Here are a few photos from our Fall EMT-B Course. The course was full with 18 students. The class got to watch Fall descend upon Cane Creek as the spent the three weeks learning what they needed to go out into the world as competent and professional EMT’s.
We had an amazing group of educators on this Master Educator Course! We spent three of the five days backpacking through Panthertown Valley exploring the granite summits and rushing waterfalls. Each individual lesson was planned and prepared to provide the best information. We were able to learn so much from these lessons, the teachable moments of the valley, and from the experience that each person brought to the group! Another fun aspect of the course was the opportunity to give back to the valley by joining up with the “Friends of Panthertown Valley” for a morning of trail work. It was great to work side-by-side with the “friends” as we shared stories from our Leave No Trace experience. We look forward to hearing of all the amazing training to come from these educators!
On The Trail!
Early morning pose at School House Falls.
Visiting Upper Wardens Falls
Examining the Pot Holes
Resting at Middle Wardens Falls
Trailwork with the Friends of Panthertown Valley.
Taking in the final views as we head out of the valley.
During my July WFR course here at Landmark Learning, when it came time to learn CPR Justin brought in his laptop and played the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive”. While the title is very appropriate for the subjust the real reason that he played the song was to help us keep a good rhythm while giving chest compressions. It was brilliant! There we all were counting to ourselves and compressing to this perfect rhythm. We were in sync and we were having fun. But, it turns out that there is more to it.
A student and friend sent us this link on our Facebook page. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27221281/?GT1=43001. This article on the MSNBC site discusses a study that was done to show the effectiveness of people using the “Stayin’ Alive” rhythm while perforning CPR.
Here are a few paragraphs from the article…
“Under most circumstances, it’s best to keep the beat of the Bee Gees song “Stayin’ Alive” out of your head, but heart specialists have come up with one good reason to remember: It could save someone’s life.
Turns out the 1977 disco hit has 103 beats per minute, a perfect number to maintain — and retain — the best rhythm for performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.
A small study by University of Illinois College of Medicine researchers in Peoria has found that 10 doctors and five medical students who listened to the “Saturday Night Fever” tune while practicing CPR not only performed perfectly, they remembered the technique five weeks later.
Participants in the study listening to the song performed CPR at the recommended rate, about 100 beats per minute. Five weeks later, without the music, they performed at 113 beats a minute, which is within an acceptable range, Matlock said.”
Follow this link for the whole article:
Today is the day that we get to put all of our hard work to the test. After 8 days of intensive education we are taking a 100 question exam to see how much information we have been able to retain. Along with the written test we will be paired with another student to do one last patient assessment scenario. Our patients will be one of the instructors, so they will be making sure that we do a very thorough assessment. I felt good about my knowledge of the information, but I was still pretty nervous about the exam.
I was paired with Brad for the patient assessment. We really worked well together to complete the patient assessment and verbal SOAP note. We were psyched to get a final evaluation from Rob and to find out that we passed.
After everyone completed the exam we took a lunch break while the instructors graded the tests. Of course we were all comparing mental notes on what we thought we got right and wrong. In the end, everyone passed the exam!
What a great course! The participants were all so much fun. I was really impressed with all of the knowledge that the group was able to share from past experiences. The instructors were fabulous! There knowledge, professionalism, and sense of humor was above and beyond! I feel super prepared and can’t wait to take another wilderness medicine course.
Photo - A Class Photo taken on the final day. (photo courtesy of Jeremy Quant)
We met for class at the usual 8AM start time after our late night Mock Rescue. We were all still talking about what had happened the night before. Chris Sacco joined the instruction team today to talk to us about communicable diseases, poisoning, and lightening. As usual we took park in several scenarios and washed our hands extra good at lunchtime after our communicable diseases discussion. After a hearty lunch we took on the ever serious, but ever entertaining topic of gender specific medical issues. As with the rest of the topics, we had fun with this one!
Tonight we had an evening study session to help us review for the final exam. We met in the classroom and Justin brought down some of his famous salsa to help get the brain juices flowing. I was pretty excited to be able to sit down to review all of the information that we have been learning over the past week.
Today was the best! This morning we were taught about bites and stings and all of the nasty things that can occur when we get these. Our reactions can be totally across the board, so it is great to know how to handle each bite/sting situation. We finished the morning by giving one another injections (of sugar water) to practice in case we are with someone who goes into anaphylactic shock. After lunch we had an intense lesson on diabetes, including the different types and signs and symptoms of each. In the late afternoon we headed out into a shady spot on the lawn to have a discussion about Search and Rescue scenarios. It was a great group discussion lesson that allowed us to really learn all that is involved when there is a the need for a Search and Rescue.
Tonight was our nighttime Mock Rescue. This was a huge rush. We met back just before dark with our packs and headlamps ready to go. Once we were out there and in the moment we really forgot that we were part of a “mock scenario”. It felt so real! We all kicked into high-gear. I would love to tell you about what happened, but that would kill the magic! You will have to take the course to find out.
- Amy
Photo - My wonderful Mock Rescue team! Tony, Dan, Brad, Jenna, myself, and John.
Today was intense.! We spent the morning hours learning about Cardiac and Respiratory Emergencies. It was like being in school again as we looked at a diagram of the heart and re-learned the functions of the aorta, the inferior vena cave, the left and right atrium and ventricle and how they all work together to keep us functioning. In the afternoon we learned about Neurological Emergencies including strokes and seizures. Our scenarios left us working with unresponsive patients. Patients in this state make it a bit harder to do a patient assessment on, but it was great to have to figure it out on our own. We ended the day with an abdominal relay to test our knowledge of where all of our major abdominal organs are. It was a super fun way to test our skills and get us moving!
Six days down, three to go!
Amy
Photo- Students gather in Base Camp, ready for another scenario.
Today we had our first critical mass scenario. We spent the morning learning about environmental concerns from Mairi. She is the Administrative Director of Landmark Learning as well as an instructor and full-time mother of two! She taught us everything that we needed to know about hypothermia, immersion foot, heat stroke and the like. We finished off the morning by rescuing and treating a hypothermic patient that we found in the creek.
After lunch we were faced with an incident involving 3 patients who were part of a biking/ horseback riding collision. I was amazed at how quickly our group leapt to action. A few of the issues we had to deal with were a femur fracture, a flailing chest wound, and a skull fracture. Two of the patients were carried down the mountainside using a backboard and a litter. We made it back to base safely just before a typical summer afternoon thunderstorm. It was a great way to put together all of the skills that we have learned over the past five days! What a rush!
-Amy
Photo- Phil, John, and other members of the team use a backboard to carry our patient down the mountain. (photo courtesy of Jeremy Quant)
Today Rob joined us as part our the instructor team. He and Justin were clearly thrilled about teaching us to manage common fractures, athletic injuries and how to deal with dislocations. On thing that sets WFRs apart from paramedics and other medical responders is that we can relocate dislocated limbs, as long as we are an hour from definitive care. We learned how to relocate shoulders, fingers, knees and elbows using slow, gentle Traction In Line.
In the evening we returned to learn even more about splinting. If you have never taken part in a “Splinting Extravaganza” you don’t know what you are missing! We enjoyed the cooler temperatures out on the lawn as we splinted for femur and pelvis fractures. When the sun finally set we pulled out our headlamps and kept on splinting. It made for a long day, but no one complained because we were having so much fun!
- Amy
Photo 1 - Brian uses his taping skills to secure my ankle during a lesson on sprains and strains.
Photo 2 - Jenna, Pete and Eric break out their headlamps to finish a TIL splint for my “femur fracture”. (photo courtesy of Jeremy Quant)
Stay tuned to our course calendar for dates for our 2009 Relief Medic courses!