During the first multiple casualty scenario of my WEMT course, my team responded to a simulated flash flood incident. When we arrived at the scene, we found 6 mock patients in a river in varying levels of distress. One was complaining of leg pain. We rolled up her pant leg to see blood and bone ends exposed (the makeup was pretty convincing!). The team immediately got started using the training we had been learning and practicing.

Topics: Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician, wilderness medicine, WEMT

You’re thinking about starting a new career. Your dream job might be working in the mountains. Or as a first responder with Search and Rescue. Or providing medical care in a hospital. Or maybe you want to instruct NOLS courses.

If you're looking to get into one of these fields, getting a wilderness medicine certification such as a Wilderness First Responder, Wilderness First Aid, or Wilderness EMT can help you get started.

Topics: wfa, WFR, wilderness medicine, WEMT, NOLS Wilderness Medicine

I found myself patient-side during an intensive and grueling scenario at the Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus in Lander, Wyoming.

“Keep holding still, you’re doing great,” I told Anna. Our eyes met as I held her hand and she took panicked breaths through the non-rebreather that was pressed against her face, filling her lungs with oxygen. Bright red blood was beginning to seep through the large pressure dressing I was holding against her abdomen to cover the 6-inch laceration there. We needed to move, but the single, tunnel-like entrance to the mine was blocked by other screaming patients on backboards and teams of rescuers, with only their headlamps visible in the thick, chalky smoke.

Topics: Alumni, Wilderness EMT, wfa, WFR, Wilderness First Responder, wilderness medicine, Wilderness First Aid, education, WEMT, NOLS Wilderness Medicine, Wilderness Medicine

I had been considering taking a Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT) course for almost three years, but something always came up to prevent it. In October of last year the idea finally became a reality and I found myself driving up a winding dirt road to the picturesque Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus on a sunny fall afternoon. The course offered by WMI combines urban and wilderness medicine while preparing participants to sit for the National Registry exam. I was not sure what the next 25 days had in store for me, but I knew the course would serve me well in the future.

Topics: wilderness medicine, WMI, Educators Notebook, instructor, education, WEMT, leadership, NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute

Last week, NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI) hosted
its annual staff meeting, complete with lectures, workshops, and a departmental
update from WMI Director Melissa Gray.

Topics: NOLS, Behind the Scenes, Wyss Wilderness Medicine Campus, Portuguese, Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician, Swedish, AmeriCorps, increase, Spanish, National Outdoor Leadership School, VA, Veterans' Administration, wilderness medicine, scholarships, WMI, courses, Moving Hands, American Sign Language, WEMT

Topics: medicine, wfa, WFR, test, first aid, wilderness medicine, WMI, case study, first responder, practice, wilderness, backcountry, WEMT