Far From Help Morocco Mt. Toubkal Expedition 21-27 September 2013

What WMT says

Rolling together the 2-day Far From Help (FFH) Explorer course with a proper mountain ascent to the summit of the highest peak in North Africa makes for a very real and dynamic expedition medicine learning opportunity. FFH builds confidence and achieves a thorough grounding in how to provide more comprehensive care in all remote environments to patients who are injured and ill. FFH training may enable you to resolve an injury, infection or illness condition in the field without resorting to evacuation and at the same time make your patient more comfortable by the control of pain, nausea and fever. This long established foundation course stands alone and includes the use of prescription only medications (POMs) which we authorise you to obtain. FFH is also a springboard to further training in invasive techniques (FFH Part 2). After FFH, we climb Toubkal between Tuesday – Thursday and spend more time on the hill challenging you with medical scenarios to consolidate what you’ve learned. And Toubkal can be an interesting AMS (acute mountain sickness) test lab! We return to Marrakesh Thursday night to celebrate and explore the city. You’re free to depart anytime Friday but most people stay to play over the weekend.

What students say

Excellent – covered loads, good scenarios/slides
Professional/friendly – good time keeping, supportive, informative
…well delivered with good use of materials, props & demos
I really just want to reiterate huge thanks for a fantastic, relaxing, interesting & enjoyable course & all of you for great company, much amusement & a brilliant wander up t’hill.
Excellent course – perfectly pitched for all.
I had a fantastic time on the Morocco trip!

“WMT has set the standard by which wilderness first aid courses are judged”. Saturday Telegraph 14/1/12 – read the full article online.

Who’s invited?

Everyone! There is no prior medical experience or training required to attend Far From Help and no prior climbing or expedition experience is required but you must be reasonably fit. FFH has been attended by more than 1000 teachers, expedition leaders, travelers, explorers, overland drivers, climbers, divers, field researchers, university staff and many others. EVERY delegate on all past WMT Morocco expeditions has reached the 4167m summit.

Itinerary, Saturday – Friday

Saturday – arrive Marrakesh, transfer to Imlil and Kasbah du Toubkal
Sunday – Monday – Far From Help course
Tuesday-Thursday – up and down Toubkal
Thursday night – Marrakesh dinner and B&B
Friday – depart anytime

Fees – held at 2011 rates

The Far From Help Morocco Mt. Toubkal Expedition fee is £550 + €250 paid locally. This is excellent value for a visit to the famous Kasbah, guided ascent of Toubkal and a flying visit to Marrakesh and includes:
- Far From Help training, materials and a comprehensive course manual
- escorted Jbel Toubkal mountain trek with medical scenarios and more practice along the way
- group airport transfer Marrakesh to the Kasbah du Toubkal
- full board accommodation (6 nights – shared and mountain refuge) including all soft drinks at the Kasbah
- transfer to Marrakesh, hotel accommodation & final group dinner/breakfast
Delegates will need to pay for flights, travel insurance, items of a personal nature and bring their own trekking footwear and warm mountain clothing as advised by WMT.

Develop your mountain skills

Our instructors will be delighted to help you hone your mountain skills. In a real foreign mountain setting you can learn about navigation, using GPS and useful rope skills as you wander up Toubkal.

More Far From Help Information

See below and the main Far From Help page for more information where you can also download this Far From Help more info file and book just the 2-day Far From Help course on a full board basis in Morocco.

Travel advice

There are many low-cost UK carriers that now fly directly to Marrakesh from a number of airports. Use SKYSCANNER to search for your flights.

Download more information

For general guidance, download the 2012 pre-expedition Welcome Note with full details, Far From Help programme, logistics, kit list and more. The 2013 note is coming soon.

Research – expedition medical research

A Royal Geographical Society study of 1263 medical complaints on expedition found that more than half (51%) were classified either as gastrointestinal upsets (30%) or medical problems (21% – infections, headache, malaria etc.). So there’s more than dramatic broken bones and sucking chest wounds to deal with! Minor illnesses left untreated, especially diarrhoea, can slow a whole team down, reduce productivity (bad for film teams and researchers especially), spoil enjoyment and threaten the success of an expedition.

What’s covered on FFH?

In short, FFH will help you deal with the most common problems that are identified by this RGS research and you’ll learn a range of medical skills and techniques, about the treatment of infections, illness and symptoms and how to treat injuries and special problems. The subjects covered are as follows.

Day 1
Introductions
Aims of course
Legal considerations
Expedition medical planning – includes anti-malarials and immunisations
Diagnosis – taking a history
Group work – examples of history taking
Measuring vital signs and examination of chest and abdomen
Cardio-pulmonary resuscitation – latest guidelines
Shock
ABC approach to injured casualties – practical
Moving, lifting and straightening a casualty
Soft tissue injuries and burns

Day 2
Head, neck, chest and abdominal injuries
Fractures, dislocations and use of splints
Common medical conditions. Management of diarrhoea
Cold injuries and altitude sickness
Practical – examining eyes and ears
Tropical problems – heat illness, malaria, bites and stings
Medical kits and supplies

Skills & Techniques

You’ll learn how to perform a physical examination, measure vital signs (e.g. blood pressure) and take a medical history from a patient. Examination + history = diagnosis, then treatment. Plus you’ll learn about improvised splinting, using neck collars and managing spinal injuries, examining eyes and ears, resuscitation in the wilderness and using a stethoscope.

Treating Infections, Illness & Symptoms

First aid courses mainly focus on dealing with injuries but people get ill on expeditions too. You’ll learn how to treat or manage a variety of illnesses and infections such as malaria, diarrhoea, wound infections, asthma and other important, common conditions of the heart, lungs, ears, nose and throat, water works and the gut. Symptom control is vital and you’ll also learn how to control or reduce fever, pain and nausea even if you don’t know what the underlying cause is.

Treating Injuries & Special Problems

FFH covers strains, sprains and fractures and other traumatic injuries, in addition to wounds, burns, frostbite, mountain sickness, some tropical diseases, bites and stings, rabies and shock.

Prescription Medications

You can read about using prescription antibiotics, Diamox (for high altitude) or strong pain killers in text books but the problem remains of how to obtain these supplies, how to use them appropriately taking into account allergies, contra-indications between medicines (taking more than one at a time) and your legal position. FFH training eliminates all these concerns. We’ll tell you what medical supplies to take and authorise you to purchase them in the UK. Our comprehensive field manual serves as an aide memoire in the field so you prescribe safely and we thoroughly cover the legal considerations on each course.