Five OPP officers from the Killaloe detachment received awards this week for their part in finding and saving a lost woman on Aylen Lake in 2011.

On Aug. 9, 2011 at 7 a.m., the police learned that a woman was missing who was believed to be camping on Aylen Lake, located about 25 kilometres west of Barry’s Bay, in the Township of South Algonquin.

Const. Mike Holbrook found the woman’s vehicle, and in it also found more information that could help determine her possible whereabouts.

Two marine units were also activated, and they searched more than 70 kilometres of shoreline with no information about the woman’s “point last seen.”

The officers had little information to act on besides the fact the woman had camped in the area with her ex-boyfriend, who provided the police several landmarks the woman knew including an island, a point and cliffs.

Around 3 p.m., Sgt. Mark Mackisoc, Const. Brent Darraugh and Const. Julie Bourgoin went to the Blue Berry Cliffs area of the lake, and while at the base of the cliffs, heard a faint cry for help.

They climbed part way up the rocks and found the woman in serious condition after she had fallen from the top of the cliff the day before, enduring an unseasonably cool night.

Mackisoc and Bourgoin treated her for shock, obtained her vital signs and helped prepare her to be moved.

The officers and Renfrew County paramedics brought her down the cliff in a scoop stretcher and then a marine unit brought her to a Canadian Forces helicopter, where she was airlifted to the Ottawa Hospital.

At the OPP East Region awards ceremony in Kemptville Oct. 9, Bourgoin, Mackisoc, Holbrook, Darraugh and Const. Jordan Bullis each received a Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving, presented by OPP Commissioner Chris Lewis.

Bourgoin and Mackisoc also received the Saint John Ambulance Life Saving Award for giving the woman life-saving first aid at the scene.

Heather Sutherland is staff reporter with Barry’s Bay This Week.