Last week I joined the Cloquet Fire Department and Skip Hofstrand MD Ph.d for medical training. Hofstrand and the Cloquet Fire Department has worked with Will Steger and on polar expeditions for almost 20 years. The remote nature of Ellesmere Island means that an evacuation can be very difficult. My training was therefore constructed to meet these challenges. During the week I learned how to give injections start IV's and we modeled a number of medical scenarios that could happen in the Canadian High Arctic.
In addition, I joined the paramedics on ambulance runs to experience real medical emergencies and traumas. We are now, as an expedition team, very well prepared to deal with any eventualities. Our medical kit was updated by Dr. Skip who will be the expedition doctor. During the expedition Skip will be available at all times to assist us on satellite phone.
We do, of course, hope that we will not have to use our medical kit or Skip's expertise. However, we have to prepare for all eventualities.
The paramedics and fire fighters at Cloquet were great and I had a great time with them. I am now back in Minneapolis to do further preparatory work on the expedition and to assist in the many initiatives undertaken by the Will Steger Foundation. If you are in the Minneapolis /St. Paul region please come join Will Steger at tomorrow's Focus the Nation event. Please see www.globalwarming.101 for more information. I will leave for Baffin Island to meet up with Sarah and Eric to start expedition training towards the end of next week. Once I am at Baffin I will blog on our experiences during training.
