Wilderness Medical Society
The UofL Wilderness Medicine Club is a student interest group of the national organization, the Wilderness Medical Society. The Club’s purpose is twofold: to provide learning opportunities regarding travel and wilderness medicine and to provide outdoor/wilderness activities for recreation and social activity. The Wilderness Medical Society exists to give you “the opportunity to combine your profession with your passion”.
We do everything from taking a large group of students every September to raft the Gauley River in West Virginia, to climbing at RockSport, going spelunking, camping in Red River Gorge, to providing interesting speakers and hands-on learning opportunities. Although you do not have to be an official member of the Club in order to join most of our activities, membership does provide several great benefits! One can be a student member of the national Wilderness Medical Society or be a member of the local Club only. Please see below for details …
A local membership (i.e. a membership just to the UofL Wilderness Medicine Club) costs $15 and buys you only the local benefits. Local Membership ($15) = a UofL Wilderness Medicine Club t-shirt; a 10 % discount on all purchases at Quest Outdoors; email notification of all of the events the Club sponsors (and any cool outdoor stuff we hear about); and preference and discount to any Club sponsored events that have limited space.
A national membership (i.e. a student membership to the Wilderness Medical Society) costs $50 and buys you both national and local benefits. To join please go to the National website. You receive the Wilderness Medical Society’s quarterly newsletter; the student member discount to the W.M.S. national meetings and events (generally held in outdoor meccas such as Jackson Hole, Whistler B.C., and Park City to name a few); the W.M.S. membership packet (which includes a book on wilderness medicine, info. on meetings, etc.); notification of WMS wilderness medicine electives and courses held annually
This is just the beginning for the Club! This year has been a lot of fun, we got sweet sweatshirts, went rafting and camped in the monsoon of '06, went spelunking and survived hypothermia, and we're not done yet! Look for some interesting lunchtime talks on wilderness medicine issues, a camping and climbing trip coming up, and of course the fall rafting trip is always in the works. Other things we've talked about adding include possibly a winter ski trip. So, get involved and give your leaders ideas for other things you'd like to see the local chapter do. And don't forget to check out these cool electives for 4th year, apply early and often!
Upcoming National and International Events:
The Wilderness Medical Society
Winter Specialty Meeting on Mountain Medicine: March 16-21, 2007
in Park City, Utah
Wilderness Medicine Conference and Annual Meeting: July 21-25, 2007
in Snowmass, Colorado
Mountain & Wilderness Medicine World Congress: October 3-7, 2007
in Aviemore, Scotland
Links:
Local Trip Pictures
National WMS
National Student Interest Groups
