On their first "weekend" of the MT portion of the Semester, a number of students are completing emergency room observations and ambulance ride-alongs. These are amazing opportunities to see patients and watch healthcare professionals do their jobs. It also adds to the experiences gained at the clinic in Costa Rica.
Everyone is meeting back up at the Rich Ranch tonight. This week will be huge. We are snowshoeing 10 miles up to a backcountry yurt on Morrell Mountain. This is an incredible site where the snowpack is still upwards of 10 feet deep. On the way, we'll be route-finding, practicing safe travel in the winter backcountry, and finally convincing our bodies that we are no longer in the tropics. Once at the yurt, we will have three days of avalanche rescue training provided by Aerie instructor Darcy Chenoweth and Dudley Improta and Steve Karkanen from the West Central Montana Avalanche Center. Students will learn the basics of avalanche forecasting with all focus on avoiding avalanche dangers. We will also practice with avalanche beacons and learn how to extricate patients from snow burials. Finally, we'll put the importance of prevention in perspective as we learn how to care for people buried in avalanches.
Then we'll pack up and head back down to the ranch, sending more students off for their clinical time and otherwise getting ready for the next week.
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