Bright, white sunlight pierces through the frosty sage-colored needles of tall blue spruce conifers reaching their tips toward the sky.

WMS Blog entry No. 1: The Rule of 3’s and other pearls from the annual Wilderness Medical Society Conference 2020

Over 800 participants from 25 countries joined the virtual conference this year which included Dr. Chris’ poster presentation on growth at altitude. Over the next several months we will extract the most relevant information to publish in our blog, starting with:

The Rule of 3’s

You can survive 3 minutes without oxygen

                              3 hours without shelter in a harsh environment

                              3 days without water

                              3 weeks without food

Dr. Christine Ebert-Santos presents her research on growth in children at high altitude, “Colorado Kids are Smaller.”

We will be sharing some of the science, experience and wisdom from these meetings addressing how to survive. For example, Dr. Peter Hackett of the Hypoxia Institute reviewed studies on how to acclimatize before travel or competition in a low oxygen environment.

Susanne Spano, an emergency room doctor and long distance backpacker discusses gear, how to build an emergency shelter in the wild, and when it is OK to drink from that refreshing mountain stream.

Michael Caudell presenting on plant toxicity.

Michael Caudill, MD shares what NOT to eat when you are stranded in the wilderness in his lecture on toxic plants.

Presentations included studies of blood pressure in people traveling from sea level to high altitude, drones delivering water to stranded hikers, an astronaut describing life and work at 400,000 m, what is the best hydration for ultra athletes, how ticks can cause meat allergy, and, as always, the many uses for duct tape.

Duct tape for survival.

We will also update you on the treatment of frostbite as well as a discussion about “Climate change and human health.”

Sign up for our regular blog updates so you can be updated on wilderness and mountain medicine!

One thought on “WMS Blog entry No. 1: The Rule of 3’s and other pearls from the annual Wilderness Medical Society Conference 2020”

  1. These sound like interesting topics … looking forward to reading & learning. Except, you don’t think this is going to give Dr. Chris more wild ideas on how to spend her free time?!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.