This course is designed for people who are interested in emergency care where advanced hospital equipment and supplies are absent and where disease and traumatic injuries are specific to third world conditions. This training is second to none for individuals who want to practice their pre-hospital training while caring for an area of the world that needs volunteers.

We have two versions of this course:

• Training and clinical time in Ecuador
• Training in North Carolina

Who takes part?

• Current relief workers or people interested in relief work, including mission groups
• Current health care workers looking for new skills and experiences
• People interested in disaster medicine
• Adventure travelers

History

Our first Relief Medic program (then called Mission Medic) took place in August 2005, in the Amazon jungle in Ecuador.

A brief synopsis of the experience:

• Medicines and vaccines purchased in Quito and donated to village doctor.
• Open-air villa with fresh-cooked meals.
• Dug-out boat rides up and down the Rio Napo to clinical sites.
• Hiking through the Amazon jungle.
• Visits to hot springs and fairs.
• Over 350 patients were seen, including 2 emergency childbirths, in 5 days at 7 different village sites by 9 medical personnel.
• "An experience of a lifetime," said a 20-year career Paramedic who attended.

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Relief Medic—Domestic

Our domestic course has no medical prerequisites and teaches patient assessment as a component of the course. This 5-day course was designed for folks who want the Relief Medic training, but are unable to travel with us to Ecuador. Our standard Relief Medic curriculum is taught at our base in Cullowhee, NC, with easy access from airports and interstates. This course does not include the clinical opportunities available in our 14-day course in Ecuador, but is a time and cost benefit for participants.

Relief Medic—Ecuador

Our Ecuador program runs twice each year, in February and August. We meet in Quito, Ecuador, for 4 days of training and then head off to either the Amazon Basin or to the Southern Andes Mountains for clinical time in small underserved villages. These courses are 14 days in length including housing, meals, equipment, and private transports by van and/or dug-out canoe. Additional time for adventure travel, sight-seeing, and alpine hot springs is built into the itinerary.

Prerequisites include WFR or WEMT certification to participate, in addition to appropriate vaccinations and other site-specific requirements – this information is available within the registration packet.