“We meet once a month for training. To join Search and Rescue there is a two-day course for land search with a compass, GPS and mapping. The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary is involved with the water rescue part and there is a 40-hour course that you have to pass for that. You have to get your radio license. It’s a lot of training and a lot of time to take that training but it’s worth it.”
As Sault Search and Rescue president, Roy has regular meetings with the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary as one of its board directors. The Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary’s Central and Arctic operations cover Ontario to Nunavut inclusive.
“I’ve been up there working with some of the First Nations communities in Nunavut. That was thrilling. That's an experience I never would have had if I hadn’t joined this organization,” Roy said.
There’s a lot of recertification involved with being a Sault Search and Rescue member.
“It’s steady training. Some of our volunteers pick an area they want to stick with but when somebody calls for help we know the people who can go out and do the job. It’s good to know the guys that I’m supervising and sending out there are going to do their job,” Roy said.
Sault Search and Rescue is regularly called by Sault Police and Sault OPP for assistance if a person goes missing in the bush.
“We have good relationships with the police. I had the OPP call me not long ago and say ‘we’re tied up. We can’t get out. Can you handle things until we get there?’ They’re the ones in charge no matter what but they ask if we can handle things until they get there. They’re excellent to work with. They respect us and we respect them,” Roy said.
Roy’s volunteerism in the community has also involved work with Scouts Canada.
That work earned him a Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. That commemorative medal was created in 2002 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne. The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal was awarded in Canada to nominees who contributed to public life.
“I was working with Scouts Canada. They were short on leaders and I was working a lot of nights with them. I was working on safety protocols for them and to get more adult leaders involved with them and get more kids to join. The next thing I knew they called me in for the Queen’s Jubilee Medal.”
He was surprised he had been nominated by Scouts Canada for that prestigious award.
“I didn’t expect that. The program I made for the Scouts went regional. I was looking at the medal the other day and I thought ‘this is something I can show my grandkids.’”
Born and raised in the Sault, Roy studied at Sault College and is a professionally trained civil engineering technician.
He worked for Bot Construction during the four-laning of Highway 17 east of the city.
He then worked for the City of Sault Ste. Marie’s engineering department for nearly 25 years before becoming the City’s waste diversion manager.
“Waste diversion was a huge switch for me. There was a big learning curve and I had to get on it right away,” Roy said.
Roy played a huge role in recycling for the City and was instrumental in the introduction of the two garbage bags per home limit and the blue and yellow curbside recycling boxes. He retired as a City employee in 2010 and then worked for GFL (formerly Green Circle Environmental) until 2014.
As GFL Health and Safety supervisor, he was a prime mover behind the introduction of the larger recycling bins to the Sault beginning in 2013.
26,000 bins were delivered to Sault homes and businesses.
“It was gratifying to be a part of it. We were one of the first cities to really push recycling. It definitely has extended the life of the landfill. The City is progressing and getting better. If they bring composting in, that'll be another big step in the right direction. People have to be prepared. Composting is coming," Roy said.
Roy is currently serving his second term as Sault Search and Rescue president.
“When you find somebody alive and get them out of a dangerous situation and you know they’re going to survive, it feels so good and you can’t forget that. That’s why we’re here. It’s a good team. That’s why I’m here. It feels so good to be able to do that.”