Nurturers in Nature

New Student Club at UT Tyler Promotes Wilderness Medicine

Barnes and students on a retreatWould you be able to care for an injured person in the woods with limited resources? How about reading a map and compass to reach an extraction point, or purify stream water for safe consumption? UT Tyler students will be able to learn those skills, and much more, in a new student organization – the UT Tyler chapter of the Wilderness Medicine Society (WMS). 

Wilderness medicine is a branch of medicine that focuses on providing care in remote environments with limited resources, while promoting wilderness survival and the prevention of injury and illness. Additionally, wilderness medicine covers outdoor recreation events, global health, missionary missions, search and rescue teams, disasters and other remote locations, such as oil rigs or isolated towns. Meetings focus on various topics including but not limited to first aid, patient extrication, survival craft and prevention techniques.

The organization is led by faculty adviser and associate nursing professor Dr. Glenn Barnes, who specializes in epidemiology and wilderness medicine. Barnes, a former U.S. Army green beret and retired Navy nurse corps officer, established the club at UT Tyler shortly after joining the School of Nursing faculty in the fall 2020 semester.

“I have a strong affinity for remote care, and most of the time, you have to learn it as you go,” Barnes said. “One of my goals is to bring upcoming healthcare workers into these types of remote and austere environments with the skillset to succeed and excel.”

Among skills, student members learn how to: 

  • Provide basic patient assessment 
  • Create a shelter from natural debris
  • Build a fire using various techniques
  • Use natural material to make tourniquets, splints and litters
  • Navigate with a map and lensatic compass

“These skills enable students to provide shelter and warmth not only for themselves, but also for their patients, should they not be able to transport them immediately to a definitive care setting,” Barnes added. “They also learn some basic trapping and fishing to provide nutritional support, and how to disinfect ground water for safe drinking.”

The group has already provided community services and participated in its first major WMS retreat. Barnes hopes this organization can grow interest and lead to extended programming and courses highlighting global health, disaster care and wilderness medicine within the College of Nursing and Health Sciences

The student organization is open to all UT Tyler students, regardless of their major or home college. To join or for more information, contact student president Amanda Swanberg, aswanberg@patriots.uttyler.edu or Barnes, gbarnes@uttyler.edu. For additional information about the WMS, visit wms.org.

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Read more from the June 2021 issue!