Rescue training bid at a peak

Jan 21 2008 by Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

RECORD numbers of medical students have applied for the chance to train with Snowdon’s mountain rescue team.

Two trainee medics have been selected to gain first-hand experience of search and rescue medicine as part of the mountain medicine special clinical project.

Run three times a year, the eight-week course is now the most sought-after final project offered to Cardiff University medics.

The project was first set up in 2005 by the emergency department at Ysbyty Gwynedd and the North Wales Clinical School in conjunction with the RAF Search and Rescue 22 Squadron, and local mountain rescue teams.

Dr Linda Dykes, the main supervisor for the project at Ysbyty Gwynedd, said, “Medical students are required to go on clinical placements in their fourth and fifth years to gain practical experience before they are fully qualified as doctors.

“During this time, they have one eight-week slot to undertake a project of their choice. The Mountain Medicine project offers them the excitement and variety of emergency medicine coupled with the chance to go flying and see at first hand the RAF’s search and rescue work.

“We’re delighted to be able to offer this innovative project, and to give students the unique opportunity to benefit from the Snowdonia surroundings and to practise their skills in an outdoor setting.

“What’s even better is that students, having gained this unrivalled experience, are choosing to stay on in North Wales to live and work and – in some cases – even finding love in the area.”

So many students applied for the placement that the North Wales Clinical School had to ask for formal applications and draw suitable applicants from a hat.

Second-year students have also been in touch wanting to know what they should do to have a chance of getting on the mountain medicine project in their final year.

Charlotte Fairweather, 25, a junior doctor at Ysbyty Gwynedd, was on the project last year. She said, “It really appealed to me since I’m such a great lover of the outdoors and adore the North Wales scenery, plus I was keen to get some experience of emergency medicine.

“We had so many great opportunities during the project, we even got the chance to go flying with the RAF search and rescue team based at Valley, which was fantastic.”