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Month: February 2010

Home 2010 February

Dr Sean Hudson writes about recent Polar Medicine course in Norway

MCSDr Sean Hudson, expedition, Expedition & Wilderness Medicine, Expedition Doctor, polar medicine, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, wilderness medic, , , ,

‘There’s no snow.’ This was the text I received the week before the course. Slightly concerning since we planning on skiing, snowmobiling and dogsledding. All of which can prove difficult without snow. Snowholing may also prove to be a challenge. As I flew over Oslo it looked as if there was plenty of snow, and as we descended into Alta over the snow clad mountains the pilot announced the temperatures outside were -25. There was no snow from a Norwegian perspective but there was still plenty for us from blighty. The group were exposed to every polar weather experience: -30 whilst dogsledding, snow and wind whilst snowholing and a fabulous slush covering the surface of the ice drill. The group rose to the challenge and threw themselves into each new skill.

There were some highlights for me: the largest snow hole ever created, greatest height achieved by two ladies on a snowmobile (I had never seen the bottom of a snowmobile in flight until last week), Martin manfully getting frostbite the week before the course so that everyone could see how to dress frostbite properly, everyone did the ice drill and thankfully again no injuries. Thank you to all of you who made the course a success, from the directing staff who worked tirelessly and managed to consume 24000 calories between 4 of them in 24 hours, to the participants who had a try at everything and continued to smile and to our host at Ongajok who yet again provided us with wonderful food and accommodation. Finally thank you to the northern lights for giving us another beautiful display

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Update on BBC's Amazon kayak record attempt

MCSAdventure, expedition, Expedition & Wilderness Medicine, Expedition Doctor, Film and Media medical support, Jungle medicine, Media Crew Expedition Medical Support, Remote medicine, Travel, travel doctor, travel medic, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, wilderness medic, Wilderness Medicine, , , ,

Expedition Medicine is supporting Helen Skelton, presenter on Blue Peter, attempt to be the first woman to kayak the Amazon and here is the latest progress report on 18th February.

All are well here now. Helen and I have managed to avoid the D+V. 
 
It’s been an eventful week in Helen Skelton’s Amazon adventure. We started with Carnaval in the city of Manaus where the entire crew had to dress up and dance around a specially built Samba drome in the pouring rain. Leaving Manaus we reached the meeting of the Amazon with the Rio Negra, the biggest tributary of the Amazon. One is brown and the other is black and the waters don’t mix for several miles. A helicopter was chartered to film this event and the team were buzzing after this exciting milestone. Next came an unwanted drama with several members of the local and UK crew being affected by a viral gastroenteritis. It started with one of the kitchen staff and, despite working hard at the usual strict hygiene measures, it spread to several others. Fortunately Helen (and I) have been ok so far. The latest drama was the sinking of our support boat in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Nobody was on board at the time and after several hours of hard work it was resurrected but it had to be fixed up at a boat yard upstream of our location so this cost a whole day of paddling for Helen. She’s back on track now, has just clocked 1500 miles and is going as strong as ever.
 
Rain’s coming so I’ll be off. Lucy x

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Expedition Medicine lecturer and wilderness medic par excellence Dr Luanne Freer organiser of 'Everest ER' writes about her plans for 2010

MCSAdventure, Everest, expedition, Expedition & Wilderness Medicine, Expedition Doctor, medical training course, mountain medicine, Remote medicine, travel doctor, travel medic, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, wilderness medic, Wilderness Medicine, , , , , , , , ,

 

The Everest base camp medical clinic “Everest ER” will be on the mountain in April 2010 for our 8th season (!)  As always, we offer services to base camp climbers, support staff and trekkers-through in support of our mission to prevent and treat illness at high altitude and to use proceeds for care from non-Nepalis to subsidize free or low cost health care for our Nepali friends.  The 2010 staff will be comprised of myself, Lakpa Norbu Sherpa (our faithful logistics coordinator,) Dr Steve Halvorson, and Dr. Peter Hackett, longtime HRA volunteer and world renowned altitude expert (and Everest summitteer!) will join us for the month of May.  We plan to carry out a research project aimed at answering a plaguing question a high altitudes everywhere – what’s the best treatment for high altitude “Khumbu” cough?

(more…)

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Kayaking the Amazon – Expedition Medicine in support

MCSAdventure, expedition, Expedition & Wilderness Medicine, Expedition Doctor, medical training course, travel doctor, travel medic, Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, wilderness medic, Wilderness Medicine

Intrepid Expedition Medic Lucy Dickinson reports on Blue Peter presenter Helen Skeltons progress down the Amazon

Helen Skelton is super strong mentally and physically, kayaking the Amazon without complaint for up to 12 hours a day. There have been a few medical problems but nothing too dramatic despite what you may have seen on TV. She’s been getting nauseous sometimes, especially in the afternoons when it’s choppier and I think she’s sea-sick so we’ve been trying some anti-emetics. Despite throwing up all over herself while in the kayak the other day and being delayed by strorms and the searing heat a smile is never far away and she and the rest of the team are great fun to be around.

On the whole she’s doing really well. She had a bit of heat exhaustion one day but nothing major.  Part of my daily routine is taping up her hands to prevent blisters in the mornings and then some sports massage when she comes off the water. So far she’s only had minor musculoskeletal niggles and now she’s over half way so I think we can be optimistic that she’ll make it.

She had to come off the water early yesterday because of a storm so she started at 4:30am today and did the first couple of hours in the dark! There’s really no stopping her. The biggest risk for her is getting some illness which would mean she couldn’t kayak for a few days (she has a deadline to get to the end) so we’ll keep working hard to keep her well and cross our fingers.

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