School’s out for the summer and the children are returning to the wilderness, or perhaps, with the flourishing of nature-based learning in schools, they’ve been there all along! DMM is excited to share Wilderness Pediatrics – an Alumni Project special topic – with our community. This topic will present brand new information not found in traditional wilderness medicine curriculum. Visit the Alumni Project under “Spring 2023” to learn more about pediatric assessment, treatment, and anatomic and physiologic differences between children and adults. Finally, I hope you’ll join DMM for a live p ..read more

I hope everyone is enjoying a safe winter season. No matter how we recreate in the backcountry, there are illnesses that affect us all. Cardiac emergencies and strokes can happen to anyone, whether we’re on a lazy afternoon river float, a high intensity alpine run, or even hanging out at home. The ability to recognize these types of emergencies early and get our patient the help they need as quickly as possible can be lifesaving. – Becky Cardiac Emergencies and Strokes March 6th, 2023 – 5pm MST Please join DMM for a special Alumni Project Live Zoom Presentation – Cardiac Emergencies a ..read more

Christian Bopp is a treasure trove of information. He has 11 years of professional conservation and environmental science experience, he’s an Emergency Medical Technician a Wilderness First Aid instructor, a National Medical Training Specialist at American Conservation Experience (ACE) and a Desert Mountain Medicine instructor.   ACE is a nonprofit organization that takes on environmental restoration projects in the United States’ national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and other public lands. Christian is unique as an instructor because he trains ACE’s Conservation Corps members, a.k ..read more

Whether you are an avid outdoor enthusiast, rock climber, ski patroller or member of a trail crew taking your first ever Wilderness First Aid (WFA) or Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course, learning how to conduct a Primary Assessment will be an integral part of your Desert Mountain Medicine coursework.   In this post, we discuss the Primary Assessment portion of our patient care. It is safe to suggest that this is the single most important page in our textbook, and is also perhaps the only one you, as a rescuer, need to have indelibly printed in your memory.   What is a “Primary ..read more

When Colorado moved into phase 2 of the reopening plan in May, “Safer at Home and in the Vast, Great Outdoors,” myself and the other command staff of Lake County Search & Rescue warned the team to brace themselves for a busy start to the summer rescue season. With folks avoiding gyms, bars, and other close-proximity areas, and with the Department of Public Health encouraging people to get outside, we suspected the backcountry was about to get a lot busier. Our prediction proved true; for the 2.5 month period May 1 to July 15th, LCSAR’s call volume increased 275% from 2019 to 2020 missions ..read more

If you’re reading this and are someone who spends any amount of time recreating or working in the wilderness, you should take a wilderness medicine course. Lucky for you, I’m going to both tell you why, AND help you decide which course might be the right one for you. Below are the most common wilderness medicine courses offered. Wilderness First Aid (WFA): This is an excellent introduction to wilderness medicine and geared towards outdoor enthusiasts, camp leaders, raft guides running daily trips and roadside rivers, side-country guides, and land agency staff. This 16-24 hour course usually t ..read more

February 1, 2017 Desert Mountain Medicine Annual Winter Rendezvous Recap   This January, Desert Mountain Medicine staff got together in Leadville, Colorado to hold the DMM Rendezvous. This is a time for the staff members who are dispersed all over the country to come together as an organization, get to know each other, get updated on new medical information,and have fun!   I appreciate working for a company who wants to invest in their staff and take the time to create consistency across the board. I and 2 other instructors from the state of Utah, commuted to Colorado for the lo ..read more