Into the Darkness

    In the gathering gloom students marched up Sinks Canyon, breaking trail through thigh-deep snow as Orion’s Belt grew brighter overhead. If there was anyone around to see, they would have noted bobbing headlamps at the end of the line stop, then cut off cross country or deep into the trees as each group of rescuers was peeled off and sent to find their scenario.

    The prospective EMTs had spent an afternoon managing medical patients in another mass casualty incident, getting more experience with the incident command system and more tastes of the complexities they may encounter in EMS – cranky patients, rescuers who become ill, medevac pilots who don’t speak English, and a frantic plumber breaking into radio traffic.

    After a day spent training in the pleasant Wyoming sunshine of late winter, the students were cut loose on their first night rescue to manage trauma and medical emergencies in harsh winter conditions. They were given a hands-on lesson in prolonged patient care in an inhospitable environment; a reminder that after the adrenaline drops off and the excitement tapers, rescuers must continue to care for their patients as well as for themselves.