Dispatches from the Top of the World

Jessie Gehner, MD, FAWM

Dr. Jessie Gehner, Assistant Fellowship Director, sent us a quick live update from Nepal on April 14, just as she and her team were returning from Everest Base Camp ER and other high-altitude clinics as part of the yearly expedition by Virginia Tech Carilion Wilderness Medicine Fellowship and Blue Ridge Adventure Medicine.

“This year, our team was fortunate enough to partner with the Virginia Tech Carilion Ultrasound Fellowship-with their generosity, we were able to donate a Butterfly Ultrasound to the ‘Highest ER in the World’. These amazing volunteer doctors work in such a harsh and resource-limited environment, and our hope is to increase their diagnostic capabilities. In addition to visiting and learning from the staff physicians at these high-altitude clinics, we were also able to teach Wilderness First Aid (WFA) skills to medical students at Tribhuvan Institute of Medicine as well as the Nepalese medics that staff clinics throughout the Khumbu.”

Teaching wilderness first aid skills to students at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital.

Demonstrating a hypothermia wrap to Sherpa Medics outside Khunde Hospital.

The team arrives at Everest Base Camp, elevation 5364m (17,598 ft).

Inside the world’s highest Emergency Department, Everest ER.

(Photos courtesy of Dr. Jessie Gehner and Dr. Sean Whitty, used with permission)