A missing Wiltshire pensioner living with dementia was saved thanks to the heroics of a team of volunteers from Wiltshire Search and Rescue.
Heather Hodgson was found with a broken arm and a head injury hidden in bushes at the bottom of an embankment in Limpley Stoke.
Mrs Hodgson, who is in her late 70s, was able to be safely rescued and transported to hospital by ambulance where she is now making a good recovery.
Adrian Sawyer, chair of Wiltshire Search and Rescue, said: “When the call came through to us on Saturday evening, volunteers from Wiltshire and neighbouring counties were immediately sent to assist the police in the search.
“They put the skills that are developed through continuous training into practice and were able to rapidly get Mrs Hodgson back up to safety.
“Despite the darkness and dropping temperatures, firefighters and search and rescue volunteers was also able to rapidly search a river and weir that was a short distance from where she was last seen, both from the bank and by entering the water in protective dry suits.
“It was a joint effort with the police in ensuring that together we had all likely locations discussed, prioritised and searched.”
The search and rescue operation was one of three in which Wiltshire Search and Rescue were deployed by the Wiltshire Police 999 control room in different parts of the county over one night.
As a result, extra volunteers from Avon & Somerset and Gloucestershire were called in to bolster the number of trained personnel available.
Resources including dogs, boats and sleds, foot teams, helicopters, drones and 4x4s searched into the darkness for Mrs Hodgson, who had last been seen about three hours previously on Saturday.
She was located hidden between bushes at the bottom of an embankment at approximately 2am, and her broken arm and head injury were treated by a team doctor.
Nearly 30 volunteers lifted her in a stretcher back to the top of the slope and into a waiting ambulance. Mrs Hodgson was briefly reunited with Malcolm, her husband of 55 years, before being taken to hospital.
A Wiltshire Police spokesperson said: “We are extremely grateful to the specialist skills of the volunteers at Wiltshire Search and Rescue, who in this situation gave us much needed extra people on the ground, working alongside our officers as colleagues.”
Wiltshire Search and Rescue is a non-profit making organisation and all of its members are unpaid volunteers, making no charge for their services.
Mr Sawyer added: "Our volunteers come from all walks of life and are united in their desire to be there when people need us most."
Established in 2000, the team has more than 100 members, giving over 25,000 hours of volunteer time each year. All operational members are trained to the Lowland Rescue standards, the UK’s governing body.
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