New! From The Wilderness Medicine Newsletter

For decades the Wilderness Medicine Newsletter has provided up-to-date information to pre-hospital and definitive care providers. Since becoming an on-line journal, the readership of the WMN has become international. Now the WMN has it’s own web site: www.wildernessmedicinenewsletter.com

 

Subscribers pay the same $15 a year subscription rate but have access to more than 165 articles from back issues as well as current issues. You can search the site either by category, or by key words making the Wilderness Medicine Newsletter site a much more useful reference for everything from reviewing splinting to the prevention and treatment of tropical diseases.

Check it out!

New SOAP Note app!

Everyone practicing prehospital medicine in either a street environment or wilderness environment should know about this new app.

The new SOAP note app allows you to create highly accurate SOAP notes in ways that were not possible before. As patient care transfers from one level of care to the next, patient care data can now travel with the patient. SoapNoteApp enables you seamlessly transfer your SOAP notes from person to person. It tracks and secures all your notes. It includes a digitally signed change record so you can be confident your notes are safe. You can access your notes from anywhere at any time.

As well as clear simple screens that allow you enter data quickly and accurately, the new app has additional features such as streaming text, which allows you to keep a log with a time stamp, easy fill in boxes for vital signs with time stamp, an injury location screen that allows you to touch locations on a schematic of the body of the patient to more accurately highlight injury sites as you find them. The app also allows you to place a priority on specific injuries and treatments and then change those priorities as treatments are applied. The app records all of this data easily and allows you to go back and look more accurately and easily at events as they unfolded on scene. If you carry an iPad, iPhone, or Android this app can make your SOAP notes cleaner, more accurate, and easy to access digitally—check it out. SoapNoteApp

‘Street Medic’ Opportunities

Greetings SOLO community and friends,

We hope that this message finds you in good health and ever eager to create and engage in new experiences.

Because the SOLO experience trains us with an eye cast for ‘emergency’, we never know when we may be called upon or in what capacity to be in service to others. With the current “Occupy” events that have been sweeping the nation and globe, there is a rising opportunity for those with SOLO wilderness medicine training to be put to use.  There are calls out in many cities across the US for on-site medical volunteers at these venues, so there may be good opportunity to strengthen your skills in a location near you.  Mind you – this post is NOT about politics.  It is about patient care an opportunity to respond to needed help to put our skills to work.  ‘Street medics’ in this context are volunteers with varying levels of first aid or professional certification who may or may not agree with the reason for protest but want to help others.

We often restrict our potential with the thought that our training in a ‘wilderness’ context limits us to that environment.  As events of natural disaster and mass casualty incidents teach us, urban environments can quickly present ‘wilderness’ challenges in access to definitive medical care and how care is administered.  Environmental obstacles can be diverse in an urban setting especially when it involves a mass of people.  Scene safety in an urban context presents itself much differently than in the back-country!  Experience and learn if your will and time allows.

If you want to see if there is an opportunity near you, you can click this map link and see the list of sites below the map and click again on a link for local information or try the Occupy Together website.
Some sites are more organized than others and may take time to assess the need -  so patience with communication may be necessary.  Take time to to tap into the local social media network to gauge the current ‘climate’ at the scene. Things happen on the protest grounds organically, much as they do in developing countries or disaster situations I have experienced.

A few points to keep in mind if you pursue:
- Keep politics out of medicine. Expectation is that of a good Samaritan and a good provider will create bridges of security / safety.
- Though the protests here in the US have been largely peaceful, there is always the potential for on-scene police or protester violence.  Be aware and prepared for a potential change in scene safety.  Take precautions. Do not incite violence but diffuse it if opportunity presents.  Scene safety first!  Nonviolent action is best action.
- Go prepared to take care of yourself above all. You cannot treat patients if you put yourself at risk.

Let me know if you have had any experiences worth relaying back to us.  We’d love to hear them.

Best wishes of health and safety!

–
Nickie Sekera
Assistant Director
SOLO

Farewell to an Old Friend

Many of our extended SOLO family who have either taken a course at, or visited our New Hampshire campus will remember Saxon, the Mexican Gray Wolf-hybrid that followed Ted Walsh everywhere. It is with sadness that we report that on May 15^th Saxon passed away.

She was almost fifteen years old, and as the picture below shows, taken three days before her death in the SOLO shop, she was still in pretty good shape.

Saxon, still on the job three days before she died.

With little warning, age suddenly caught up with her and over a forty-eight hour period, her strength failed, her system failed, and she was gone. She passed away quietly in the living room of the cottage where she lived with Ted and Judy, surrounded by the people who loved her, and without suffering.

During the twelve years that she was with us, she had an impressive career. While at SOLO she participated in many of our Advanced Leadership and Emergency Care (ALEC) programs, numerous advanced WEMT Modules, Navigation courses, boat building courses, staff trainings, she was on the search committee for a time, and she was a regular proctor at EMT exams held at the New Hampshire campus in Conway. She attended numerous evening gatherings in the Roundhouse, where she met many students over the years.  In Addition she oversaw the complete renovation of the offices of TMC Books, the building of three sea kayaks, a 24 foot open pulling boat, a 16 foot sailing tender, the building of the boat shed, and the complete renovation of a 35’ Friendship Sloop. She had sailed the entire length of the coast of Maine from Kittery, into Canadian waters and back three times (the first time she needed more papers to cross the border than the boat did) and has been on cruises too numerous to count all along the coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, New Brunswick, and on Lake Champlain in Vermont. From 2003 on she was a regular at the annual Friendship Sloop Homecoming in Rockland. In 2005 she was the Boatyard Dog for the 2005 May issue of Maine Boats Homes and Harbors magazine. She was one of the main characters of the children’s book Merlin and the Black Star, and the SOLO Field Guide to Wilderness First Aid Afloat is dedicated to her.

Ever watchful.

She was such a ubiquitous figure on the SOLO campus that we all catch ourselves expecting her to appear around the corner, but we are so grateful that her end was swift, and grateful to have shared such a large life lived by such a small creature. We miss her a hundred times a day.

Saxon 1997-2011

Goodbye old friend.

SOLO Colorado

We always enjoy drawing attention to organizations that host a number of SOLO courses each year, and in particular, those organizations that have SOLO instructors as part of their permanent staff.

Located in the heart of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the Apex Mountain School has been offering SOLO courses continuously for five years.

photo from Apex Mountain School web site

Based in Vail, Colorado, Apex’s curriculum is taught by full-time SOLO instructors with real life experience in the field of backcountry medicine. The Apex/SOLO standard curriculum is offered for backcountry guides and enthusiasts alike, and both Wilderness First Responder and WFR recertification courses are provided.

The eight day Wilderness First Responder course and WFR recertification course are held at Camp Hale, Colorado. At just shy of 10,000 feet, Camp Hale was a training ground for the 10^th Mountain Division in preparation for high altitude mountain combat in the Alps during WWII. This amazing location neighbors forest service land, and free camping, mountain biking, hiking and climbing are just minutes away. 13,000 foot peaks and pristine rivers border this Vail location among some of the most beautiful mountains in the U.S..

The towns of Vail and Leadville are only a 20 minute drive for food and supplies, as well as additional activities including climbing, fly fishing, and more.

The upcoming Colorado Wilderness First Responder course is offered May 22-29, as well as June 12-19, and the WFR recertification course is offered May 21-22 and June 11-12, 2011. The Wilderness First Responder certification is active for three years, after which the standard WFR recertification course renews the credential.

For more information on Apex’s courses, you can visit http://apexmountainschool.com, contact Apex by email, or call (888) 686-7685. To register, visit http://apexmountainschool.com/wilderness-medicine.

More from SOLO in Nepal

Namaste!

December was a busy month for SOLO Nepal and Initiative Outdoor. In mid-December we ran a WFA course only to turn around and start a 5-day AWFA. Both courses were taught at the Kakani Center for International Training with the classroom set up on a mountaintop overlooking the Kathmandu Valley on one side and the Himalayas on the other side.

While most of the students in the AWFA work as guides, there were several other “outsiders.”  All but one of the students spoke varying degrees English, so the course was taught half in Nepali and half in English. As with the previous courses here, simplifying the medical terms was the biggest hurdle.

Despite these hurdles, the class had a great sense of humor. Every time a helicopter was called for an “evacuation,” the call was placed to Washington D.C. because all of the helicopters in Nepal were busy. We were assured that the response time from the States would be approximately 5 minutes.

Just as one would expect in an international course, these classes have been slightly amended to fit the situations most likely to be encountered in Nepal. More emphasis was placed on techniques and equipment relevant to the types of injuries and illnesses encountered in the Himalayas.  Cultural differences played an important part in how the material was presented and perceived.

Initiative Outdoor is currently advertising a WFR for late February and is gauging interest for more AWFA and WFA courses for the spring.

Pheri Betola,

Chandra Ale and Initiative Outdoor (SOLO Nepal)

A SOLO Student Adventure

I recently attended the SOLO Wilderness First Responder class at Hulbert Outdoor Center and was unaware of how influential it would be. I have always loved being in the backcountry, whether it be to mountain bike, snowboard, climb or just to hike. I have extensive experience in the outdoors, but what I was lacking was some serious knowledge of wilderness first aid and rescue. Taking the SOLO WFR class has given me just that. The 9-day, 80-hour intensive course provided enough information and balance of in-class lectures and extensive hands-on practice and live scenarios. Though I had little medical background when I began the course, I emerged confident in my abilities to help and possibly rescue an incapacitated fellow backcountry enthusiast. Now I have entered into a different mindset when I am in the outdoors; one that is not only more aware of the potential consequences of my activities, but also one that is more confident about dealing with any emergencies if they should arise.

With this valuable experience, I am now embarking on an incredible journey– I will be cycling with a Chinese group from China to Singapore, passing through six other countries. Our trip has two main purposes: the first is to promote friendship ties between the countries of Southeast Asia and China, and of course the US; the second is to raise awareness of environmental concerns in the area and promote sustainable practices. With my newly acquired WFR certification, I am much more concerned with the welfare of my group and am hopeful that we will arrive safely with few problems. If something were to happen, SOLO has given me the confidence to safely aid my team members. The Kunming Daily Press has even gone as far as to name me the cycling team’s medic!

Bike Route

I would like to sincerely thank SOLO and my instructor Gerry Brache for giving me this truly life-saving ability and confidence.

To follow my trip, learn more, and view the newspaper article, please visit my blog at www.jmille03.blogspot.com

Jesse Millett