National Outdoor Leadership School - Index

National Outdoor Leadership School - Summer2008 - Index

FIELD NOTES
Relief Medic
Program:
Backcountry Medicine
Helping Rural Communities
BY LAUREN WETHERBEE, NOLS ALUMNI INTERN
WMI instructor Justin Padgett didn’t go to
Ecuador with the intention of starting a rural
medical care program. In the course of his travels,
though, he realized the need for such a program in many
rural communities that have little, if any, medical care.
In 2005, working with the government and CEMO-
PLAF (Centro Médico de Orientación y Planificación
Familiar), an Ecuadorian nongovernment organization,
Justin, who taught the country’s first WFR course in
2001 and founded Landmark Learning, WMI’s largest
affiliate, organized the first trip of what would become
the Relief Medic Program.
The Relief Medic Program provides medical care
in remote Ecuadorian villages, some above 12,000 feet
in the Andes and some located along the Rio Nabo
and accessible only by
dugout canoe.
To work with the
program, participants must
have a Wilderness First
Responder certification or
higher and a willingness
to help. The 14-day program
begins with four
days of training in which
participants learn skills
specific to what they will see working in rural communities
in a developing country. Alejandro Lazzati, a WMI
instructor who has been involved with the program since
its inception, says that most of what they do is basic
health with the occasional “wild and weird cases.”
While serving the local communities, participants
will gain clinical experiences in wilderness medicine.
“I really believe that it’s a great opportunity for people
to apply their wilderness medicine training to real
life situations. It’s a great combination of emergency
medicine and adventure travel,” says Justin. “It’s the
perfect way to put WMI training to use in a real and
meaningful way.”
“I really believe that it’s a great
opportunity for people to apply
their wilderness medicine training
to real life situations. It’s a
great combination of emergency
medicine and adventure travel.”
This year’s trip includes WMI grads and WMI
instructor Fiona McColley, who is being trained to
lead future programs. Her participation in the Relief
Medic trip two years ago introduced Fiona to WMI. She
took her WMI instructor
course in 2007 and has been
teaching courses through
Landmark Learning since.
“It’s awesome to be able to
see my students in real-life
situations; to see how much
their skills improve,” she said.
WMI grad Craig Samples
is also participating in an
upcoming trip. Certified as
an EMT after his 2005 retirement, Craig took WMI’s
Wilderness Upgrade for Medical Professionals to be
prepared to provide medical care in primitive conditions,
but he discovered that finding a way to practice his
new skills was difficult. Craig hopes that this trip will
allow him to build on his WMI training. “[It will] not
only teach me new techniques, but also give me a
chance to put them, and my previous training, into
practice,” he said.
For more information on the Relief Medic Program and
WMI courses available through Landmark Learning,
check out http://landmarklearning.org.
SUMMER 2008
Participants in Landmark Learning’s Relief Medic Program provide medical care in remote Ecuadorian villages. Landmark
Learning is a partner of the Wilderness Medical Institute of NOLS.
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For more information, check out:
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15
Justin Padgett