Finalizing Preparations for 2013

We are completing preparations for this coming year's Semester and are looking forward to meeting up with everyone in Costa Rica.

Please share this blog address with any family and friends interested in getting updates on the group's activities.  Once we get to Mastatal, we'll make every effort to post daily with pictures and text.  

Graduation Day!

The word is in:  everyone passed their National Registry EMT Basic scenarios!   The test consisted of six stations, ranging from managing a multi-system trauma to caring for a patient in cardiac arrest.  These are stressful times for students and instructors alike.  It's not surprising that they passed but a relief nonetheless.  It's a great accomplishment for this incredible group.

As we speak, students are cleaning up at the Rich Ranch and heading down to Missoula for a (non-alcohol) BBQ and graduation ceremony.   We have prizes for the Med-War winners, certifications, a slide-show, some cheesy home-movies of the course,  and pizza for everyone.  We'll post pictures of the event later.

Med Wars and Student Presentations

Well, we continue to find ways to fill our days and heads with learning while also continuing to have fun. A perfect example of this occurred at the end of last week. The students competed in the first ever Aerie Med Wars! In teams of two, the students had to navigate to different locations around the Rich Ranch and perform tasks such as constructing improvised litters and caring for patients in different medical scenarios. The scores have yet to be tallied for determining the victorious duo (mostly because we are having trouble deciding who had the best costume....see below). 

Med Wars

In addition to Med Wars, the students continue to improve in the patient assessments. The National Registry practical test is on April 10th so don't forget to call and wish your kid/friend/partner luck!

Medical assessment performed by Des as Lex plays the patient

 Instructor Becca looking on as students ace their patient assessments

 

Adam remembering to warm the stethoscope 

As the weather warms up, we've tried to extract some extra vitamin D by relocating the classroom to the outdoors.

We also continue to practice our wilderness medical skills. Please admire the improvised femur traction device constructed by Kyle, Blake, and Andrew on instructor Trenton in the picture to the left.


Perhaps the best part of the week has been the student presentations. Adam and Tyler taught us how to create improvised stoves. Blake and Andrew discussed how some of the surrounding flora can be used for herbal, medical remedies. Kyle and Bren provided us with insight on disaster preparedness. We learned about medical preparation for events such as adventure races and concerts from Tom and Peter. Lizzy and Lex provided insight about vaccinations, while Dara and Lauren covered international medical aid. Finally, Carolan and Des taught us how to make proper snow shelters. Below are a few pictures from the presentations.

Peter and Tom teaching about medical aid organization for events

Tyler and Adam showing us how to make a backcountry stove (we each got to make our own)!

Backcountry stove

Douglas Fir tea

Sizing an igloo

Check back in soon!

Hazmat and Mass Casualty Incident Management

Sorry about the delay in a post. We have had a busy week!

Friday began with another day in Missoula where we visited with Life Flight at Saint Patrick Hospital and later learned about hazardous materials - related medical emergencies from HazMat specialist Dan Corti.

Life Flight is one of Missoula's two air ambulance programs.  It is outfitted with a rotor wing, fixed wing, and ground transport to provide medical support in the greater Missoula area. The Life Flight team is composed of experienced Critical Care Nurses and Paramedics as well as skilled helicopter and fixed wing pilots. The students had an opportunity to visit with some of the Life Flight crew and also ascended to the roof of Saint Patrick Hospital to visit the helicopter.

In the afternoon, Dan Corti, who works for the University of Montana as their environmental health expert, provided us with a lecture regarding medical emergencies due to hazardous material exposure. Post lecture, students got to apply their new knowledge in a scenario with the Missoula Police and Fire Departments. Below are some pictures of this scenario.

Lex directing

Carolan and Andrew

Lauren, Tyler, and Des

Missoula City Firefighter Rick Pechta helping students assess a scene

A member of the Missoula Police Department relating some of his knowledge regarding hazardous material situations

On Saturday, Missoula County Search and Rescue joined our group back at Rich Ranch. Later that evening, the somewhat unsuspecting students were confronted with a mass casualty incident (MCI). They were told to search  for a lost skier. The students departed from Rich Ranch around 8PM. Navigating to specific coordinates, they came across an avalanche involving 8 victims (three skiers and 5 University of Montana Forestry students). The students had to organize and implement a plan for accessing, sorting, treating and evacuating all patients. They did a great job and stayed positive even when the scenario lasted throughout the entire night. Exhausted, the students (and instructors) crawled into bed at 7AM the following morning to catch a few hours of sleep.

Dara, Adam, Carolan, and Lizzy practicing with some of the search and rescue equipment

Tyler helping recover an avalanche victim during the MCI

Peter heating water for his patient

Incident Commander Dara hard at work

Taking care of a patient

Bren and Kyle caring for a patient

Bren and Kyle moving a patient on a SKED

The avalanche

Des helping Bren and Tyler get their patient down the avalanche slope

Adam joining the crew on the way to meet ground ambulance

Knots, Ropes, and Rescue

Aerie instructor Ben working with students to set up safe rescue systems

Our last two days were spent with Aerie instructors Josh and Ben who taught us about rope rescue. These two instructors have worked as guides on McKinley, Rainier and Aconcagua.

We were able to incorporate these new skills into medical and trauma scenarios where patients are in less than desirable locations.

Because we have so many wonderful pictures from the past two days, I thought I would share a little of what we learned through our photos.

Blake

Des

Aerie instructor Josh showing some belay techniques

Ascending ropes 

Demonstration on transferring a patient to a different rescue rope for lowering  

Patient care

Setting up a rescue system to rescue patients 

Don't mess with Dara

Scene size-up/scene safety

Bren rappelling to patients

Lauren

Nice airway check Kyle!

Lizzy

Do you know what this is called?

Ask Des, I bet she can tell you!

Ascending with patient

Missoula Day

Today started at Missoula Emergency Services, Missoula's only ambulance service, for a review of ambulance operations.  Most students have completed their ambulance ride-alongs, but often we don't have time during their rides to answer all of the questions that arise during calls.

We then headed over to the Missoula County Search and Rescue equipment cache and learned about their SAR team.  We will be interacting with this group quite a bit in the coming weeks.

After that, we met at the University of Montana cadaver lab for a continuation human anatomy instruction.  There is no better way to learn anatomy than in a cadaver lab with experienced instructors.

After lunch, we headed over for vehicle extrication practice with Missoula Rural Fire Department.  Students had the opportunity to learn from professional firefighters and then donned turn-out gear, getting their hands on equipment while tearing apart some vehicles.  Our goal here is to give our students a sense of the challenges, dangers and opportunities present when dealing with patients entrapped in vehicles.   

Tonight we are back up to Seeley for a full week of class.