Wilderness emergency medical training

Buck Tilton knows first-hand the importance of wilderness emergency medical training.

On Sept. 10, 1986, he fell 60 feet from a cliff in New Hampshire, badly injuring his right leg and breaking numerous bones.

While he wasn't too far from civilization, friends had to be sent out for help, and it was still several hours before he reached a hospital. Today, his leg is held together by a metal plate.

Jon Lowrance instructed students how to elevate someone's legs during the Wilderness Responder Training Monday at Southeast Missouri State University. (DIANE L. WILSON)

Four years later Tilton, who lives in Lander, Wyo., founded the Wilderness Medical Institute to train people to treat wilderness injuries until emergency medical personnel can be summoned.

On Saturday, Tilton and fellow instructor Jon Lowrance watched as students tended the "injured" as part of a wilderness first-responder course at Southeast Missouri State University.

The threat of rain made Tilton smile.

"I like it when we don't have to fake inclement weather," he said.

Nineteen people are enrolled in the wilderness course this week at Southeast. About half are Southeast students, most of them recreation majors. The rest are wilderness guides and others who work in outdoor recreation.

They are learning how to handle medical emergencies in the wilderness, which can be miles or even days from the nearest hospital.

The nine-day course began Saturday and runs through Sunday. Participants get 80 hours of intensive training, including a nighttime mock rescue in a wooded area near the Student Recreation Center.

If they pass both a written test and a hands-on training examination, they will be certified by the Wilderness Medical Institute of the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming. The certification is good for two years.

This is the first course Tilton and Lowrance, a Southeast Missouri State graduate and Cape Girardeau resident, have taught on the university campus. Lowrance, also an avid outdoorsman, is certified as an instructor through another company that worked in conjunction with the Wilderness Medical Institute for the workshop.

Prior to the founding of the institute, he said, emergency medical training focused on urban situations where ambulances and paramedics were only a short-response-time away.

"First aid has always been, 'get the patient stabilized and to the hospital as quickly as possible'," Tilton said.

But in the wilderness, that can be several days. "I've been with a patient for four days," said Tilton, an avid outdoorsman who has made numerous wilderness journeys.

In the wilderness, a cut can quickly become infected. Cleaning the wound is essential to preventing further infection, Tilton said.

Both Tilton and Lowrance said that in the wilderness, people have to use what is at their disposal in emergency situations.

Backpack frames can be used to make a sled to haul an injured person. A tent pole can be used to make a splint. Part of wilderness training is learning to recognize what can be adapted in an emergency situation.

Accidents are a possibility in any wilderness trip. "There are inherent risks in the things we do," Tilton said.

While most of her fellow Southeast students were on spring break, 25-year-old Christina Cody was taking notes on wilderness medicine in a classroom in Parker Hall and participating in the emergency exercises.

Cody is majoring in business. But in her spare time, she explores caves. Cody said the training in emergency medicine could come in handy in a case of spelunking emergency.

Southeast student Michael Biedenstein, 20, of Kirkwood is a recreation major. "It's great knowledge and experience to have," he said of the wilderness course.

Later this year, Biedenstein plans to accompany friends on a backpacking trip in Colorado. He said that with the training, he would be better prepared to handle any potential emergencies.

Dr. Tom Holman, an assistant professor of outdoor recreation at Southeast and a student in the wilderness course, previously had EMT training. But such training doesn't deal with wilderness situations. Holmon regularly takes students on various outdoor trips, so it's important he's prepared for any emergency situation that could arise.

The wilderness course better prepared him for outdoor emergencies, said Holman. "It is way more practical," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123