7/6-7/7 Hello, 
My name is Jordan Copeland and I am from Montrose, Colo. I was supposed to study Neuroscience and Addiction in La Jolla at the University of California San Diego, but that has since been postponed. However, thanks to the Pinhead Institute, was fortunately able to participate in a Wilderness First Responder program. The Wilderness First Responder program is a five-day course where you learn how to be prepared for unexpected medical emergencies in the wilderness. Because I live in Montrose, I was graciously accommodated at the beautiful Camel’s Garden Hotel in Telluride with the girl who would have been my fellow intern at UCSD. On Monday I drove from Montrose to Telluride for the class which right off the bat was awesome. We started with the basics of the body, some anatomy and physiology. We discussed blood pressure and the heart along with heart rate and respiratory rate. We specifically went over the three most important systems: Cardiovascular, Pulmonary/Circulatory, and Neurological. We started going over the assessments head-to-toe, focused spine assessment, etc. It was a great day to kick off the week we were about to have. Then me and Kenya (the other UCSD intern) went to the hotel and had dinner next door. It was a great couple of days.
7/8 Hello,
My normal day starts off with me getting some breakfast at the hotel and then leaving about 20 minutes before the class so I could take what was a beautiful scenic walk to class on a trail that runs along the river. On Wednesday we had lots of fun. At one point we did an activity where we had to improvise a litter which is what one uses when they are trying to evacuate someone. We also learned some classic things you can use to build one. I volunteered for one where you use a mat and some rope. I can say from experience it was very comfortable and practical. We also participated in scenarios both as actors or EMS personnel. It was kinda like speed dating but medical, which I think was more fun.
Another cool aspect of the class is that we saw people of other professions. A physical therapist who shared his perspective of what he sees from people in the wilderness as well as teaching us how to re-set dislocations. I also was a volunteer for that and got my ankle taped. We learned first aid too, learning how to splint things and pack/irrigate wounds. Definitely one of the major things I loved about the course is how hands-on (with gloves masks of course) it was. Another awesome thing that happened on Wednesday was my mom came up to see me! We had pizza from Brown Dog which is great pizza – definitely recommend. All in all great so far; only two more days left and I already know I’m going to miss it and everyone I’ve got to meet.
7/9-7/10
Hello,
To finish off the week on Thursday we practiced CPR for infants, children, and adults, along with how to care for a patient who’s choking. We did some more scenarios – one of them was one big scenario with everyone from the class working together. We learned a lot from that exercise. For example, the most important thing next to safety is communication, which really go hand in hand. One of my friends came up to see me on Thursday so we took the gondola which was beautiful, especially since it was at sunset.
The final day we practiced CPR and taking someone’s blood pressure. We learned how to administer oxygen via tank, and how to intubate with oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal devices, which was all awesome. Lastly we learned how to administer epinephrine from a vial rather than an epinephrine pen like we had earlier. We got to visit with an ER doctor out of San Francisco, which was awesome as to be expected. I have been involved in EMS since I was a kid and I can say that I learned more about blood pressure cuffs in that class than I have anywhere else. I loved the last two days so much because of all the knowledge we had acquired through reading the book (which was a prerequisite) and during the previous three days when we got 
to work out of our books. To go off of our knowledge alone by applying it to real life scenarios was so cool.
The Wilderness First Responder course was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. I got to learn in a beautiful place with amazing peers and instructors. Even though I haven’t had the chance to attend the George Lab at UCSD yet, I look forward to expanding my knowledge and experience in EMS in the near future and to see what I can bring to the table from this experience when I do get to attend my original internship. I want to give a special thanks to The Pinhead Institute, Kevin Dunkak, Jeremy Womack, Bob Rohrer, Autumn Batten, and my fellow Pinterns/ classmates for the special week I had with you all.
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