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planned for this weekend
During the weekend of March 23-25 the University of Washington School of Medicine WWAMI medical students will be participating in a Wilderness First Responder training program at Cottonwood Butte Ski Area in Cottonwood, ID. Medical students in the WWAMI program spend their first year of medical school taking classes at both the University of Idaho and Washington State University. The program’s goal is to help educate local Idaho and Washington medical students and promote their return to practice medicine in Idaho and Eastern Washington. This weekend’s first responder training program will be a first for the WWAMI program. It will be a scenario-based course that aims to equip medical students with the skills needed to respond to pre-hospital/wilderness emergencies. Throughout the weekend, they will receive training from local health care professionals in critical thinking, patient stabilization, management and transport. With collaboration among local organizations and health care providers including: Cottonwood Butte Ski Area, St. Mary's Hospital and Ambulance, Life Flight Network, Cottonwood Butte Ski Patrol, Grangeville Mountain Rescue Unit, Snowhaven Ski Patrol, Cottonwood Police Department, and the University of Washington-WWAMI program, it will introduce the challenges of rural health care and the hard work that local volunteers put in to provide medical coverage to their community. One of the highlights of the weekend will be a mock mass casualty scenario, which will require an emergency response from St. Mary’s Hospital and Ambulance and Life Flight. It will take place approximately at 2 PM on Saturday March 24th, and media personnel are encouraged to attend. Medical students will provide all of the first responder care that they have learned over the weekend and transfer care appropriately to EMS and Life Flight as they arrive on scene. This unique training program has been made possible because of the strong commitment to outreach and community oriented health care shown by St. Mary’s Hospital and Life Flight. Mr. Charles Butler, RN, the EMS director at St. Mary’s Hospital and Ambulance, played a key role in organizing this event.
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