On July 12th, a 28-year-old autistic man was brought in to Garfield Memorial Hospital via search and rescue. John LaFever from Colorado was found after spending several weeks on his own trying to get to Page, Arizona along the Escalante River. He had been with some "friends" but the stole all his money and camping supplies and left him alone in Utah.
He had traveled about 50 miles over 3 weeks before being found near a stream.One of the rescuers had just completed some training with autism and had learned that they are attracted to water so he followed the Escalante River until he found him. He really was quite emaciated and weak. I worked later that night and worked one on one with him. Needless to say - I was exhausted when I got home - he didn't sleep a wink that night!
Anyways, - the pilot of the helicopter captured this photo which was blasted across the national and local news for a couple of days. And there in the middle of it is our own Jeffrey! Way to go!
