In Search of Community
The words of physician’s assistant Mark Ippolito stuck in my head as I left the tiny Lake Placid hospital. I was doing my job as a forest ranger lieutenant, checking on the injured backpacker in the emergency room. He had been brought to the hospital after rangers had retrieved him from the High Peaks backcountry earlier that day. Mark had said, “You know, Lou, the Adirondacks are friendly mountains. People who come here for the wilderness experience and get hurt don’t need to die here, we just need to get medical help to them sooner.”
In the months ahead, Mark’s words would keep me on the lookout for better ways for rangers to perform our searchand-rescue duties by tapping into the skills and resources of our own local people.
That was 36 years ago, but the
