Wilderness EMT Course

The last week in August I traveled to Crested Butte, Colorado to attend a 45 hour Wilderness Emergency Technician (WEMT) Upgrade class. The course was taught by MedicalOfficer.Net founder Jeffrey Isaac, and Erik Forsythe, WEMT-Paramedic.

The MedicalOfficer.Net web page states, “The Wilderness EMT Upgrade is designed for EMS personnel who wish to enhance their training for service in search and rescue operations, disaster response, and wilderness expeditions. The curriculum builds on your training and experience to meet the special challenges of the unconventional setting. We emphasize the understanding of medical principles and judgment, risk benefit analysis, and the leadership role in managing medical emergencies in the field.”
The five day course included classroom study and a healthy dose of field work including a night-time mass casualty search and rescue simulation. The ten students came from diverse backgrounds including U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmers, full-time firefighters, search and rescue team members and a couple of outdoor enthusiasts like myself with relatively little wilderness medicine experience.

I encourage anyone who spends any time in the back country to consider a Wilderness First Aid course. If you are now or are considering becoming an outdoor professional a Wilderness First Responder or the WEMT is likely to be a requirement or at least advisable for the peace of mind.

For more information about wilderness medical training contact MedicalOfficer.Net or Wilderness Medical Associates.

Check back for dates of a Tall Man Outfitters hosted Wilderness First Aid course to be offered in central Ohio this Fall.

Largemouth Bass In Ohio

We all fish for many reasons, the big fish, the big skies and most of all the big smiles.

These past two weeks I’ve had the pleasure of fishing the Wilds with four very different anglers. Each one enjoyed their day and each one took something different from the experience. The picture to the left is one of my favorites in a long time. You cannot beat the enthusiasm of a young angler.

Below are a few more shots from recent trips. None of these fish are huge, but all brought great pleasure. Every catch has a story, I’m just happy that I get to be there when the stories are made.

Arkansas River 2008

I’ve been in Colorado about a week and a half. I’m traveling with Katie, a friend and co-worker from the College Township Fire Department. A week ago Friday we floated the Arkansas River from Cambo to Hecla. Katie had never fished before. Pictured right is her first fish. It wasn’t her last by any means. Also pictured is my brother Darren who rowed so that we could fish.

We spent last week in Crested Butte, Colorado attending a 5 day course to become certified as a Wilderness EMT. There will be more on this shortly, but for the moment I have to get my gear together to float the river again this afternoon.