Medicine in the field
Thwaites/Mt. Murphy field camp trip (credit: Chris Simmons) Conditions: Temperature 19°F (7° with windchill). Snowing. Population = 1045 Most NSF research in Antarctica occurs in the field camps that dot the continent. These camps--which are often in remote, high altitude and windy locations--range in size from two people to dozens. Either a Wilderness First Responder (a 'woofer") or a Wilderness Emergency Medical Responder (a "wemmer") works at each camp. Woofers receive an intensive, 5-day course including basic life support and first-aid management of trauma/fractures, hypothermia, frostbite, and high altitude sickness as well as instruction on communication and transport from remote field sites. Wemmers are certified EMTs with 50 hours of additional wilderness training. For the purposes of this blog, I'm going to lump them both together as "woofers". I meet with the woofer--and often the entire team--from each field camp be...