Workshop and a Meeting

March is a busy month for the Wilderness Medicine Interest Group. On March 27th, we are hosting a Wilderness Medicine Educational Workshop at the Red River Gorge. Students will have the opportunity to rotate through different stations where they will learn hands-on skills for the backcountry environment. After learning about patient assessment, splinting and spine immobilization, and water purification techniques, we will conclude with the obligatory Miguel's Pizza.

On March 30th we are honored to have Dr. Todd Cheever from the Department of Psychiatry speak to us about the psychological aspects of a search and rescue. Come out to room MN-463 at noon for an interesting discussion and some amazing food.

Upcoming Events

Here are some upcoming events in Wilderness Medicine. For more information, follow the links or check out the links listed on the right.

Conferences:
Feb 6 - 10 Wilderness Medicine Conference (Big Sky, MT)
Feb 19 - 24 WMS Winter Meeting (Park City, UT)
March 3 - 7 Wilderness Medicine Conference (Snowbird, UT)
March 6 - 7 Southeast Student Wilderness Medicine Conference (Augusta, GA)
May 26 - 30 Wilderness and Travel Medicine (Santa Fe, NM)
July 23 - 28 WMS Annual Meeting (Snowmass, CO)

Courses: All are NOLS courses
Feb 21 - 25 Wilderness Upgrade for Medical Professionals (WUMP) (Pipestem, WV)
Feb 25 - 29 WUMP (Paonia, CO)
March 3 - 7 WUMP (Flagstaff, AZ)
June 14 - 19 WUMP (Cullowhee, NC)
August 2 - 9 WUMP (Cullowhee, NC)

October Meeting

Join us for our October meeting on the 20th at noon! It will feature Dr. Jeremy Stich, a second year ER resident here at UK. He will be talking about resuscitation in a wilderness setting.
We will be providing our usual Chinese food dues paying members, but please bring your own drink. Also more info will be available about our upcoming Red River Gorge Wilderness Workshop on Nov 14!

Are the Mountains Killing Your Brain?

Check out this article Dr. Davis forwarded to me from Outside magazine. What a classic picture of Conrad Anker, too. Why does he always look like he's in the death zone in his pictures?

MedWAR Tennessee

Andrew posted about the organization MedWAR (Medical Wilderness Adventure Race) back in May. At that time the nearest scheduled race was in Michigan. Since then, they have added a race at a new location: just south of Cumberland Gap in Tennessee! It's only about 2.5 hours away from Lexington. If anyone is interested in signing up a team, the race is on November 7th and the registration deadline is October 24th. It costs $150 for a team of three (which includes camping fee, dinner, and a T-shirt). More information can be found at:

http://www.medwar.org/tennessee/

More reads...

Here are some more books about wilderness medicine or the world in general.

Where There is No Doctor
by David Werner

The Worst Journey in the World
by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues
by Paul Farmer

The World is Flat
by Thomas Friedman

Surviving the Extremes: What Happens to the Body and Mind at the Limits of Human Endurance
by Kenneth Kamler

Three Cups of Tea
by Greg Moretenson

Wilderness Medicine
by Paul Auerbach

September WMIG Meeting

Everyone is invited to WMIG's next meeting on September 21st at noon in MN-363.

Faculty Co-sponsor, Dr. Greg Davis, will be speaking to us about altitude sickness, high altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). So before you go to the high places on holiday breaks from classes, learn what subtleties can alert you to altitude-related sickness! Check out this link from a British Expedition Medicine website describing these conditions.

Also, we will be holding elections for 2009 - 2010 officers at this meeting. You need to be a member (dues $15) to vote, and please email Stacey Gutman (slgutm2@uky.edu) before Wednesday (Sept. 16th) if you plan to run.

Lunch will be provided at the meeting, but you may want to bring a drink. Please email Stacey to RSVP before Friday (Sept. 18th) if you plan to attend the meeting. Hope to see you there!