Aerie Backcountry Medicine
Matt Baker-White currently serves as Executive Director at the Wild Rockies Field Institute, overseeing leadership for field-based academic programs and managing various organizational functions. Concurrently, Matt holds the position of Lead Instructor at Aerie Backcountry Medicine, where responsibilities include teaching Wilderness Medicine courses and mentoring new instructors. Previous experience includes an Independent Consultant role for The Wilderness Society, focusing on curriculum development and partnerships related to climate change. Matt has extensive leadership experience from Cottonwood Gulch Expeditions, progressively advancing from Group Leader to Program Director of Contract Courses, managing significant programming and budgets. In the education sector, Matt worked as an elementary school teacher at several institutions, implementing project-based learning and innovative curricula. Matt holds a Master of Education in Special Education from Northeastern University and a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Bates College.
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Aerie Backcountry Medicine
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.