Thanks Revit, that fits into the follow up communications I received from DHSS. Quoted below.
TheBear, this isn't so much of a specific event issue I'm concerned with, the incident just brought up the fact that local sledders on either a club or personal run may have an emergency sometime. So my concern is more in sorting out who any of us should contact if we were to be in a similar position. At the last meeting the issue was mentioned and it caused some general concerns to arise as to what would we do if we had an accident on say the Sweetheart run and half way to Nenana for example.
So I contact DHSS about EMS services in general in the Interior, as you'll read below they pretty much follow the AST mission statement Revit noted. So I'm going to do some follow up calls to AST and try to get more info. If the system is broken and AST can't/won't deal with these type of emergencies, then it would be good for us to know what we should do. I believe we need to be proactive in this for everyones concerns. We all spend lots of time riding and it would just be nice to know the process and who can help no matter where we are. I have had to call MAST in the past for folks when we were riding down out of Cantwell some years back and MAST was great, it was the only way to the injured guy out, it would be good info for all us to know who to call now that MAST has been gone these past years. So if AST did drop the ball as it appears, maybe some lines of communications with them is what is needed so it doesn't happen again. So far we've been lucky and haven't had any need, but its better to be prepared than not.
This is a very interesting situation. Of course, I don't have many details, but what you've related runs counter to my understanding of the Trooper's role in the Interior. First, I will say that the Excel spreadsheet that Shelley sent you is current as far as certified EMS services in the Interior. There are some additional, informal "first responder" services as well.
As far as what I can do to help - I've pretty much related what I know about remote EMS response in the Interior. It has always been my understanding that AST has responsibility for "Search and Rescue" in the state. SAR is not the same as EMS (which is the focus of our agency, not SAR) and I know that AST does not do "EMS" in the sense that they don't have medical personnel nor methods of providing EMS or transporting EMS patients.
What I understand, and has been true in all cases I've heard of, is that if there's a remote incident, AST is the agency that will call on the resources that are needed - whether that be organizing a SAR or coordinating with local civilian EMS services and/or the Rescue Coordination Center (and through the RCC, the Air Guard response). Civilian EMS has a very limited role in off-road incidents - some do, some don't depending on what equipment they have and what their personnel are qualified to do.
Of course, you can see this gets confusing, which is why the AST has a role (at least my understanding over the years of their role) in identifying and coordinating resources for off-road incidents.
When the MAST program was in service, I served as the "Civilian MAST Coordinator" for the Army. I was therefore in a position of trouble shooting these sort of things. We had a committee which included MAST and all the civilian agencies that interacted with it, including AST. At that time, MAST would only respond if civilian EMS could not handle the incident. Therefore, all MAST responses had to be done through a "Trusted Agent" designated by the Army, and AST was the primary and fool-proof method that any civilian could tap into MAST when needed. The system worked very well. An occasional hiccup, but really pretty efficient and fool-proof.
When MAST went away, we were informed that a similar remote rescue and EMS service would be provided by the Air Guard if civilian EMS could not handle it. This service would be dispatched through the Rescue Coordination Center, and AST be able to call on these resources when needed. We were told that all a civilian would need to know is to call AST. We therefore had the understanding that, to the civilian, it would be very similar to MAST: the civilian would simply contact the troopers and the troopers would initiate the response. If civilian EMS could not handle the incident, a helicopter from the Air Guard with qualified personnel would respond if needed and available.
Unfortunately, our agency (Interior Region EMS Council) has no role in this system since MAST ended, other than to let civilians know that AST is the entity that they need to contact. We tried to make contact with Air Guard officials way back then, but found no interest in the organization of a similar coordinating committee for remote EMS.
Regardless of who provides actual EMS services in any incident, again, my understanding for many, many years, is that AST has always had responsibility for Search and Rescue - this is seldom a role of local EMS agencies. EMS agencies role is almost always limited to patient care and transportation.
I don't know what to advise you other than the above. Again, the spreadsheet of EMS agencies that Shelley provided is current even thought the brochure might not be. I can only suggest that if you have an organized event, to do some pre-contact and pre-planning with both the civilian agencies in the area affected and also contact the troopers and make sure you understand their role in an off road emergency. Until you informed me of this incident, my experience has always been that they are the primary resources to initiate and coordinate remote rescue.
Dan Johnson.