UNC-Chapel Hill School of Medicine EMS Fellow Dr. Stephanie Trowbridge performs CPR while providing on-line medical direction for the resuscitation of a simulated drowning patient. Carilion Clinic Emergency Medicine Fellowship for PAs/NPs Fellow Amber Darnoc manages the airway while a paramedic prepares an IV.
Esse quam videri in Pisgah National Forest at the 2014 Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship Seminar-Summit weekend.
The Carolina Wilderness EMS Seminar was launched in 2014 to strong reviews, when it was delivered to every EMS Fellow in North Carolina save one. This innovative 8-hour course, nominated as one of the Journal of EMS “Top 10 EMS Innovations of 2014”, targets an audience of EMS Fellows and has three primary learning objectives:
1. Preparation for wilderness EMS portion of American Board of Emergency Medicine EMS board certification examination
2. Completion of wilderness EMS portion of ACGME EMS Fellowship requirements
3. Acquisition of wilderness EMS knowledge and skills using the Carolina Wilderness EMS Externship esse quam videri philosophy
This is the only wilderness medicine board preparation course of which we are aware specifically directed at EMS and Wilderness Medicine Fellows. In addition, the curriculum and format is appropriate for any healthcare provider interested in didactic (lecture-based) WEMS training or EM/EMS board preparation. The course is also intended to offer some of Hawk Ventures’ Externship training opportunities to a wider clinician audience.
All 8 hours of the Seminar are, by design, didactic and classroom-based. The Seminar is intended to dovetail with the Carolina Wilderness EMS Summit, a 16-hour course which is entirely hands-on and field-based in Pisgah National Forest. The two are always offered in a single weekend: in 2022, the Seminar will be offered September 16th and the Summit September 17-18th. Seminar students are encouraged to register simultaneously for the Summit, to get a more robust experience and for more extensive hands-on training in wilderness EMS.
COVID-19/ONLINE ADAPTATION: The entire Seminar will be available as a parallel on-line accessible course. This was trialed in 2020 and was successful. Students registering this way will be able to attend the course from their home institution using on-line access and obtain all the same training and credits as in-person students. Utilizing this option permits pandemic regulation-compliant attendance for students who cannot travel, or don’t feel comfortable doing so, in September. Our recommendation remains that students attend in-person, which has tangible and intangible benefits, but our 2020 experience showed that for some people remote attendance is a preferable option to not attending at all.
TUITION: Tuition is $700 and includes lunch (for those attending in person) and a copy of Wilderness EMS (Wolters Kluwer, 2018, retail value $127.99). We will be offering a non-doctorate/resident rate of $475, about 33% off the normal tuition. Please use this option only if you don’t have a doctorate degree or are a resident physician. Note that Fellows pay the doctorate rate.
FACULTY
Seth Collings Hawkins, MD, EMT, MFAWM, FAEMS
Dr. Hawkins is double-boarded in Emergency Medicine and EMS, and is the first physician ever awarded the title of Master Fellow by the Academy of Wilderness Medicine. He is the lead author of the wilderness EMS chapters in both the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP)’s EMS: Clinical Practice and Systems Oversight 3e (2021) and Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine 7e (2017), and is the editor of Wilderness EMS (2018). He is a past Chair of NAEMSP’s Wilderness EMS Committee, medical director of the NC State Parks system, and local emergency medical advisor (LEMA) for all national forests and wilderness areas in North Carolina and Florida. He is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University.
Benjamin N. Abo, DO, FAWM, Paramedic, EX11 (Pilot Extern)
Dr. Abo is an EMS/Emergency physician in South Florida with further expertise in toxinology. He has multiple active roles in EMS including core faculty for Sarasota EMS Fellowship, medical direction for venom response units, and medical director of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Urban Search and Rescue. He is the author of the envenomations chapter in Wilderness EMS, a faculty member of the Wilderness EMS Medical Director Course, the Medical Director for Sanibel and a Captiva Islands’ Fire Rescue, and is medical director for Shark Week and other TV shows the past few years including his own, Kings of Pain. He served as the 2011 Carolina Wilderness EMS Extern.
James Chimiak, MD
Dr. Chimiak is the Medical Director for the Diver’s Alert Network (DAN) and has been working with DAN since 1991. He assists divers worldwide and their local medical providers with timely, current medical information to expedite optimal care and evacuation when necessary. Triple boarded in Anesthesiology, Pain Management and Hyperbaric Medicine (Duke). Qualified US Navy Surface Warfare, Special Operations, Mixed Gas Salvage, Undersea/Diving Medical, Flight Surgeon and Saturation Diving Medical officers. He has worked as an ER/FP physician and led USMC surgical platoon (6 OR’s) “Devil Docs” during invasion of Iraq. He is the author of the dive medicine chapter in Wilderness EMS.
Stephen Powell, MD, FAEMS
Dr. Powell is an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and currently works as an emergency physician. He is subspecialized in EMS and a graduate of the Wake Forest EMS Fellowship Program. He now the co-director of the EMS Fellowship Program in addition to serving as medical director of Forsyth County EMS. In his spare time he works as a track physician providing response to drivers for NASCAR. He has experience in fixed wing international critical care transport and has lectured at numerous wilderness medicine conferences focusing on patient care in a limited resource environment. He received the Wake Forest emergency medicine resident teacher of the year award in 2019 and the medical student teaching award for 2019-2020.
Justin Doroshenko, DO, M.Ed., Paramedic, FAWM
Dr. Doroshenko is currently a resident emergency physician at UT Health San Antonio. He has been involved in outdoor leadership for over 20 years, holds a master’s degree in Outdoor Education from Georgia College & State University, and specializes in wilderness medicine and EMS curriculum/instructor development. He previously worked as a paramedic in both out-of-hospital and research environments.
Michelle Curry, MD
Dr. Curry is the national medical director for the US Forest Service. She has also served as EMS medical director in Avery County NC, site of many wilderness EMS operations, and is currently Chief Medical Officer for the SC-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) in the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS).
Christopher Peluso, DO
Dr. Peluso is residency trained in emergency medicine, internal medicine, and pediatrics, and has completed a wilderness medicine fellowship. He is currently national medical director for the National Association for Search & Rescue (NASAR) and local emergency medical advisor (LEMA) for all national forests and wilderness areas in North Carolina.
LOCATION
The Seminar will be held in the Foothills Higher Education Center, 2128 S. Sterling St, Morganton, North Carolina. It will also live-stream remotely for COVID-19 compatible/remote attendance.
ELIGIBILITY
While the target audience is EMS and Wilderness Medicine Fellows, this course would also be appropriate for any clinicians involved medical oversight of WEMS teams, as well as anyone interested in a clinician-level review of environmental and wilderness medicine. (For these purposes we follow the Wilderness EMS textbook definition of “clinician” as an APRN, PA, or physician). There are no prerequisites and anyone with any qualifications or interested is invited to register.
CONTINUING EDUCATION
Every registered student at the 2022 Carolina Wilderness EMS Seminar will earn a certificate of attendance.
The Academy of Wilderness Medicine has our 2022 program for both core and elective credits in the Fellowship in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM). These credits are awarded by the Academy and depend on personal credit needs and history. Precise FAWM credits to be awarded in 2022 have yet to be announced.
The Wilderness Medical Society designates this live activity for a maximum of 9.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Each physician should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS) and Hawk Ventures. The WMS is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
REGISTRATION
Tuition is $700 (reduced to $475 for non-doctorates or residents). You can register for the Seminar in one of two ways:
1) download and complete the 2022 CWEMS Seminar Registration Form and submit via US Mail with check or money order payment.
2) download and complete the 2022 CWEMS Seminar Registration Form and email to info@hawkventures.com and then submit payment via credit card through our Shop here —(use this link instead if registering as a non-doctorate or resident).
We also encourage you to simultaneously register for the Summit occurring on September 17-18 (click here to securely register for the Summit via our community college portal).
FACULTY DISCLOSURE
All faculty have signed a conflict of interest and disclosure statement. All faculty members are required to disclose any real or apparent conflict of interest related to the content of their presentation.
The faculty member listed below have indicated they have relevant financial relationships or potential conflicts of interest related to the material presented, and they also do not intend to discuss commercial products/services.
Benjamin Abo
BTG – Speaker Honorarium
All other faculty reported no relevant financial relationships to disclose.
