David McEvoy

Aerie is a Montana-owned and operated business, based in Missoula, Montana. We teach wilderness medicine courses throughout the US, Mexico, Central America, India, and Africa. Our courses, from 16-hour Wilderness First Aid through full Semesters in Wilderness Medicine, are taught to approximately 2,000 students each year. We offer courses with the understanding that our students need to know how to prevent and manage injuries and illnesses that occur hours to days away from outside help. In the end, our courses are not primarily about making splints out of ensolite pads or discerning high altitude pulmonary edema from cerebral edema. Our courses are instead about the critical decisions that our students will need to make with the information they gather. Our courses provide a framework to collect and interpret that information that lends itself to good decision-making. We hope that most of those decisions lead to a medical non-event or something that is easily manageable in the field. Critically injured patients don't need responders with a false sense of ability; instead, they need people who are able to recognize the gravity of the problem, keep themselves and others from becoming injured, calmly stabilize injuries and environments, and then manage complex evacuations. That is a lot to ask of anyone. Training for these events is a great way to put personal abilities and risks into perspective. It's challenging, but because we all like being outside, it's very pertinent and enjoyable.