ROANOKE, Va. – Emergencies can happen anywhere, but when they’re outdoors, there are some who specialize in dealing with the elements.
“We train in wilderness and environmental conditions, so things you might experience in outdoor settings — hypothermia, hypothermia heat stroke or heat illnesses, snake bite, altitude illnesses,” said Dr. CJ Waasdorp, a physician at Carilion Clinic.
These physicians have a broad range of training, from the treatment of injuries to rescue operations.
“We do training in technical rescue, whether that’s rock and high angle rescue, river rescue and then also specialty trainings like dive medicine,” Waasdorp added.
While they can be an asset in an emergency situation, they follow the lead of the first responders.
“Our technical rescue teams like Roanoke County which is where the recent event happened, they have an excellent team with a lot of practice that does a lot of the technical training and they take the lead on it. Us as physicians, we can come and offer any of the additional skills we have.”
Carilion Clinic is the only health system in the region to offer a Wilderness Medicine Fellowship. Roanoke’s outdoor recreation scene makes it a good location to provide this program.
“That fellowship is after emergency medicine training. So physicians that have already done a residency in emergency medicine, or PA’s or nurse practitioners that come from either a training program or experience in the emergency medicine field,” Waasdorp added.
Preparation, so when there’s an emergency or a rocky situation, these physicians are ready to come to the rescue.