Wilderness EMS

neoclassicaljazz

neoclassicaljazz

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I was wondering if anybody has any information on any wilderness type EMS opportunities or courses.
 
Several groups offer WEMT classes. NOLS, SOLO and Remote Medical Int'l are some of the better known.

Most "wilderness" jobs are for guides and are seasonal. Look on indeed.com with WEMT as the keyword. There are few true wilderness EMT jobs. Many of those fun national park positions are covered by cross trained park rangers or sheriff's deputies.
 
Some of the seasonal jobs can pay enough to make it through the year and once you get into the field there become a lot of opportunities available as long as your able to move with them.
 
Oh, and there are a lot of different training opportunities. I went to SOLO and was beyond impressed with them. It was an epic trip. :) Before them I was a WMI advocate because my WFR instructors had gone there. But after my experience on the Conway campus I can wholeheartedly recommend them...and I'm picky about training.
 
Thanks for the information guys! I am definitely going to look into it. If I could do something EMS related in an outdoor setting I would be a happy camper. What kind of skills do you learn in these courses?
 
You'll find jobs like "group leader", "camp worker" and "seasonal recreation team member". As I mentioned, most wilderness rescue jobs are performed by cross trained law enforcement/rangers or volunteer SAR groups. If you're basing your job search on a WEMT cert, use that as a keyword in the job search engines. However, 99.5% of the job will have nothing to do with wilderness EMS. It's simply a cert that many groups would like "someone" on the team to have.
 
The National Park Service uses their seasonal Park Rangers as WEMTs. Go to usajobs.gov. Look through the LE section. NPS will also pay for the WEMT upgrade or Cert (whichever your circumstance) while you go to their NPS Law Enforcement training. Like the others said, it is primarily a collateral duty, second to your Law Enforcement responsibility.
 
There are also some highly rural EMS services that, while they are not only "wilderness" you will do your fair share of hike in rescues and some back country rescues, EMS calls on trailheads, along rivers, or remote campgrounds. Look for a service that covers an area with large national forest areas. National Forests do not have their own EMS, only national parks. So when someone calls 911 in a national forest area, the local EMS agency gets the call. As for California, where I am from, Sierra Ambulance in extremely rural Madera County, Liberty Ambulance in rural Kern County, and several others come to mind. . Those cover thousands of square miles of National Forest areas and Wilderness areas as well.
 
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