Medicine International (MI) has had a near annual presence on the Juneau Icefield since 1986. The
responsibilities of Icefield physicians include: preparation of expeditionary groups for austere and harsh environments, field medicine training, and providing full range of medical care to over 50 students and faculty while they conduct vital research.
Dr. Walter Carr began the tradition of Medicine International's involvement in the mid-1980s passing the torch to Dr. Herb Sigmomd and then Dr. Mark Stinson. Most recently Dr. Christopher Ho spent an entire season on the icefield in year 2001. Dr.Stinson has been responsible for continuity as the medical officer responsible for teaching wilderness medicine and survival skills to the participants. Students are taught basic concepts of hypothermia, high altitude medicine, wound care, recognition and treatment of shock, splinting, and medical skill necessary to assess, stabilize, transport, and care for injured or ill persons for prolonged periods of time. The program teaches the skills necessary to mount an expedition or research project.
The Juneau Icefield Research Project [JIRP] has been in existence since shortly after World War
II when it was founded by Dr. Maynard Miller. Since then he has trained thousands of young researchers and provided in invaluable scientific data on subjects including: global warming, long-term weather forecasting, geology, botany, glaciology, etc.
Frequent near white out conditions, constant threat of injury from falls into crevasses, extremes of weather including wind gusts of over 100 miles of our make this potentially an extremely austere and hazardous environment. Physician backup to research team is essential. These same conditions make practicing medicine particularly challenging and exciting.
"Only those who will risk going to far can possibly find out how far one can go."
T.S. Eliot