Wilderness Medicine
Here in Chattanooga, we work hard and play hard.
With quick access to nature, Chattanooga is an outdoor enthusiast's playground. A short drive from downtown leads to numerous rivers, trails, cliffs, and caves that deliver a variety of adventure opportunities. You can hangglide off Lookout Mountain one day then raft Olympic-caliber whitewater rapids the next. If rock climbing is your passion, you will never run out of places to explore since the Chattanooga area is one of the country's best places for climbing and bouldering.
But injuries inevitably occur with such an abundance of outdoor activities, and many end up in our department.
This is why we developed a curriculum to help you increase your knowledge base in identifying and treating injuries associated with such experiences.
The skills you acquire outdoors can be beneficially applied in any resource-limited location. In addition to traditional wilderness medicine, the curriculum also covers topics in:
- Disaster Medicine
- Event Medicine
- EMS
- International Medicine
- Search and Rescue
For those interested in technical search and rescue, Chattanooga Hamilton County Rescue is a very active volunteer cave, cliff, and swift water rescue team.
Chattanooga hosts many events in the area where our Emergency Medicine residents and faculty provide medical support. These events range from full- and half-length marathons and ultramarathons, Ironman triathlons, rock climbing competitions, and music festivals. Ultimately, if you have an interest in pre-hospital medicine, our faculty will support your ambitions.
The wilderness and event medicine education is by EM Program Director Dr. Doug Gregorie. He first became interested in wilderness medicine during a Wilderness First Responder course in college. He continued his pursuit of this passion while in residency at Maine Medical Center and later during a fellowship in wilderness medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. He has traveled to Haiti on medical missions and spent several months treating patients in the Khumbu Valley of Nepal while working for the Himalayan Rescue Association.