This course was money WELL spent. It is a 3 day course packed full of challenging adventure and wilderness medicine. The course instructor and owner is a life-long emergency room physician with a passion for adventure and sports – and she is wide open the entire time so be sure you are in pretty good shape when you come so you can full participate in ALL the activities she throws your way.
The first day we left the meeting area at a Montgomery County park and hit the trail at about 8:15 to 8:30; we didn’t return until about 5:45. We hiked and ran through woods, overgrown trails, long mud pits, creeks, streams. We climbed over trees and ropes designed to build team understandings. We learned proper horizontal tree crossings; how to build emergency shelters and who could build the best. Then, we would take occasional breaks (welcome breaks to be sure) to learn some really good wilderness medicine…with very practical application.
Once we were done with that, it was on to the fire house grabbing dinner on the way, for a 3 hour lecture on more wilderness first aid and basic physiology and anatomy. We got back our hotel at around 10 p.m. then had to do laundry, reorganize our gear for the next day’s climbing, orienteering and biking – all the while making sure we had our binder with the medical course syllabus (don’t forget – you’re here to learn practical application of serious medical situations in the wilderness…and can be applied to everyday life) with us and familiar.
The next day involved some really good climbing techniques and, for us adventure racers – a great review and opportunity to climb and rappel on some serious rock walls with serious height. This also included various rescue techniques for climbers stranded either by medical reasons or in general. The orienteering was pretty basic but it gave us some time to do some compass work and bushwacking in an unfamiliar area.
The biking was fun and we covered probably about 8 to 10 miles (a little over “advertised 6 miles but, I didn’t hear any complaints). The bike section included some really good, challenging medical scenarios that just about everyone had an opportunity (Dr.Smith likes “volunteer” individuals to play the doctor/rescuer) to participate in as the doctor. We started the day at around 8:30 and biked back to the cars around 6:45…a full day to say the least.
The third day involved a 3 hour lecture (it could have been 2 hours but everything is running together in my memory) starting at 8:00 a.m. We then drove to the local power plant on the Potomac River where a white water flume was built for the local kayak club to hold some very serious competitions on the water discharged from the boilers of the power plant. The water coming down the chute was a balmy 85 degrees. This is where we practiced our “Swift Water Rescue” techniques…and swift was the water. This was for me, the most fun as I love this kind of activity but many of the participants discovered they could do things they would never have imagined they could do. From there we learned kayak techniques – a review on many techniques we use but who doesn’t need a review…but new, and VERY important techniques for the newbie. We finished this section at around 4:30 and was followed by the mini-adventure race which included the “practical” exam of techniques that you HAD to get right before moving to the next checkpoint. Unfortunately, Marianne and I had to leave as we had a 3 hour drive back to Richmond so we also missed the written exam in order to receive our completion certificate but Dr. Smith told us to contact her any time to come up and we could complete the practical and written exams. I’m hoping we can do this, but even if we don’t, we will next year.
I say next year in that the course presented SO MUCH information, that retention will probably be around 30%. Mare and I definitely will be back next year as $120 for this course is more than a bargain – if you spend time in the woods, mountains and oceans/lakes – you need to take the time to be sure you know how to care for the medical emergencies that WILL present themselves (not IF they present themselves). There was also many survival skills that were learned and a review in a year will be a necessity.
My recommendations for the individual taking this course is to that you will need to take off time from work and the minimum is 2 ½ days. Since you start first thing Friday morning, you need to be in town that night and ready to go. The days are packed FULL – this is no exaggeration – meaning you get every bit of your registration fee and more so you need to be sure you are prepared.
Take ALL of Dr. Smith’s recommendations for preparation VERY seriously because if you don’t, you will miss some very important information.
Any adventure racer will be prepared for this course as will any endurance athlete but don’t come into with the attitude that you won’t be challenged because Dr. Smith lights the fire at the start of the first day and it burns all the way till you finish your written exam. Be ready for a bit of sleep deprivation as a well a ton of fun.
A STERN AND SERIOUS WARNING: MONTGOMERY COUNTY TAKES ITS SPEED LIMITS VERY SERIOUSLY AND HAS CAMERA SPEED TRAPS ALL OVER THE COUNTY. DO NOT STRAY MORE THAN 5 MILES OVER THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT OR YOU WILL GET BUSTED…I DID AND I DO MY BEST TO STAY WITHIN THAT 5 MPH DEVIATION. I WILL ADD THAT I AM STILL IMPRESSED WITH MONTGOMERY COUNTY, ITS PARKS AND SERVICES…SO PLEASE KNOW THAT MONTGOMERY COUNTY IS A VERY NICE PLACE TO VISIT AND LIVE.
Montgomery County also works with the M.O.R.E. (Mid-Atlantic Off Road Enthusiasts) to maintain and build top quality trails systems in its parks; so when you are on the trails there, keep in mind the Richmond Area sister whom we lovingly refer to as “mother-MORE” helps maintain those trails.
You can check out Dr. Ellen Smith’s website at http://wildmedmd.com/ ; and if you have any questions, she is really great about getting back to you so be sure to email her.
There is much more I could say but I need to try to keep this as short as possible (and as you can see, at a bare minimum, there is still much to discuss.
Participants learn the fine art of tree traversing.
We progressed to a more challenging traverse...no one fell!
Dr. Smith demonstrates a rigging technique used to rescue injured climbers.
Climbing instructor Bennett does well as the victim being rescued (notice the smile).
Class student Jill prepares for her first rappel.
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