Medical student earns Outdoor Education Certification in Alaska
Medical student earns Outdoor Education Certification in Alaska Heading link
This past summer, second-year medical student April Oertle, undertook a rigorous 30-day program with the National Outdoor Leadership School to earn an Outdoor Educator certification in the Alaskan backcountry. Oertle taught a wilderness medicine segment regarding how to perform an acute abdominal physical exam after a trek to a tarn, which is a mountain lake that forms in glaciated areas.
Throughout the program, Oertle paddled 95 nautical miles on a sea kayak to explore remote glaciers and bushwhacked 65 miles with 10,500 vertical feet for the backpacking section in which the backpacks weighed 78-82 lbs. With a persistent smile, she endured nine days of rain without a rain jacket; all her clothes and sleeping bag were soaked at one point. Students had to practice strict and thorough preparation and organization of gear and route planning, because their lives depended on it, especially during independent student travel. Additionally, instructors flipped the sea kayaks and students dealt with being upside down and submerged in frigid ocean water.
The short version of 30 days in the backcountry is, “We entrusted each other with our lives, persevered at difficult things, and learned to do without,” says Oertle.
When asked what the big takeaway of her program was, she stated, “On NOLS courses you learn to live without seemingly critical things like deodorant, a fork, full meals, dry clothes, a shower, a toilet, and a cell phone. We also discussed during our course how eventually, for us all, it is a person that we must do without, and then it is especially vital to remember that having to do without does not eliminate joy.”
This course fueled her passion to one day serve as an expedition doctor for Everest Base Camp and in Antarctica.
Oertle is involved in the Emergency Medicine Interest Group. Learn more about this group and others at the Student Organization Fair on Monday, August 28 in the west parking lot near Student Health and Wellness.