If you need to refresh your WMT Advanced Medicine certificate or upgrade from Far From Help, there’s now one place available on Far From Help Part 2/Advanced Refresher 2-3 December at Glenmore Lodge, Aviemore due to a cancellation.
First come, first served!If the link doesn’t show there’s a place available, then it has been taken.
Book at this link.
WMT alumni Steffen Oppel at the RSPB has reached out to WMT to recruit a doctor for this amazing opportunity. See amazing photos of the Island here. Steffen provided these details:
Gough Island Restoration Programme
Doctor required for approximately 16th Feb to 11th June 2020
There is a unique opportunity for a suitably qualified and experienced medical professional to work on Gough Island in the South Atlantic. Gough Island is one of the most isolated islands in the world and is rarely visited, this is a rare opportunity to spend time on the island and to participate in an internationally significant conservation project. The RSPB is undertaking a restoration programme on the island which includes the construction of facilities and capture and holding of 2 endemic bird species.
A team of 18 project personnel will travel from Cape Town to the island in February 2020 to join the 10 South African National Antarctic Programme (SANAP) team already at the base. Once there they will construct a range of aviaries and facilities and then commence catching the required birds. The doctor will be in charge of providing medical support to the team supported by the SANAP medic but is also expected to engage fully in other activities including assisting with constructing the facilities, and depending on their interests catching and caring for the birds. The successful applicant should have experience working in isolated areas with limited facilities and where evacuation is problematic. More information can be found at www.goughisland.com
The selected person will be required to input into the development of the list of medical supplies/ equipment required.
The project will cover all reasonable travel costs and the pay will be $US1000 per week.
If interested please contact Pete McClelland () for additional information on the project and the role.
The Kendal Mountain Festival runs 14-17 November. Kendal is home to WMT so if you’re coming up to gorge on adventure films, check out the book festival or catch a guest lecture, let us know!
Amongst the many activities are opportunities to test the new FUTURELIGHT technology from The North Face with Lake District guided walks with Glenmore Lodge instructors (great for a ML log book entry) and 10km runs led by pro-athletes.
Brazilian ultra-running athlete Fernanda Maciel with be leading a run at 2pm Friday 15 November. WMT Medical Director Harvey Pynn ran with Fernanda some years ago in Morocco (and is quite possibly still recovering!). This formidable woman recently set the speed ascent/descent record of Kilimanjaro of 10 hours 6 minutes starting from 1524m, running to the top 5895m and back down. Watch the video! The runs cost £5, includes a test jacket to borrow and you get a generous goody bag from The North Face. Details and sign up for Fernanda’s run. All funds raised go to local mountain rescue.
For all The North Face jacket test hike and run options at the festival see here. Pre-registration is necessary and places (and jackets) are limited.
The poster competition last year (see the results) was such a success (12 posters received) that we’re repeating this exercise on WMT’s flag ship Expedition Medicine course in Chamonix 2-6 March 2020 and now inviting abstract submissions.
The abstracts will focus on recent research, interesting case studies or expeditions in the role of medic covering the entire spectrum of wilderness medicine. Abstracts from doctors, OHPs and laypeople (WMT Explorer alumni included) welcomed.
Anyone can participate; you don’t have to be a course delegate or doctor.
Download the WMT abstract submission guidelines 2020
Established in 2001, the Journey of a Lifetime Award is a collaboration between the Society and the BBC, and is generously supported through a private donation. The award aims to support informed travel and learning, through experience rather than scientific research, and to discover new radio talent. The outcome of each of journey is a BBC Radio 4 travel documentary.
The award offers a £5,000 grant for an original and inspiring journey anywhere in the world. The award recipient will receive training in radio broadcasting from the BBC and will record their experiences for a BBC Radio 4 documentary.
Deadline: 10 November 2019.
Details online.
2019 recipient
Redzi Bernard: Lalibela by mule
In May 2019, Redzi Bernard recreated a journey her mother made 50 years ago, crossing the Lasta Mountains of northern Ethiopia on foot. Travelling with a mule between Weldiya and the holy city of Lalibela, Redzi reflected on how life has changed for women in modern Ethiopia – the only African nation to have a female head of state. Redzi recorded her experiences for a BBC Radio 4 documentary that was broadcast today (4 Nov).
Dates just announced for WMT’s annual Medic’s expedition to exotic Morocco 21-27 September 2020. This training expedition is packed with medical tuition and practical skills training (rope work, navigation and such) and culminates with an ascent of Jbel Toubkal (4167m), the highest mountain in North Africa followed by a night in Marrakech. Delegates from all over the world and from diverse medical backgrounds attend to live together and immerse themselves in many facets of austere medicine. 3 venues in-country from the plush Kasbah du Toubkal to a mountain refuge and a central Marrakech hotel. Excellent preparation to become more confident in the hills and build the skills required of a mountain medic. Visit the expedition web page for full details and online booking.
In the last newsletter we teasingly mentioned raw plans to run a ski expedition to Norway in 2020 and it’s going ahead!
As WMT approaches a landmark 30 years in operation, we plan to celebrate by offering a range of expeditions to our favourite places to share them with WMT friends and alumni, doctors and lay-students alike.
The first trip we’re announcing is an inaugural guided ski touring expedition to the Tromso area of north Norway. It’s a special destination and this trip includes 6 days on snow for a maximum of 6 participants with 3 staff including an internationally qualified IFGMA mountain guide and ski instructor. Intimate, cosy and relaxed is the theme. No lifts, no crowds and no limit to the beautiful mountain objectives at our feet, all easily accessible by first-class infrastructure that enables awesome sea to summit to skiing. The skiing is more fun and less hard work than in the Alps. Low altitude and more O2 means everyone is stronger from day 1. Eighteen hours of daylight at the end of April means great flexibility to dodge any poor weather. This ski touring trip is open to medics and non-medics alike but we anticipate that most delegates will be medics so we’ll facilitate peer to peer medical training to bolster the CPD value of this event. Participants need to be fit, competent off piste skiers with some ski touring experience who will embrace the group living and catering style of this trip.
As with all WMT events, you can expect stimulating fellow participants, expert and engaging staff, loads of fun and magic mountain moments all wrapped up in the attention to detail and safety that is the crucial to any expedition.
See the Norway web page for this trip or email for a detailed dossier with full details, accommodation photos, example ski routes we might attempt, costs and much more. See how stunning this area is – view this PDF photo album.
Travel insurance for adventurous activities and expeditions overseas is crucial to obtain and needs to be fit for purpose;
– Does it cover the activities you’ll be undertaking?
– What are the exclusions?
– Does it cover search and rescue? (many policies now only cover search so it’s assumed you have a tracker)
– Is medical repatriation included?
– Where is the underwriting insurance company based? For example, WMT has been told that the UK financial ombudsman who deals with insurance claim complaints is more consumer friendly than Irish based underwriters. Most people buy insurance from a broker, not the underwriter directly.
– Do you already have insurance, such as house cover, that insures your possessions such as an expensive mountain bike? If so, you can potentially reduce the cost of travel insurance by declining cover for luggage BUT check that your house insurance covers for any sports equipment in USE? Your touring skis might be covered for theft but not if you break one while skiing.
– Does it cover trip cancellation? If so, take insurance out as soon as you have financially commited to a trip.
– Annual multi-trip policies are normally cheaper than one-off cover but they might not be amendable if you decide to take a trip that includes an activity that isn’t originally covered.
This “check list” isn’t exhaustive. Be sure to fully disclose what you plan to do and any medical history and don’t be shy to phone up to speak to someone for specific advice and reassurance that the insurance you’re tempted to buy online is suitable. Such calls are recorded in case a legitimate claim is disputed.
The British Mountain Medicine Society has published this list of insurers.
The British Mountaineering Council (who are on the BMMS list) have published a useful article about How will Brexit affect travel insurance?
A final word of caution! Some insurers consider travelling overseas to a training course (such as WMT’s Expedition Medicine Chamonix course 2-6 March 2020) as WORK and might not cover you. For example, you would need to first call or email the BMC insurance office with details of such a “work” trip before confirming cover.
The September newsletter includes important medical updates, a raft of expedition photos from alumni (including Katie Flowers’ successful ’round Britain sailing expedition aboard Melody, pictured below), kit advice for climbing Kilimanjaro, an update of upcoming Chamonix courses AND advanced notice of outline plans for a new WMT Lyngen Alps, Norway ski touring expedition next spring. Read the newsletter here.
WMT has been made aware of a risk of the Emerade auto injector failing to deliver a dose of adrenaline from the syringe due to blockage of the needle.
This issue was first detected in June 2018 during routine stability testing of the syringe component of Emerade with the potential to affect 1.5 in every ten thousand pens; therefore considered a rare event. However, recent information indicates that the potential occurrence of needle blockage in batches on the market is higher than first estimated and so it is being brought to the attention of users.
The full text release from the MHRA can be read here.
The potential for units on the market to have a blockage of the needle which could lead to Emerade failing to deliver a dose when activated is now estimated to be 0.23 %, which would affect 2.3 in every thousand pens. (This estimate is based on simulated laboratory conditions without the auto-injector component which may lower the potential rate of failure to deliver.)
However, because the dose of adrenaline in an adult Emerade auto injector is 0.5mg (0.5ml), even a faulty auto injector is likely to deliver more adrenaline than an Epipen (or Jext / Anapen) device which all routinely have 0.3mg (0.3ml) in them.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is not recalling batches of Emerade.
The manufacturer conducted extensive investigations and has implemented corrective actions. Emerade manufactured with all the corrective processes has been introduced into the market from mid-July 2019.
My recommendation is to do nothing but this notice is for awareness and transparency (in case you see other articles in the press on this matter).
Dr Harvey Pynn
Medical Director
31 August 2019
