Mauled by a bear...now that makes for great stories!

Hello all :)

Two weeks of wilderness medicine has been incredible!!! We started off with a week of classes here in hamilton where we had lectures on things like hypothermia and altitude in the mornings, and then practiced outside on the lawn for the afternoons. We got lots of strange looks from people passing by as we were learning to splint, pack patients into litters, roll patients, stabilize spines and fun stuff like that. I also got to spend some quality time in my climbing tree, which was fantastic.

This past week we have been at a summer camp in Muskoka doing more classes, learning about rope work and search & rescue techniques, and practicing with large scale mock scenarios. There were 9 people in my course, so we took turns playing patients and rescuers, as well as recruiting some of the staff at the camp to join in the fun as well. My instructors came up with the most amazing scenarios and played them up with makeup, fake wounds, blood, vomit, diarrhea...I think you get the picture.

One day I got to play a camp worker who had found some lost campers and when trying to rescue them had managed to let one get sucked into the motor and lost their limb....obviously I was so distraught that I snuck off in the middle of the simulation and hung myself in the boathouse! They had me rigged up with ropes, a harnass and a noose around my neck, fake vomit all down my clothes and I was hanging with my tongue out and eyes bulged when one of the rescuers found me. It took ALL my strength not to laugh.

However, the last night we were there was the most amazing of all. We had our final simulation which took place at night. For those of you who don't know...I get a bit antsy at night in the woods to begin with, let alone with dying people. Our sim was to go out to a camp where some campers had been attacked by a bear. As we approached there were gun shots and screams. We kept having to drop everything and hit the deck for fear of getting hit...then radio in and tell them to put down the guns if they wanted to be rescued! When we got there the site was a mess, stuff all over the place, a girl with her eyes burnt from the gun, one with a pumping neck wound from being swatted by the bear, a guy unconscious in the woods and two more missing. As we were trying to get the one in the woods on a backboard and back to the fire to be safe, the "bear" (an instructor in a bear costume) came running at us growling! We all screamed and ran, but me being ever-so-graceful fell over a log so the bear jumped on me and started mauling me. He had fake blood in his hands so everywhere he managed to swat I now had wounds. I have a new appreciation for terror and the stress reaction it induces! I was such an unreliable patient. They could not convince me to sit down and be treated...I just wanted to finish starting IVs and make sure everyone else was alright :)

To say the least, it was an interesting week. For the sake of time I will cut this short and make it a two part post. Stay tuned in the next couple days for more fun stories, and pictures of me all banged up!

Lots of love
Pamela