It was the best of times. Period.

Hope you enjoyed the sunny day. It is sad to see you go-we've all had a marvelous time together saving mannequins, testing improvisational ideas, inititing IV's, stoking fires, catching water, sinking in snow, rescuing comrades on the rocks, shooting up the town, petting fish, and releasing blisters. Mixed in with a little uncertainty where the last trip was to be, make sure you have fun tomorrow. By the way, I have an extra pair of women's New Balance tennis shoes, a silver water bottle and backpack cover. I need my firestarters and compasses (someone made of wit my Rock and Ice, but no biggie). Tomorrow, be ready to par-tay! If you have grade forms, please give them to me tomorrow. Au revoir...
d

Here is the roll out for the final exam teams. It looks like it will be a clear and sunny day, but we will be at 10,000 feet and there will be a lot of snow and ice so be prepared for full winter conditions. You will be hiking about 2.5 miles over various terrain, some terrain that is hazardous, so get ready.

Team 1 Team 2

Rescue Leader: Charlotte Rescue Leader: Gabriel

Jaclyn Sam

Jonathan Lynn

Jason Nate

Natasha Iris

Team 3 Team 4

Rescue Leader: Erin Rescue Leader: Ben

Seth Clay

Lena Cuoghi

Linda Kari

Dave John K.

Antonia Cory

I anticipate that we will be done with the final exam by 3 or 4pm. The end of the rotation party will kick off at 6:30pm. Map to my house posted below. Please feel free to bring friends/family. I will provide some drinks. If you guys want food I will let you all coordinate that. If you have been working on a creative project and would like to present it I will have a projector and a computer. There is limited parking around my house but a lot of spots at the park across the street. From Tramway and Paseo Del Note head North. Turn Right, east, onto Cedar Hill. Take the second left onto Cedar Hill Ct. 727-12. See you all there, call 505-249-0170 if you get lost.

Jason View Larger Map

Tomorrow and final exam info!

Hey everyone. I just talked to Joe and we have decided to cancel tomorrow's mountain biking trip due to the impending weather tomorrow. If you have already rented a mountain bike we will reimburse you. As of now there is a slight possibility of mountain biking on Thursday morning and that will be discussed at the aquarium tomorrow evening.

On thursday we will be meeting at the EMS Academy / Center for Disaster Medicine at 11am for the snake bite lecture. This an awesome opportunity to learn about snakes and snake bites and also see live rattlesnakes....

Moving on to the next and sadly the final event. So, Get ready for the Primal Quest of Rescue! This coming Friday we will be meeting at the Sandia Peak Tramway at 8:30am to begin your final exam. Please do not be late, as the tram will leave at 9am with or without you...

Once on top of the Sandia Crest we will break into our 4 rescue strike teams, which will be listed on the blog tomorrow, and your first scenario will be given. Medical equipment will be provided for you. Please bring your RESCUE ORIENTED day pack and be prepared for a long day on the mountain. If for some reason the tram shuts down, most likely due to wind, we will be hiking 8 miles down the La Luz trail. Check the weather…. http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=87122&wuSelect=WEATHER. Below is a list of skills that will be assessed throughout the day. The Strike Team that is most proficient in the skill sets based off of the instructors recommendations will be awarded the "Golden Carabiner" at the party.

Movement over terrain

Land Navigation

Patient Packaging

Improvised Patient Transport

Improvised Splinting

ACLS

Hypothermia Treatment

Survival Skills

Teamwork

Communication

Group Leadership Dynamics

Stress Tolerance

If you own a harness and a helmet please bring it with you. For the rest of the class harnesses will be provided for you. Strike Teams listed below:

If any questions or concerns arise feel free to call. Map and directions below. See you all on Friday!

-Jason

505-249-0170

From Tramway Blvd. and Paseo Del Norte head North. You will come to a stop sign, Tramway Rd., head West. You will come to a gate house where at 8:30am there may or may not be a guard. If there is he will want one dollar for parking... tell him you are with Albuquerque Mountain Rescue going to a training and he will let you proceed. Note: Google Map takes you a different way... Click on view larger map for the directions

View Larger Map

Mountain Biking

Tomorrow:

UPDATE: MOUNTAIN BIKING IS CANCELED FOR TOMORROW - GONNA RAIN! TAKE THE MORNING OFF :) WE WILL RECONVENE TOMORROW AT THE AQUARIUM.

1) The aquarium date is happening for sure. Meet at the Albuquerque Biopark Aquarium (on central just east of the Rio Grande) at 4:45pm. We are going in after everybody else leaves, through the back entrance, so don't be late or you won't be able to get in!

2) Mountain biking. Weather dependent. There is a good chance of rain tomorrow and we are going to cancel if it is a downpour. So stay tuned.

If it is a go:

The bosque ride is a fun, winding singletrack ride through cottonwood trees in flat terrain down by the river. You can go fast or slow on this one. You will see Canada geese and maybe sandhill cranes, possibly porcupines, while whizzing by on your bike. There is a didactic component to this, so be prepared to learn something about biking injuries!

Directions: Go to the Alameda Trailhead at 9:00am. Directions: take I-25 north to Alameda, go left. Just before you cross the river, turn left into the parking lot. Contact me if you need help with your bike, etc. Tentative plan for now is to meet at 10:00am. I am going to check the weather again later and confer with Dr. Rimple, who may be joining us. This blog will be updated soon.

JA

Gila and Bataan Trip March 19!

Hope all goes well for you that are matching! Pay attention to this information for the trip!

ITINERARY
Friday 3/19 Day 1-meet at UNM Continuing Ed Center to pack into vans at noon. We will head to the Three Rivers Campground near White Sands. We will take a day hike, so carry a daypack for this.
Saturday 3/20 Day 2-leave White Sands for Las Cruces-sorry for the backtracking; we are meeting up with the Disaster Med Teams at 1600, then going to the White Sands Missile Range. No helmets needed! Will sleep at clinic on range (cots)-sorry, not "roughing it."
Sunday 3/21 Day 3-Bataan Death March marathon-we will be divided into teams manning tents on various rest stops along the course. Hope to leave by 2000 at night to head to the Scorpion Campground near Middle Fork Gila River (42 miles north of Silver City-gonna be a long drive?)
Monday 3/22 Day 4-Overnight in Middle Fork area where there are also hot springs. We are working on hiking groups-for now, water levels may be high, and cold-be ready for adventure!
Tuesday 3/23 Day 5-Complete the hike and head for Abq (around 2300 at night).
In all, an experimental trip-sorry for the short overnighters, but should be fun!

WHAT TO BRING
This will consist of mini trips: White Sands hikes and sand surfing, Bataan (medical), and Gila backpack. For the Bataan, bring:
1. Govt issued photo ID
2. Extra work shirt for Sunday, stethoscope (the ortho guys just said "Yeah, right!"); trauma shears if you have; hand sanitizer, pen, whatever other med essential kits you would like to bring; and an IPOD prn. My understanding is that we might wake up early (5am )and have a nice long day. BY THE WAY-NO SHORTS OR OPEN TOED SHOES ON WORK DAY! I will have a pair of BDUs-all this stuff we will van store while in the Gila-don't want to lug this stuff on a 26 mile hike!

For Gila, do not bring too much. Check the weather and plan accordingly. Think of your food needs. Should have plenty of water. Maybe can have small fires down there-not Cabezon fires tho. No trash pickup, so pack everything out. Maybe an extra pair of shoes or even neoprene booties (fly fishing stuff). Let Jason or myself know if this poses problems. TRY to pack no more than around 35 pounds. If interested, see the You Tube video I made for the disaster team for the Haiti deployment under WildernationalMed at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Md62LlFz3o

It was a quickie video-oh well! Skip the helmet, and adapt the ideas for you. And you can take "personal valuables." Mosquitoes no problem, and think about a small stove. I took my down jacket that is compact. If concerned about bulky sleeping bags, think about a smaller bag with a vapor barrier liner, if you have this. Tents: one or 2 person, or tarps, especially for those going on the longer trips. LASTLY, PLEASE CARRY YOUR OWN PERSONAL MEDS! And blister stuff!

Good luck!
d

Ballistics Day March 16

For the Shooting Range Day, meet at 8am at the UNM Continuing Ed Center. Dr. Albert De La Garza will lead the carpool to toe APD shooting range near the airport. You can bring your guns, unloaded of course. Bring ammo if you have some. BUT YOU MUST BRING EARPLUGS and safety glasses!
At 2:30 pm, we will reconvene at the CDM for the animal lab (vet lab) portion of the day. Hope all goes well with you all-sorry not to be there; I will be "saving" lives in the ED.
dario

Helicopter Operations

Tomorrow we will be meeting at the NM National Guard hanger in Santa Fe at 10am. Plan on leaving ABQ by 9 to make it to the hanger by 10. It looks like it will mostly be inside lectures and scenarios, but as always come prepared to be active.

Directions: Head out of ABQ on I-25 North. Get off on exit 599 (The Santa Fe relief route) and head West. You will come to Airport Rd./Paseo Real where you will make a Left. Then make your next Left onto Huey Rd. where there will be a security gate. Tell the guard that you are with UNM Wilderness Medicine and are traveling to the Guard Hanger. They will direct you to its location.

If you have any questions feel free to call: 505-249-0170

-Jason

Note: Click on "view larger map" below to see the correct arrow on HUEY RD, which is right of the arrow shown in the map below.

View Larger Map

Great Job in Taos!

Team, hope you all made it back and are loving the oxygen rich environment of Albuquerque. Sounds like the trip was worthwhile-can't wait to see more pix. We will begin our high angle SAR activity at the parking lot of Embudo Canyon, all the way up Indian School Road towards the foothills, at 0900 this Saturday 3/12. If you have helmets and harnesses(plus food/drink, not bourbon or moose backwash), bring these, and check the weather. By the way, no nav class tomorrow the 12th, looks like it will be on the 17th at Elena Gallegos Open Space-more to come later. Don't forget to see the trailer video below that won Joe Alcock the Oscar Awards for Best Wilderness Picture!
dario

Survival Weekend and Taos

The first week of wilderness medicine was awesome. I have managed to put you thru a rigorous bootcamp experience, and NONE of you complained-we as instructors are proud of you all! The survival weekend was wet, but we made the right decision on leaving early. The folks who went back for the truck with the locked keys inside told me the roads worsened, so we might have been skiing in the mud in Cabezon instead of Taos snow!
To change gears, it is time for a little mountain medicine this week. Hope that some of you can enjoy the resort before meeting at the Abominable Snowmansion Tuesday at 5pm. We will start our talks at 6p, then go to the Guadalajara Grill for a little mexicano foodo. To get to the hostel, take Interstate 25 north to Santa Fe: just before the town, take the Bypass ("599b") to avoid the stoplights, and continue on State Hwy 68 thru Espanola, and into Taos. About 9 miles north of Taos is a junction to either the ski valley (left), Questa/Red River, or Tres Piedras. Take Hwy 150 to the Taos Ski Valley. About 4 miles is Arroyo Seco; on a left hand side where a rather sharp curve is is the hostel. You go further to get to the resort. The Taos ski report is at http://www.skireport.com/newmexico/taos.
When we go to the yurt (2.1 miles from the Taos Ski parking lot, elev. about 11k feet), we will do the snow cave building (for those interested) and do journal club part 1. The next day (Thurs) are the workshops. Ski or snowshoe up is the best way to get up, and I hope to do a little backcountry turning Wed. afternoon. May you dry out, and get ready for another week of "educational excitement!"
Dario

Memory jogger-the 5 H's and 5 T's for pulseless electrical activity

Great first day-tomorrow will be bizy. Here is a memory jogger-have fun in ACLS!
HYPOXIA
HYDROGEN ion (acidosis)
HYPOVOLEMIA
HYPERKALEMIA
HYPOTHERMIA
TABLETS (drug overdose)
TAMPONADE-CARDIAC
TENSION PNEUMOTHORAX
THROMBOSIS-CORONARY
THROMBOSIS-PULMONARY

Map of Domenici Center

Hi folks,
to get to the Domenici Center, go west on Lomas past the front of the Health Sciences Center, turn right on Yale till the roundabout and turn on the second right till you get to Tucker. Take a right on Tucker and park somewhere in the parking lot and follow the map, or ask where the Center is, or the bookstore. We will be in room 3010 at 0800-see you there! 505-553-5150
dario

Check out some video of the final exam last year taken by the TV show "New Mexico Wild." See the link below. Get psyched!

Jason

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uyFKoXFiUw

Sorry, I am out in Haiti

You may all be frantic about the upcoming wilderness med course. Fear not! You are all in good hands. Before leaving for Haiti, I posted a You Tube video on how to pack for an austere mission-maybe you will have your ideas on how to pack for New Mexico. I must say that I am comfortable with what I packed in the video-it really works! We will teach you how to do as well-remember, we not only teach this stuff, we live it!
Orevwa,
Dario

Wilderness Medicine 2010 Update 1/23/10

As of this writing, we have had about 2 feet of fresh powder here in the San Juan Mountains, just outside of Telluride. Albuquerque is having some nice snow as well, with four inches of the fluffy stuff at my house, and more up in the local mountains, the Sandias. Highs are about 37 degrees, lows of 25. Can’t tell you what it will be like in March, but historically it has been cold for the first half of the month, warming up later.

So, what to bring? We will be taking hikes, bikes, and climbs. Snow and desert camping will be the fare after the first week in Albuquerque, where we cover lots of basics. If you are in town by February 28, met us at the Piedra Lisa trailhead at 2pm for a hike, and a time to get to know one another. Click on this link under Piedra Lisa: http://www.cabq.gov/openspace/trailmaps.html to download and print. From town, go east on I-40, exit north on Tramway, drive till Candelaria and turn right (east) to the end, then turn right again (south)-the parking lot will be evident on the left hand side.

For the first week, we will be doing some didactics, and some fun environmental lab sessions. Be prepared to be cold, or to get hot-the first week will cover temperature extremes, as well as resuscitation and improvisation labs. The weekend will be the survival weekend, so dress warmly!

Snow camping at altitude in Taos will be the big event the second week-worry not-you WILL do well in the snow-we will show you how. If for some reason any of you do get too cold, a nice warm Mongolian tent (yurt) will be nearby. The third week commences with a mountain search and rescue lab, and a climbing lab, with some sportsmedicine intermingled. Then we will be going to Grand Gulch in Southern Utah (we pick this spot because we can take this multiple day backpack without much snow-usually)! Those of you who participate in match day will be able to do so.

The last week will entail a diving amd marine medicine session, as well as some international medicine topics. We are considering participating in a disaster medicine session in Southern New Mexico in White Sands, where the Bataan Death March marathon will take place. Outdoor event medicine is an important part of wilderness and austere medicine, and a great primer to expedition, event, or disaster medicine. However, we may not be able to do both the Grand Gulch and the Bataan Death March because of the Match Day, which is something that seems to restrict our freedom, but are required to observe. At any rate, this month, guaranteed, will be one of the best rotations you will have ever experienced.

Although our activities will not be competitive, they may be physically demanding. Please begin to undertake some physical conditioning. We allow people to choose activities commensurate with physical abilities, allowing everybody to participate in a given activity, regardless of ability-so enjoy! However, if you have health problems or are over 40, please have a medical evaluation before the course.

Finally, if you haven’t paid tuition, please do so now. Otherwise, we will be unable to plan, since we will have no budget to obtain needed materials.

In the event that you cannot get hold of me in February, it is because I will have no e-mail in Haiti, and so will ask you to kindly contact Jan at JSchmidt@salud.unm.edu in my absence. Of course, I really do not have any idea if I will go or not, but we shall see.

See you soon,

Dario