The latest news, views and opportunities from EWM Towers
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Extreme Medicine '15 – Hot off the press…
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Extreme Medicine ’15 – Hot off the press…
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Extreme Medicine 2015 – tickets now on sale..
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Sir Ranulph Fiennes joins Extreme Medicine ’15 line-up
We are delighted to welcome veteran explorer and writer Sir Ranulph Fiennes as guest speaker at the World Extreme Medicine Conference.
Fiennes was the first person to visit both the North and South Poles by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot, and in 1984 was recognised as the “world’s greatest living explorer” by The Guinness Book of World Records.
The veteran explorer is still breaking records and undertaking expeditions, and in April this year is taking part in the ‘toughest footrace on Earth’; the Marathon des Sables in Morocco. If he completes it, he will be the oldest Briton ever to have done so. Fiennes, who has written numerous books about his army service and his expeditions as well as a book defending Robert Falcon Scott from modern revisionists, is bound to be an enthralling speaker…
Now in its fifth year, the World Extreme Medicine conference challenges thinking, builds bridges and introduces new ideas about medicine at its most remote and austere. We join together in one arena, four disparate but overlapping medical fields; Pre-hospital, Disaster & Humanitarian, Expedition, and Extreme medicine, to present new ideas and experiences from leading experts in their field.
New for 2015, are speakers on nanotechnology, remote diagnosis tools, extreme physiology and endurance sports medicine. We will also be considering the impact of climate change on global health, as well as the impact of conflict on civilians.
Always keen to inspire debate, our Innovation Platform will see ambitious medics pitching their ideas for small research grants before an expert panel.
The conference opens for registrations on March 29th 2015
Sir Ranulph Fiennes joins Extreme Medicine '15 line-up
We are delighted to welcome veteran explorer and writer Sir Ranulph Fiennes as guest speaker at the World Extreme Medicine Conference.
Fiennes was the first person to visit both the North and South Poles by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot, and in 1984 was recognised as the “world’s greatest living explorer” by The Guinness Book of World Records.
The veteran explorer is still breaking records and undertaking expeditions, and in April this year is taking part in the ‘toughest footrace on Earth’; the Marathon des Sables in Morocco. If he completes it, he will be the oldest Briton ever to have done so. Fiennes, who has written numerous books about his army service and his expeditions as well as a book defending Robert Falcon Scott from modern revisionists, is bound to be an enthralling speaker…
Now in its fifth year, the World Extreme Medicine conference challenges thinking, builds bridges and introduces new ideas about medicine at its most remote and austere. We join together in one arena, four disparate but overlapping medical fields; Pre-hospital, Disaster & Humanitarian, Expedition, and Extreme medicine, to present new ideas and experiences from leading experts in their field.
New for 2015, are speakers on nanotechnology, remote diagnosis tools, extreme physiology and endurance sports medicine. We will also be considering the impact of climate change on global health, as well as the impact of conflict on civilians.
Always keen to inspire debate, our Innovation Platform will see ambitious medics pitching their ideas for small research grants before an expert panel.
The conference opens for registrations on March 29th 2015
Glad to welcome the makers of ‘Helicopter Heroes Down Under’ to the Brisbane Extreme Medicine Conference
Thrilled that we are going to featuring the team behind ‘Helicopter Heroes Down Under’ at our Brisbane Extreme Medicine Conference – tickets now open for sale!!
Top International speakers at the Extreme Medicine Conference at the Royal Society of Medicine inspired a packed auditorium of international delegates in November, 2014. This specialist conference was developed specifically with medical professionals in mind, providing an opportunity to share experience and learning from the various areas of remote medicine and, we’re bringing our conference programme to Australia!
Our delegate audience is roughly 70% doctors, the remainder, nurses, paramedics, students and industry professionals.
“This was the best attended conference I have been to in eons and small wonder, fantastic standard of speakers, good mix of fact, glorious slides and amazing case studies.”
88% of respondents rated the 2014 event as Excellent or Very Good, telling us “…
I would rate it one of the best two conferences available at the moment for professionals working in emergency and critical care environments.”
At Brisbane, we will include some of the very best speakers from around the world on remote medicine topics; Day 1 will focus on Pre-Hospital and Day 2 Expedition Medicine. Our programme of speakers and adventurous medics will remind you just why you entered medicine and the possibilities available to you.
“Great conference with very knowledgeable speakers with a vast amount of experience! “
We promise a full programme with a chance to get to know delegates, speakers and exhibitors at social and networking breaks.
“This conference has had a profoundly positive impact on me…”
Brisbane Extreme Medicine Conference
Glad to welcome the makers of 'Helicopter Heroes Down Under' to the Brisbane Extreme Medicine Conference
Thrilled that we are going to featuring the team behind ‘Helicopter Heroes Down Under’ at our Brisbane Extreme Medicine Conference – tickets now open for sale!!
Top International speakers at the Extreme Medicine Conference at the Royal Society of Medicine inspired a packed auditorium of international delegates in November, 2014. This specialist conference was developed specifically with medical professionals in mind, providing an opportunity to share experience and learning from the various areas of remote medicine and, we’re bringing our conference programme to Australia!
Our delegate audience is roughly 70% doctors, the remainder, nurses, paramedics, students and industry professionals.
“This was the best attended conference I have been to in eons and small wonder, fantastic standard of speakers, good mix of fact, glorious slides and amazing case studies.”
88% of respondents rated the 2014 event as Excellent or Very Good, telling us “…
I would rate it one of the best two conferences available at the moment for professionals working in emergency and critical care environments.”
At Brisbane, we will include some of the very best speakers from around the world on remote medicine topics; Day 1 will focus on Pre-Hospital and Day 2 Expedition Medicine. Our programme of speakers and adventurous medics will remind you just why you entered medicine and the possibilities available to you.
“Great conference with very knowledgeable speakers with a vast amount of experience! “
We promise a full programme with a chance to get to know delegates, speakers and exhibitors at social and networking breaks.
“This conference has had a profoundly positive impact on me…”
Brisbane Extreme Medicine Conference
EWM faculty and EverestER founder Dr Luanne Freer working with inspirational NGO Partners in Health reports from West Africa
Ebola emerged in West Africa in late 2013 and has spread across borders, killing thousands and leaving behind survivors and shattered families.
Partners In Health has helped respond to the epidemic, aiming to address not only Ebola but also the “staff, stuff, systems, and space” challenges that hamper containment efforts. PIH has recruited and trained American volunteers, many of whom are now working to curb Ebola alongside West African partners in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Several share their reflections below:
Photo: Rebecca E. Rollins / Partners In Health
Partners In Health and Last Mile Health staff tour the Ebola Treatment Unit in Bong, Liberia, managed by the International Medical Corps.
Ebola emerged in West Africa in late 2013 and has spread across borders, killing thousands and leaving behind survivors and shattered families. Partners In Health has helped respond to the epidemic, aiming to address not only Ebola but also the “staff, stuff, systems, and space” challenges that hamper containment efforts. PIH has recruited and trained American volunteers, many of whom are now working to curb Ebola alongside West African partners in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Several share their reflections below:
Sorrow and Celebration
January 1, 2015–It is crazy busy here [in Port Loko district, Sierra Leone], and I’ve cried every day. Not despondent crying, but trying to be appropriate and grieve when I need to. One of our employees, a 52-year-old sprayer (they spray us down with chlorine as we are taking off the personal protective equipment) died yesterday. He was the sole caregiver for two young boys, who were two of our last admits of 2014 yesterday.
One 28-year-old father who survived Ebola was nursing his last child (his wife and other kids died two weeks ago), and we tried so hard to get his baby through. You know where this is going. His last family member, a 1-year-old tiny little girl, died yesterday. Our staff sobbed at the gate when he wailed and said she was all he had left in the world.
It guts me to see their grief. I can deal with the corpses and the horrible illness, but their grief is overwhelming when I think about what it must feel like. They have nothing, live in dirt-floor shacks with a few goats and have to haul their unclean water from the river, have no available health care, and then they lose their family? I’m crying just writing this. I, we, have so much to be grateful for.
But if I had to choose a way to spend New Year’s Eve (I was on the 4 p.m.-12:30 a.m. shift last night), it would be to be doing what I was doing. Giving sleeping pills and valium to people who can’t sleep because of their suffering, feeding a starving little baby with no parents, sedating elderly encephalopathic adults. They just look terrified and mumble unintelligibly, but I can understand enough to know they are having awful hallucinations. And you know what? Sometimes they pull through, and I celebrate those victories; they keep me coming back.
We discharged nine survivors one day last week. I treated a case of cerebral malaria this week and transferred the patient to a government hospital that has one nurse on duty for 50 patients. I hope he gets his artesunate [medication for malaria], but we didn’t want him to catch Ebola just because he had the bad luck to catch malaria in the middle of this epidemic.
So that was my New Year’s Eve. Today I have the only day off I will have for an entire month, and I woke up to go on a 10K run on a relatively cool, breezy morning. I ran through several villages where little kids ran to the road yelling “abado!” (white person!), and adults said “Happy New Year and thank you!” (I am crying again—it’s so beautiful to have people from the community say thanks for what you are doing.) A few little kids ran along with me for a while, and we raced from sign to sign. It will be very difficult to leave this place when it is my time to go.
Luanne Freer
Article (c) Partners in Health
Winners of the ‘David Weil Extreme Medicine Award’ (DWEMA) 2014
The ‘David Weil Extreme Medicine Award’ (DWEMA) and is by invitation only and we are very pleased to annouce the winners of the 2014 awards
The sponsorship scheme was set up to enable worthy medical candidates, who otherwise might not be able to afford, to attend the conference. The learnings would then be applied to medicine provided in extreme, front line, disaster & relief environments and in turn relieve suffering and advance medical care in the situations where typically treatment would be laking. The award also serves to promote new qualified individuals who show great promise in the area of disastor, humantarian and remote medicine.
Dr Sanjaya Karki
Born in the beautiful landscape of Nepal has completed schooling from Nepal graduated from Dow Medical College, Pakistan in 2003, since then he has been actively participating in Nepal and elsewhere for the promotion of Emergency and Extreme medicine.
After finishing medical school he was involved in the department of Emergency in Kathmandu Medical College and teaching hospital, Nepal as a medical officer. In 2008 Karki completed the European official double masters in Health and Welfare from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and EHESS –Paris, France. Soon after he was involved with Ministry of Health in association of THE GLOBAL FUND and worked in the capacity of Monitoring and evaluation officer in the different districts of Nepal in Malaria program .
With the great passion in humanitarian activities he later joined Medecins Sans Frontieres –Holland and was deployed in the Rakhine state of Myanmar. Being highly committed in the emergency medicine he later joined 3 years of residency in Emergency medicine in Norman Bethune College of medicine, China . After completing the course he has joined Grande International Hospital, Nepal in the capacity of In charge and consultant of the Emergency Department, as well advocated in the formation of Emergency medical service and helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) .
He has been advocating in the dire need of well equipped ambulances even in the underdeveloped countries like Nepal and elsewhere which can save lives and can prevent death. In the matter of rescuing patients : not only helicopter is enough , in addition, expert medical team should be there on board with the medical equipments where we can save life .This is the main advocating part of Dr Karki because in Nepal still there is no standard EMS and HEMS has established.
Mountains are precious natural gift to human being and people face challenges out there and Nepal very rich in mountains, Dr Karki is strictly on there should be the best medical unit and established medical facility. Following the fact he was involved in rescuing many patients from the different part of Nepal by helicopter. April 2014. Dr Karki showed immense courage ,coordination and presence of mind to perform the Heli rescue from the site himself risking his own life. That was on 20,000 ft high, Mount Makalu,Nepal. climbers were stranded on crevasse for about 19 hours. He went well beyond gone beyond the call of duty and applied extreme effort in saving human life.
Currently Dr Karki is working in the position of Scientific research fellow in the University clinic –Leipzig, Germany. He has been working to figure out if there could be any measures to detect lung cancer in the early stage even in the Emergency department .In addition to this he has been working in a molecular level in order to find out the role of Phospholipid transfer protein in relation of COPD.
Dr Karki is writing a book about the protocol of emergency medicine.
Dr Therese White 
In April 2011 Therese was honoured to be chosen as the last UK medical student to experience a medical elective with NASA’s aerospace medical team in Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. It was a very special time to intern with the team as we were in preparation for STS-134 Endeavour- the second last ever space shuttle launch from the KSC.
During my time with NASA I trained with the Department of Defence, preparing for emergency contingency plans for launch day; explored the Space Life Science Lab and presented my research project entitled “Would I survive in space? Infectious disease and the US Space Program”. The project explored the medical obstacles that we need to overcome, to ensure safe long-haul space missions to optimise crew health. This internship sparked my fascination with aerospace medicine and how we can use microgravity as an innovative medical research platform.
Since July 2012 I have worked as a scientific advisor with The Exomedicine Institute, a unique space and technology organisation pioneering in microgravity research; of which Nobel prize winning physician Baruch Blumberg was a founding member. I have prepared a research proposal which outlines microgravity designed experiments in cystic fibrosis and gene therapy, diabetes and infectious disease. With the highly motivated, inspiring and talented Exomedicine team, there are exciting initiatives being prepared for microgravity research being launched and experimented on the International Space Station over the next three years.
EXTREME MEDICINE CONFERENCE
To nominate please contact Mark Hannaford, Managing Director, Expedition & Wilderness Medicine; admin@expedition-medicine.com
Successful applicants must have demonstrated considerable commitment to the field of humanitarian or disaster medicine and be registered as a medical professional, must be free for the entire conference and will be expected to prepare a post conference report. Applications are welcome from medics of all nationalities.
David is a Hong Kong/ London based entrepreneur who is passionate about using his resources to make positive social change and has supported EWM for a number of years and he has offered to cover the following expenses;
- Travel & expenses from your home to the conference and return
- Food & Accommodation whilst at the conference
- Free entry to both the Pre Conference workshop running on the preceding weekend and the Conference itself
- Winners have the right to call yourself joint-winner of the 2014 David Weil Extreme Medicine Award to use the conference logos and branding in an appropriate manner
With Extreme Medicine less than a fortnight away…
We laughed out loud when we received this from conference delegate Amy Neilson
This specialist conference was developed specifically with medical professionals in mind, bringing together the learnings from various areas of remote medicine, and attracted delegates from around the world. 70% of the delegates were doctors with the rest of the audience being other medical specialists such as nurses, paramedics and ‘aspiring’ extreme medicine university students.
http://www.extrememedicineexpo.com
Belgium doctors attending the Extreme Medicine Conference 2014
Good news for Belgian doctors attending the Extreme Medicine Conference!
Thanks to Kris Vandervoort for applying to the Belgian Accreditation Council & securing 32 credit points. Belgian medics will need a certificate of attendance & a copy of the approval she received.
Email admin@expedition-medicine.com so we can collate your details.
Extreme Medicine Conference
Pre-Hospital Care Workshop – Press Release
Learning from experience
London’s Air Ambulance & Extreme Medicine to host two-day Pre-Hospital Care Workshop
For 25 years London’s Air Ambulance has been at the forefront of pre-hospital emergency medicine, gaining a reputation for clinical excellence and pioneering procedures which have been adopted across the world.
Next month, ahead of the World Extreme Medicine Expo, on the 6th and 7th of November, London’s Air Ambulance is hosting a two-day Pre-Hospital Care Workshop as a precursor to the Extreme Medicine Conference 2014 to give delegates and medical practitioners an insight into the work of the charity and to share some of its advanced practices.
The charity has achieved survival figures for traumatic cardiac arrest and pre-hospital thoracotomy, and success rates for adult and paediatric intubation, which are among the highest in the world.
The workshop will give practitioners the opportunity to get involved with medical demonstrations and scenario based exercises while also providing access to the senior consultants and paramedics responsible for London’s Air Ambulance governance, major incident planning, research and innovation.
Speaking about the event, consultant and education lead, Dr Gareth Grier said: “London’s Air Ambulance has treated over 31,000 patients, which we recognise is a huge amount of experience and learning developed over 25 years. By passing on this knowledge we can help to drive excellence in pre-hospital care standards”.
“Many of the techniques we have pioneered have become widespread as a result of being heard and talked about at events such as this one. During the workshop we will be showcasing some of our more recent innovations, REBOA being one of them, discussing the future of pre-hospital care, challenging conventional wisdom and hopefully, inspiring the next generation of trauma specialists”.
Earlier this year London’s Air Ambulance became the first service to perform roadside balloon surgery to control severe internal bleeding on a patient who had fallen from height. Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA) is just one of the practical demonstrations delegates can participate in amid a programme that will look at biological terrorism, crew resource management at complex pre-hospital scenes and the role of a UK pre-hospital doctor in the international response to humanitarian disasters.
For full programme details or to book visit: www.londonsairambulance.co.uk. Tickets start at £125 for medical students rising to £595 for doctors.
END ———
Enquiries:
London’s Air Ambulance Tel: (0)20 7220 5498
Katy Evans (Senior Media Liaison & Public Affairs Officer)
k.evans@londonsairambulance.co.uk
Notes to Editors
More about the Pre-Hospital Care Workshop
Date: Thursday 6th and Friday 7th November 2014
Venue: Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE
Ticket prices: Doctors £595 / Paramedics, Nurses & other medical professionals £195 / Medical Students £125. Book tickets.
Programme Overview: 
Day One
Seminar topics:
Introduction and overview of London’s Air Ambulance and Pre-hospital Care in the UK
The role of a UK pre-hospital doctor in the international response to humanitarian disasters
Biological Terrorism
Crew Resource Management at complex pre-hospital scenes
The medical response to major incidents in London
Workshops:
Pre-hospital advanced airway
Emergency thoracotomy
Emergency Neurosurgery
Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA)
Day Two
Seminar topics:
Pre-hospital blood transfusion in civilian trauma
Damage control anaesthesia – lessons from Afghanistan and London
Opportunities for medical students in pre-hospital care
Paramedic scene leadership during advanced pre-hospital interventions
Defying medical dogma – case studies from the pre-hospital phase
The future in pre-hospital care Nanorobots and suspended animation
Workshops:
Various scenario based training exercises
Extreme Medicine Conference 2014
Dr Ian Norton, Head of WHO’s medical team in West Africa tackling Ebola
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Dr Ian Norton, Head of WHO's medical team in West Africa tackling Ebola
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Extreme Survivor Anna Bågenholm talks about her local environment
Talking at the Extreme Medicine Conference
Working as a Radiologist at the North Norway Universital hospital, I am used to dealing with extreme medicine physiology and logistics on regular basis. At our remote location, our hospital takes care of 500 000 inhabitants living across a vast area, including the beautiful remoteness of Svalbard. I have treated people following polar bear attacks, avalanches, mountain falls and shipwrecks. Our hospital receive patients following long medevac; by ambulance, helicopter or plane flight, or by bad fly weather up to 8-10 hours in a road ambulance. Our remote location leaves us vulnerable but teamwork plays a big part in all we do so we make good use of new technologies, including teleradiology, which I use on a daily basis.
Personally, I am so grateful to the people at the University Hospital in North Norway not only for having the opportunity to work together with them as senior doctor but also for that I can maintain my medical career after having a bad skiing accident in 1999.
The accident gave me a core body temperature of 13.7 degrees and no heart beat for 2 hours and 45 minutes. The medical team never gave up on me and their knowledge of extreme physiology saved me. Their slogan was
“nobody is dead until warm and dead.”
After 1 hour helicopter transportation, 9 hours in the operating room, 6 days on ECMO, 6 days on kidney replacement therapy, 5 weeks on a ventilator and 1-2 years partially paralysed from the neck down, I now lead a completely normal life, helping other patients.
We should think of extreme medicine as an important and normal part of medicine. We never know when we might need to draw upon our knowledge of extreme physiology and associated logistics. Being prepared is the best way to handle the situation.
Hear Anna talk at the Extreme Medicine Conference 2014
We love simple new ideas that potentially save lives… GoodSAM
By day Mark Wilson as as a Neurosurgeon at Imperial. He also works with London’s Air Ambulance. His specialist area is acute brain problems especially traumatic brain injury (and in particular it’s hyperacute management). by in his spare time he is the developer of a life-saving mobile phone called GoodSAM that crowd sources off-duty doctors, nurses and paramedics to local life threatening emergencies
Mark has worked extensively overseas both clinically and as an expedition doctor. Locations include India, Nepal, the Arctic, South Africa, and Australia as a GP and as a researcher with NASA. His research areas include the effects of altitude and microgravity on the cerebral circulation, the former of which he extensively researched during the 2007 Xtreme Everest expedition.
He authored The Medic’s Guide to Work and Electives Around the World in 2000 which is now in it’s 3rd edition.
GoodSAM an App that crowd sources off-duty doctors, nurses and paramedics to local life threatening emergencies – GoodSAM. Please take a look and register!
https://www.goodsamapp.org/home
Mark is speaking at the 2014 Extreme Medicine Conference – meet him there…
Speakers, content and line up firming up as Extreme Medicine 2014 gets closer. Medics, Astronauts, Scientists, and the extraordinary all feature
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** Ebola Breakout – urgent medic appeal from the British Red Cross **
From the British Red Cross We are looking to launch a recruitment campaign to recruit Doctors and Nurses to staff our urgent response to the Ebola outbreak in west Africa. Working with the International Federation of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies and we are working to provide additional staff for an isolation unit in Sierra Leone.
We are looking for are qualified and trained medical staff who will be able deploy for a period of around one month. Please note that if an individual is currently patient facing then there would also be a 3 week quarantine period at home in the UK before they could return to normal clinical work. These posts would be paid positions with the British Red Cross.
If any individuals are interested to apply we would ask them to send a CV and cover letter to recruitment@redcross.org.uk. We would then have a process of interview, training, medical check and briefing including discussions of insurance and security, before a deployment.
Please mention ‘Expedition & Wilderness‘ when making contact
Of interest