It is your summer vacation. You are enjoying a hike through the wooded wilds of northern Michigan with a group of friends. Suddenly, a member of your party takes a wrong step off the trail and awkwardly tumbles down a brush-covered slope. As you climb down carefully to his aid, it quickly becomes obvious that a bone is broken in your friend’s leg. He needs immediate medical attention and you are miles from the nearest road, let alone the nearest emergency room.

In times of such a crisis, people in need look to those with even the most basic medical training -- regardless of whether they are a first-year medical student or a seasoned clinician. This fact, along with an inherent love for the outdoors, is what drew Trevor Nydam to the Wilderness Medicine Student Interest Group, Wayne State University’s chapter of the Wilderness Medical Society.

“In any situation, the responsibility of keeping a level head and knowing what to do will fall on you,” said Nydam, a second-year medical student and the chapter’s president. “If nothing else, it’s important to know how to get a person safely out of a tough spot and to a place where they can receive proper care.”

A Denver native who began backpacking in the Rocky Mountains at age 3, Nydam has found Detroit somewhat lacking in accessible outlets for his outdoor interests. He has not, however, had any trouble applying the principals of the society to the School of Medicine’s urban mission.

“Although a natural setting is kind of implied in the name, the concepts of wilderness medicine really focus on being able to care for a sick or injured person in the absence of a hospital or other technology,” he said. “When you think about it, you can have those circumstances anywhere.”

The chapter’s faculty advisor, Robert Welch, MD, a WSU emergency physician at Detroit Receiving Hospital and novice mountaineer, agrees with that assessment. Dr. Welch’s clinical experience has shown him that there are many common concerns, such as hypothermia and other environmental health disorders, that can be just as prevalent in the urban setting as they are in the most rugged natural landscape.

The scope of wilderness medicine can include: health risks from plants, animals and specific environments; search and rescue protocol; and infectious diseases from wilderness and foreign travel.

Established in 1999 by students Anthony Lagina, Geoff Crockett, Natasha Robinette and Cori Negri, the WSU chapter arose from the culmination of its founders’ interests in mountaineering, climbing, backpacking and a great enthusiasm for the outdoors, combined with a love of medicine and the desire to combine avocational passions with professional interests.

While those involved in the organization share obvious common interests, Wilderness Medical Society Executive Director Dave Vanderweghe is quick to point out that one need not establish their practice on a mountaintop to benefit from membership.

“Very few people have the ability or desire to spend their entire life in the wilderness,” Vandeweghe said. “What we hope happens is that, when you do come back down to earth, you take some of what you got out of your wilderness experience back to your daily life.”

Along with its student initiatives, the Wilderness Medical Society offers a number of continuing medical education opportunities for clinicians, hosts an annual conference and provides limited funding for wilderness medicine research efforts. More information on these activities can be found on the organization’s website, www.wms.org, or by calling (719) 572-9255. For more information on WSU’s Wilderness Medicine Student Interest Group, email Trevor Nydam at tNydam@med.wayne.edu.