This callout still sticks in my head for a few reasons.
First, it was the first time a dead body bothered me. It was the first time I really thought about it once I was done, the first time I shed a tear about it, and the first time I dreamed about it. I still don't know why.
Second, the night was absolutely gorgeous. The kind of night that brings you back to alpine climbing again and again. This contrasted sharply with our mission.
Third, I LOVE my petzyl head lamp- but it is not enough light to ski by and is makes a true search in the trees difficult. Being a self confessed gear whore, I wondered what I could do about this.
When doing 24 hour mountain bike races, I have a really nice, light, bright light set up made by NiteRider. Two on my handle bars, one on my helmet and I usually run faster laps at night than I do during the day. I would love a similar headlamp possibility on my ski helmet.
There is a helmet mount already made:but it is intended for mountain biking helmets with ample open vents for the velcro straps. I'm planning to try epoxying it onto my Giro G9 ski helmet to see if it may be a viable option for holding a light. The battery pack would either go in my backpack or jacket. Anythoughts?
He's a super talented rando racer, mountain bike racer, and all around good guy! He was with me on one of my worst back country touring days ever (Tele, SURE I remember how to tele!), some loooooooong ass mountain bike rides (7 hours? no prob), and introduced me to Mate tea (for which I will always be thank full).
No callouts More gear Yay Christmas! Home for Christmas and Santa was nice enough to bring me a few really nice pieces of gear that I will be beating the shit out of as soon as I get home:
All of which should come in handy during the upcoming cold days and nights on the snowmobiles and skis during back country rescues. Last year I didn't have a puffy with a hood, that made belay stations very chilly. I know some people aren't a fan of the hood, but I've wanted one for a while. Rab has started to become popular in the US with excellent recommendations on their gear from a few of my friends.
The helmet liner should be excelent as well. Considering the size of my head it seems like it'll fit under my climbing, skiing, ans snowmobile helm
I'll admit it, I'm a gear whore... unabashedly a gear whore. Luckily, I live in a house I work on rather than pay rent for so I have some extra money to buy gear. The whole being single with no kids thing helps too.
While I own a fair bit of gear (like a lot of us it takes up an extra bedroom), I'd like to think its because I'm picky with what I use. Hence, I'd like to begin a series about "Gear I Can't Live Without" based on my favorite packs, boots, ice tools, and other expensive shiny things I've tried to kill without success. Gear Like:
I think there are a lot of people in the high angle rescue community who would like to more specifics about this. I hope they surface soon so that we can all learn something.
First off, I realize that any enclosed space rescue is difficult. If you add a high angle component it increases the complexity by quite a bit. Combined with a patient that is circling the drain fast and you have a rescue situation I hope I'm never placed in.
That being said, most rescues should be a "back to the basics" affair. I think it's unfair to say that "the equipment didn't fail, the rock did". The most basic part of your system is your anchor- it IS a part of your equipment in my eyes. If there are doubts you need to increase the redundancy until your safety factor (our team uses 10:1) is reached. If using man made anchors (bolts, cams, nuts, hexes, etc) then your suspicion should increase and so should the redundancy of your system. This often entails using many more anchor points than you would have otherwise to avoid a system failure. Why would you build a system that would put your patient's life in danger if one component failed?
My condolences to the patient's family and friends, along with the rescuers involved. Here's hoping we can all learn something...
Physics over the summer, an ass ton of callouts (four, FOUR on one day) and my research have taken priority over this blog. I missed it though, so I'm back (thanks, AlbinoBlackBear for awakening me from my slumber). ----------------------------------------------------------- I've decided to apply for MD/PhD programs. That's how much I've been liking my research as of lately. The key will be finding a program where I can keep doing what I love and still fund me. Its an interesting mix of exercise science and medicine. Really, its exercise as a specific treatment for chronic pain. I think I'm going to get a masters first, especially if I get the big mutha' of a grant I just applied for. ----------------------------------------------------------- Rescues have been lacking as of late now that there's just a little bit of snow on the ground. Not enough white stuff to play in or slide, just enough to make it muddy. The few rescues we have had we're impressively fun.
This weekend entailed a full on alpine rescue. First, in the dark then into the next morning and afternoon. Granite covered in Rhine ice, a little snow, some really stuck kids, it made for a challenging rescue.
Highlights: A helicopter offload at 8,000 feet with one skid on a wee small granite fin, stepping out onto snow and with full packs on; beautiful alpine rock and ice; everyone surviving (I didn't think we were going to make it there in time); getting to watch my good friend and roomate lead his first rescue team in to support our helo team; getting hoisted off the mountain- I always feel like I'm flying hanging beneath the rotors of that beautiful bird.
It cannot be stressed enough: no matter how many times I get to play with the helicopters they still give me a giant woodie.
Lowlights: Getting hit in the chin as the helicopter peeled off the mountain in a wind gust; wondering all night if these kids were going to die because I couldn't get to them till the morning (and not sleeping one wink because of it); having to tell a patient that they were "just going to have to hold on till daylight" for the first time because my team couldn't climb to them in the dark; having to tell a new team member to take his comments off facebook because of the poor things they said about our patients- and the attitude I got back from it.
I'll try to upload some video we shot during the rescue but until then enjoy the poor quality pics I grabbed off the news:
Did I say three days in the water? How silly of me; I meant Five. Allow me to ruin the end of the story for you. We didn't find the body, rarely do we ever find the body. But, we sure as hell tried.
Like any story worth reading; this epic has a girl involved. Actually, a really hot girl, some damn good ice cream, a $50 bottle of port, and my hot tub. Then my fucking pager went off (to which the first words out of my mouth are always "oh shit") and that will be the last we ever hear of that girl.
The page was its usual cryptic self: "S&R CALLOUT SEARCH OF 10YOF RESPOND TO (GETTO) BRING DIVE EQUIPMENT"
Translation: the kid is dead, he's been in the water for an hour before fire called us to find the body. Never mind that we have an actual fast response rescue team. I guess someone at the station forgot to set the TIVO and they had to head back home to catch House.
I changed into my wetsuit at my house (in front of a very perplexed female, I guess I didn't explain what I do very well) and high tailed it to the scene. By the time I got there it was the normal multiple agency cluster fuck. I was assigned to build the grid- a giant man made strainer down stream- but got pulled into a zodiac for a bank search. Of course, I didn't clear that with my commanding officer and got an ass reaming for it that night.
A lot of people on our team readily assume that every water call out is a body recovery. They're right 98% of the time; but that's not good enough for me. I grabbed (stole...) a jump bag from the ambulance on scene just in case. I can't image how stupid I would feel if I found an *almost* dead patient and didn't have shit on me to help.
Of course, the bank search was uneventful and we went back to probing. A lot of people ask how we find bodies in the water. We pick the most likely spot they could be and see if we can snag anything with a giant metal pole with two or so hooks on the end. That is when most of my friends stop asking what I do... gruesome indeed.
Darkness fell, the rain started, and the fishing continued. We had three people in the zodiac- one running the outboard, one probing, and the other holding onto the bottom of the bridge so we'd stay in one place. We found a lot of shit- blankets, pillows, signs, shopping carts- all of which feel A LOT like a body. Each time we'd get our hopes up, only to have them be killed. It could be worse, we've found bodies in this river in past searches... that weren't the body we were looking for.
Midnight came and command sent us home with the promise that we'd be there the next day bright and early. My dreams were short (as was my sleep) and weird; it wasn't until I got home that I realized EXACTLY what we were looking for:
Its been a while since I've had anything to post on here. Its been
QUIET
DEAD QUIET
(may the ems god smite me... fuck them)
Until this weekend any way. Friday we were called out to a 3 year old who fell in a creek while chasing her dog. I had just began an exam when the page went out. I glanced at it and all I had to see was "3 year old" and "swift water" and I was out of my seat and heading towards the door. The TA confronted me, I explained the situation (swift water rescues are one of the few times where our response time means life and death) and continued out the door.
"I'm going to fail you" was the last thing I heard. I couldn't care less- I don't think I could ever forgive myself if a kid died because I wouldn't leave some pointless piece of shit exam. I hauled ass to my partners house. He was waiting, wetsuit on, so I let him drive while I tossed mine on in the car (I'm sorry to everyone on Main street i flashed).
As we drove we checked in on the radio reports; witnesses were reporting seeing her, still alive, further and further downstream. We adjusted our course accordingly (wishing our friggin department would give us blue lights the whole time) and finally hit a part of the steam accessible to the road downstream from her position.
We readied for a "live bait" rescue. In escence, something like this: One team member has a rope attached to his rescue PFD and stands poised at the waters edge or on a rock while the other team member gets ready to belay him from shore with the rope. When the "swimmer" (patient, victim, w/e) is in sight and slightly past the rescuer in the water he makes an elegant swift water entry (belly flop), grabs the swimmer, and is then pedulumed to shore by his team mate who hope fully still has hold of the rope. The difficulty of this maneuver is compounded by a struggling patient (yes, I hit them if need be), and the shear idiocy of jumping into the very situation killing your patient.
I couldn't have been more surprised when we hit the shore and there was our little girl, laying in the shallows... face up. My partner gave two quick rescue breaths (without a barrier... oops) and just like that the girl coughed up a little water, gave a wail, and pinked up. The ambulance was right on our ass so we handed her off to the medic and that was the last we saw of her.
I got to finish my exam... and I got the high score in the class... eat that Mr. TA!
They say that you can tell an EMTs experience by the amount of shit on his belt. The more shit there is, the less experience he/she has. I think the same can be said for SAR; except I carry everything in the back of my car. Now that its summer I can get rid of most of my winter gear (skis, avy gear, etc) and I took hard look at what I was carrying.
My goal was to have a pack that was ready for 90% of our missions pre-packed in my car. This includes food, water, etc. I use a Lowe Alpine Alpine Attack 50 for my SAR pack because it *can* be a load hauler when I end up with the 600 foot static line or I can compress it down if I'm in the HASTE team.
I was always amazed at the small size of the packs carried by experienced members on our team. Especially considering they ALWAYS had what they needed. Now, I understand why. Speed= safety (as long as you have the crapola you need). Here's what I'm keeping pre-packed:
Lowe Pack
Top Pouch
i.Map
ii.Compass/ Whistle
iii.Pro Bars (2)
iv.Pair of socks
v.Laser Pointer
vi.Safety glasses
vii.Headlamp
viii.Fire starter + matches
ix.Sunglasses
Main pouch
i.Team shell
ii.Team fleece jacket
iii.Team fleece vest
iv.Team fleece hat
v.OR waterproof gloves
vi.MH fleece gloves
vii.Helmet
1.headlamp attached
viii.Climbing bundle
1.3 Omega Team Carabineers
2.15’ webbing
3.20’ webbing
4.Personal prussic cords (2)
5.Black Diamond Alpine Bod harness
6.Petzyl gloves + keeper carabineer
ix.Climbing harness
1.ATC + belay carabineer
2.Personal Purcell
x.One Nalgene (water)
xi.One Nalgene (gatorade)
Outside pocket (crampon pouch)
i.Team first aid kit
1.Trauma sheers
2.BVM
3.Gloves (Large)
4.Bio Bag
5.Kerlix Roll
6.4 X 4 gauze (4)
7.8X 10 Combine dressing
8.Cavet bandages (2)
9.Mole Skin
10.Triple antibiotic packages (2)
11.Antimicrobacterial wipes (3)
12.Ibuprophen (2)
13.Diphen (2)
14.Bandaids
15.Bug X towelette
16.Sunscreen
17.Sting relief
ii.Sam Splint
So that's about 1000 calories plus a combination of clothes that will keep me comforatable in a range of conditions. I'll drop my primary climbing harness before we set out if it doesn't look like we'll need it- its a super heavy (comfy) big wall harness but I'll keep my main climbing kit because a simple carryout can require belays very quickly.
Also, in the back of my car ready to go is my radio chest harness. Now, I'm not a huge fan of this thing. Its hot, heavy, and seems to get in the way. I'd rather toss my radio in my crampon pouch on my pack and run the lapel mic up to my shoulder strap. I'm still afraid to not have somethings attached to my body (space blanket, radio) so
for now it stays:
Radio Pack
4 X 4 bandages (2)
Space Blanket
Sharpie
Pen
Notepad
Small flashlight
Team medical form
Two pair large medical gloves
One pair each: small and medium gloves
Medical reference card
Small gerber
800 mHz Radio + Lapel mic
Medical tape
Ear plugs (helicopters)
AA/AAA batteries (3 each)
Finally, I have two small duffels I keep in the back of my trusty subaru. One is specifically for swift water rescues and the other has some snow/ice gear (there's still a lot at high altitudes) and my normal clothes/boots I wear on callouts.
Duffel
Tall leather boots (socks + gaitors inside)
Mountaineering boots
Crampons
Ice Screws (6)
i.10cm (2)
ii.15cm (2)
iii.17cm (2)
DMM ice tools (2)
BD Ice Ax
MH winter gloves
MH prima loft jacket
Green team pants
Team short sleeve t-shirt
Synthetic boxers
Long sleeve synthetic shirt
AA/AAA extra batteries (10 each)
Swift water duffel
Swift water PFD
i.Whistle
ii.Knife
iii.Attendant line + locking carabineer (LOCKED)
Helmet
Neoprene gloves
Neoprene socks
Wetsuit
Old tennis shoes
Throw rope
That's still a ton of stuff, but I'm open to ideas of what I can get rid of....
I credit myself for being a little bit of a prankster... Its a defense mechanism and a way of reminding my self that none of us are really all that important. Usually, its little stuff. Like sneaking into one of our deputies cars and turning up the radio so that when he turns it on in the morning he'll be bombarded with Mexican polka (bonus points for taking the radio control knobs off or covering them in KY) or tying my team leader's boots to the litter as we're practicing carries.
One deputy I work with took the cake though. We were doing a body recovery. A really, really bad body recovery. The kind where you bring the pieces out in small trash bags as you find them and hope the patient had good dental records.
Well, for some reason, the patient's ear was found far, far away from the rest of the pieces of the body. The ear was placed in its own bag and because of that forgotten about when the rest of the pieces were handed over to the coroner.
This deputy realized his mistake about an hour later, and sheepishly told our commanding officer. Our CO's reply:
"Fuck, well just throw the damn thing away, none of us ever saw it..."
Ay, ay captain, and so it was done, or we thought.
Not long after the call out the afore mentioned deputy and went to grab us sandwiches after the call out. Our CO had been bitching all day about how hungry he was and how long the recovery was taking, etc, etc, etc.
The Deputy returned from his food run, handed out all the boxes of food, and (quickly) walked away. Our CO opened his sandwich box, opened his hoagie to pile on the mayo and letuce and there, smack dab in the middle of his ham was the ear that had been "thrown away".
Our CO immediately recoiled, and chucked the sandwhich at the (now running) deputy. After a brief pursuit the deputy handed out CO his real sandwhich, the ear was finally thrown away, and one of the better pranks in our department went down in infamy.
Happiness comes in many forms. Today it was: 200 rounds through this: And 49 rounds through this: And 3 seconds between shots rule at civilian ranges? WTF?
Still haven't decided what I'm getting when I get my concealed carry permit.... probably neither one of those. Leaning towards a SIG.
But I'm curious, if EMS is the spinal tap what is SAR? The bastard, kinda dumb, jockish guys? I think so...
But the question remains, is there a place for Advanced Life Support capabilities on a mountain search and rescue team? Many argue yes because of the long transports of critically injured patients.
However, I argue no for a few reasons:
Most patients, by the time we get to them are either dead or stable. I have to leave work, change clothes, get to my car, drive to the callout (without being able to go Code 3...), hike/fly/ride into the patient and then transport them out. We're talking hours here.
It is damn near impossible to get an IV to stay in and active while moving a patient through the terrain we deal with. (If anyone has any ideas let them rip). Cold skin just aggravates the problem.
ALS would mean more shit I'd have to carry in, and I already have a lot. Plus, meds would have to be kept controlled and current. That would be impossible in the back of a civilian car and hard in a non medical (Sheriff's) truck.
In my opinion, and this has always been my opinion with EMS, the fastest way to the hospital is the best way. Get in, get the patient, get them the fuck out....
Will I still go to paramedic school if the department pays for it? Hell yes I will.
I leave town for a week and miss TWO, TWO friggin rescues. Seriously, I'm thinking the worst thing for the welfare of mountain going folks in my county is for me to leave town (this has happened quite a few times).
I feel guilty. I should be there helping our relatively small rescue team out with these (especially when there's two in one day). Instead I'm sitting on my ass in my parents house, where I'll be for the next week. If there's more rescues I'm tempted to fly home NOW.
Should I feel guilty? We're a volunteer team- I don't get paid a dime to go on rescues that will occupy 500+ hours or so of my year. In fact, I buy most of my own gear for those rescues. So who cares that I'm home and enjoying time with my family? I do... I love going on call outs, I love the challenge, I love the rush, I love talking to the patients on the way home, I love it all and get pissed when I miss out- end of story.
I'm going to get so much shit at the next meeting....
What do I do in my spare time? Post shit like this to craigs list:
Geek seeks an MHC with the right antigen shape to bind to his Tcell. I keep trying to find the right one but they seem to be MHC-1 and I need an MHC-2. Can you be the second signal to my receptor site?
According to my girlfriend, I've been lecturing in my sleep. As in reciting my power point slides, talking about shock, and walking through the primary and secondary assessments. This is nothing new. I've always been quite the sleep talker. Even going as far as too carry on conversations (that I have NO recollection of). I'm also known on our SAR team for being able to fall asleep when ever, where ever and be up and awake when I need to be just as fast.
The icing on the cake was when she woke up to me doing a full head to toe patient exam on her. An exam:
I don't remember one bit of
In which I was asking her the SAMPLE questions
I even kept my hands together when I palpated the sternum (so I didnt "cup" her... not that I haven't used that excuse on dates before...hehe)
A teacher that won't mark a question wrong because I didn't regurgitate what he said in class word for word; but rather integrated my knowledge of outside sources and answers into a comprehensive answer that actually showed thought and/or knowledge of a subject that the professor is woefully behind in.
Grades to actually show how much I've learned, not the random shit I memorized before an exam
Classes that integrate with each other... or at least agree
It not to count against me if all of my classes but one have presented a fact in one way and hence I write down that fact when my current professor is stuck back 20 years ago.
It to count that I'm a better clinician than the medical school students I work with in the homeless clinic. They are, without a doubt, clueless and inept. Oh, sorry, they got an A in Ochem of course they'll be good doctors.
The fact that I know exactly what I'm getting myself into to help me, not hurt me. Just because I don't have the same starry eyed enthusiasm to save the world and work with the undeserved like all the other douche bag, clueless pre-med students doesn't mean I do not care. It just means I'm realistic. Sorry, I know medical schools love to beat that kinda thing out of their students.
To be a doctor, because right now I'm watching patients die because I can't do anything to save them, because I don't have the training, or the knowledge, or the experience.
I know I'll be a good physician... someone just has to give me a chance.
I'm considering applying for a MD/MSPH combined program. That is, ONLY to be more able to do research as part of my practice. Any part of me that actually wanted to work in public health has been finally scared away by the mass hysteria over the "swine flu". Seriously, I couldn't deal with this stupid of people all day...
That's a picture of a "short haul" technique used to insert rescuers and evacuate patients from highly technical terrain. Its certainly one of the perks of SAR because its a ton of fun and certainly something different from the normal EMS routine (which is "treating" patients who don't really need your help).
Advantages include decreasing the hover time (which is the most dangerous time period of any helicopter operation) and staying away from the more complicated winch in/winch out mechanics.
Disadvantages include no visual communication with the pilot (radio only) and it requires a tremendous amount of skill on the pilot's part to avoid flying the rescuer and patient into trees, buildings, rock walls, etc. Sadly, such an event happened recently with one of the most accomplished mountain rescue teams in the country. The patient was killed and the rescuer critically injured.
Usually, our team is inserted via helicopter on a ridge and then we descend to the patient. In this manor, the ship is usually on the ground (or has one skid down) and we exit out the doors onto non technical terrain. Per FAA regulations, short hauling, winching, and rappelling out of civilian helicopters is strictly prohibited except by a very select few trained individuals who work for the helicopter companies. For example, there is only one civilian air ambulance company who is allowed to winch patients and their medics in and out.
That's great... but I really don't give a shit. If inserting via technical means (mentioned above) is the safest way I can get to my patient I'm going to do it and ask for forgiveness if necessary. I've always followed the motto that "The fastest way to the hospital is the best". We're lucky that we have a helicopter crew that is willing to support these transgressions.
Case in point; a few days ago we had a MCI on a large rock face. Multiple patients took extended (500-1000 ft) falls or slides. We had a few fatalities and a lot of patients circling the drain- including pediatric patients. We had two options- climbing in from the top or bottom or short hauling in.
Hiking in would have exposed our rescuers to an extreme avalanche danger, rock fall, and a slope that was melting out. It also would have meant the death of many patients because it would have taken us an hour to reach them.
We choose to short haul two of our rescuers in and extricate the patients as soon as possible. No worries, it has become standards operating procedure. We did, and not one patient died who wasn't already dead when we arrived on scene. Considering the nature of their injuries, that is a huge accomplishment and uncommon in SAR.
In typical fashion, the news crews (who could ruin a wet dream) published the footage despite us asking them not too. The FAA saw it. We're in deep shit. But, ya know what? I'd do it again, and again, and again without a thought otherwise.
Get the patient out as fast as possible and they live... all I give a damn about.
Final pathology came back for the lymph nodes sampled during my dad's surgery. The cancer was contained to the prostate, Gleason remained at 6, and there were no other indications of a spread. Hooray! The tough old hoot went for a hike today, I'm proud of him!
The lesson in all of this is to get checked out early and often. His PSA never rose past about 2 and had been consistent there for a few years (with negative biopsies). But that, combined with a strong family history, kept him going in for biyearly exams. The list of people whom have died from prostate cancer they ignored is long and distinguished and thank god my dad isn't one of them.
His robotic prostectomy went well. The procedure as a whole took 3 hours from pre-op room to post-op room and bleeding was contained at 500mL (slightly more than usual because some of the bleeders were near nerve plexi that the surgeon wasn't going anywhere near with a cauterizer). The surgeon caught the tough old stuborn man walking around the ward about 12 hours after surgery and promptly told him to get back to bed. Doctors truely are the worst patients.
30 hours post-op he was back home and eating solid food AND refusing pain meds. I love my dad, one day I hope I'm as stuborn and tough as he is.
My little brother broke his nose. He broke it really, really badly. Hence, he will be going into surgery the same day as my dad to have it repaired. They'll have to put him under general anesthetic and it'll take about 2 hours. My poor mom will have to deal with it all because my asshole Ochem professor won't let me out of my exam that day. I hope his rotting carcass burns in whatever hell he believes in.
I am the only one in my family who won't have had surgery this year. I guess we used our deductible. Maybe I should get my tonsils taken out (they're friggin huge).
I got my father (a classical rock aficionado) a mint, two sided, Frank Zappa LP (The front and back are below) and original concert poster from the mid 1970s for his birthday.
His birthday is the day before he goes into surgery to remove his cancerous prostate
It was a bizarre scene, lights flashing through pine trees weighed down with powder alternated breaking my view of a perfectly clear night. The stars were so beautiful against the high alpine background that it would distract me for minutes until the reality of what we were doing came inching back to me, dripping down my neck and reminding me of our situation.
A kid, 16, had been missing since about 2pm. It was now 8pm. Six hours at 10,000 feet in rapidly cooling conditions and with feet of new, light snow on the ground decreases your survival time significantly. She was without any survival gear, without an avalanche beacon, and had been in a resort skiing with her family. High winds turned around our helicopter so we were alone and searching a mountain on skis.
The beams from our headlamps are really what sticks in my mind. I'd be alone, or I'd feel alone, then one of my teammate's lights would splash across me and be gone as they turned to complete another traverse. The reality of the situation was that we were searching for a body. All of us would like to think she was still alive but I doubted it. In an area with excellent cell phone coverage we would have heard from her by now.
When one of us skied across her skis... literally skied across them, their edges stopping my teammate, our suspicions were confirmed. Her skis didn't move, they were firmly attached to her boots and thus to her. She was upside down, headfirst in the soft snow of a tree well.
People have warned me of the gruesomeness of Search and Rescue... or Search and Recovery... but I hadn't experienced it yet. All of the dead bodies I'd seen were fairly benign before this. She had obviously struggled, attempted to free herself, then passed out from the lack of oxygen.
I wondered if the light filtered down to her like the lights from the snow cat above us randomly filtered down to her. Five feet of snow was probably too much though; and her last images were almost surely dark. She was within sight of a groomed ski run.
Cold bodies with rigor don't fit well in body bags and fit even more poorly into ski toboggans but we did what we could. We skied her awkwardly to an ambulance. It was clear that she was dead but there are less questions if they declare her than if we do.
No one really talked, even at the debrief. Some team mates made mistakes traveling in but no one was in the mood to criticize. I answered some of the medical school student's questions and thought about my little brother, 16, loves to ski, loves to ski through the trees. Then I went home to a warm bed, a cuddly girl, and promised to not dwell.
I lied to myself and said it didn't bother me, it did.
Two rescues. A lot of time on skis, with avy probes and shovels out. One fatality- he didn't see anything coming and did nothing wrong. One survivor- a knowledgeable skier in a spot no knowledgeable person should have been.
Maybe I'll write about it later...
The medical school students I'm teaching sure saw what a lot of SAR is about this weekend.
EE pointed me towards a blog co-written by a psych resident and an ER resident. It *almost* makes me want to go back to working in an ER. But then I think about playing with helicopters and all those silly feeling go away. Anyway, check it out: http://serenitynowhospital.blogspot.com/
I started teaching our annual Wilderness Medical rotation for the 4th year medical school students today. Needless to say it'll probably be their easiest rotation, but I'm hoping we can make it a lot of fun. I did get a call from the Dean of their medical school this morning:
Dean: "I'm a little nervous about a lowly EMT teaching a med school class, what makes you certified" Me: "(All of the BS letters behind my name, blah, blah, blah) and I think I have enough experience to be able to introduce them to real life wilderness medicine. Dean: "Oh, well, ok. They'll be writing evaluations on you though. So be warned. I don't want this to be a 2 week vacation for them. Med school can't be fun..." **paraphrased slightly... and over exagerated
To be honest, I'm really excited. All of the students are motivated and learn quickly. Traits lacking from 99% of my undergraduate students. I guess that's why they're in medical school.
If you're a medical school student interested in a fun rotation leave me a message on here and I'll get in touch with you. Topics we're covering: -Search and Rescue basics -Patient Packaging -Patient transport decisions -WMS approved wilderness medicine curriculum (same stuff we teach the docs) -Basic Rope skills (raising, lowering, low angle evacuations) -Helicopter operations -A few practice rescues
Plus, you'll get too do some rotations with the docs on ski patrol (assuming you can ski or board) and any call out I go on while you're in my class you get to tag along on.
Enough shameless plugging. Back to writing lectures on acute abdomens:
I have the best girlfriend known... I swear. Why? Because this is what I woke up too: Click Me
Except in a tuperware and in my back pack. What'd you think I was going to link you too? On the morning before a big mutha of an OChem exam it really is the small things in life. And a lot of Red Bull. And some trashy pop to keep me awake.
I have yet to hear a logical argument as too why I have to take organic chemistry to be a good physician. The pre-med requirements don't even require anatomy...which is something that I would actually use on a daily basis.
Case in point. My mentor has a graduate degree in organic chemistry. He says it was the most pointless piece of bullshit he's ever undertaken. No medical school student I've meet (and I teach them, I've meet quite a few) has claimed that Organic Chemistry has helped them at all in any class.
As a final piece of argument I cut and pasted multiple questions from my honors physiology, honors anatomy (two classes... our college doesn't do the BS combined crap), general chemistry, organic chemistry, and physics classes into an exam and had 20 medical school students, residents, and attendings I know take it for fun. These are folks who are in the top of their class, chief residents in internal medicine, and residency directors in multiple fields (oncology, radiology, surgery) respectively.
The questions they got right were all from the Physiology and Anatomy sections. Not a single person answered a general chemistry, organic chemistry, or physics question right.
Hence, it is proven that you need none of this bull shit to practice medicine. Want us to prove* we're intelligent? Have us take something that matters.
*Intelligence is not an A in Ochem.... which is no way proves you will be a good doctor.
I teach A LOT of classes. From advanced first aid to Basic and Advanced Wilderness Life Support to a 4th year medical school student rotation.
While I like to spend as little time in a classroom and as much time outdoors as possible (that's where you learn it all anyway) some lecture time is a necessity. This often means power point and I Hate Powerpoint
At least most of the ones I have to sit through as a student. The slides have too much info on them, they're boring and when the professor just reads off them I wonder why I even came to class.
I'd rather make mine, simple, to the point and interesting. This may be my favorite site to help with the last aspect: Free Medicine PowerPoint Templates
I'm teaching a diabetes lecture tomorrow, I think I'll use this one:
I've been struggling with what I want to write on here.
I'd love to recount stories of SAR callouts, and I have for some one the more interesting ones, but I've found that for the most part 90% of them follow the same basic outline:
-Hiker/Skier/Snowmobiler is TLS (Tired/Lonely (or lost)/Scared) and calls us -We usually have a good idea where he/she is -We hike in -We hike them out (yes, if they can hike out they weren't that hurt in the first place...)
There have been some interesting ones but they've been few and far between (and I've written about most of them).
So, what should I write about? I'd love to talk some about how I see technology helping and hurting our search and rescue team. Or, even the general attitudes in EMS and medicine. Any other ideas?
but it is intended for mountain biking helmets with ample open vents for the velcro straps. I'm planning to try epoxying it onto my Giro G9 ski helmet to see if it may be a viable option for holding a light. The battery pack would either go in my backpack or jacket. Anythoughts?
