(From left) Rescuers Robert Rogers, a Lewis and Clark Community College alumnus, and Tyson Lockhart visit with Adam Wright in the hospital. The pair rescued Wright after he took a 50-foot fall into the Gunnison River in western Colorado.
There’s no question nurses save lives every day. It’s less common for a life to be saved at the bottom of an isolated Colorado gorge.
Last December, L&C alumnus Robert Rogers, an emergency room nurse, did just that when he and a friend, respiratory therapist Tyson Lockhart, decided to take a late-season rafting trip along the Gunnison River in western Colorado, where Rogers now resides.
After a late start, the two men were about three miles into their trip when they heard calls for help.
Adam Wright, a teacher and avid outdoorsman, had been hiking along the Gunnison Gorge, on his way to his favorite fishing spot, when he took a 50-foot fall and landed on a patch of ground in the river.
“He said he was lying on the ground for about 35 minutes,” Rogers said. “If we hadn’t gotten a late start, we would have missed him.”
They found Wright holding his head over the water. He had a lacerated face, two broken wrists and a broken leg. Since Rogers and Lockhart didn’t know if there was a spinal injury, they used a raft frame as a stretcher to transport Wright back down the river until they found a place where a helicopter could land and Wright could be airlifted.
Given the time of year, hikers and rafters are rare and rescue operations typically take much longer.
“Who falls at around 12:30 and is in the ER at 4?” Rogers said. “There’s just a half-million things that lined up perfectly.”
The three men reunited in February. Rogers reports Wright is on his way to a full recovery.
“Robert was a very positive student who always had a smile on his face,” L&C Director of Nursing Sheri Banovic said. “The nursing faculty were proud to hear how he has expanded on the education he received here.”
Learn more about the nursing program on the college’s website.