Mountain Rescue Doctor: Wilderness Medicine in the Extremes of Nature

by Christopher Van Tilburg and Van Tilburg Christopher

Book Overview

A memoir from a doctor who rescues hikers, bikers, rafters, and skiers from the wilderness, as part of the Hood River Crag Rats, the oldest mountain rescue team in the country.

Christopher Van Tilburg, MD is an emergency room physician, ski patrol doctor, emergency wilderness physician, and member of the Hood River Crag Rats, the oldest mountain rescue team in the country. When Dr. Van Tilburg's beeper goes off, the call may take...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312358881
• ISBN13: 9780312358884
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Heart pounding page-turner

As an EMS volunteer, I've participated in a few rescues myself, but none as difficult or dangerous as described in this book. Van Tilberg's stories make for compulsive reading. He does an excellent job of explaining the difficult thought processes behind the amazing number and variety of life-and-death decisions that rescuers must make on every mission. This is a worthwhile and exciting read.

An excellent book

Wilderness medicine is the art and science of practicing medicine in unpredictable and sometimes extremely harsh environments, as found in the mountains at high altitude, at sea during expeditions to remote reefs or under the harsh sun of an equatorial desert. It is not for the faint of heart and requires a willingness to endure isolation, limited resources and physical and emotional hardship. Most tales of search, rescue and wilderness medicine begin with an account of how the victims got into trouble. Sometimes they venture into inclement weather without having thought about how to prepare a shelter or what to do if they become injured or lost. Sometimes it's just plain bad luck, as the forces of nature conspire to produce an unanticipated storm or avalanche. Christopher Van Tilburg, M.D. offers a collection of tales about mountain rescue in Oregon, where he is a member of the Hood River Crag Rats, reputed to be the oldest mountain rescue team in the United States. As an emergency physician and an expert in many aspects of wilderness medicine, he is well qualified to be part of such a team; as a skilled writer, he engages, informs and entertains the reader. Van Tilburg's stories are highly personal, each describing the setting and events of an actual rescue. In river parlance, that is the main run - but as anyone knows who has floated the Colorado River within the Grand Canyon, there is much to be learned from the side hikes. Brief literary forays are scattered throughout Mountain Rescue Doctor as Van Tilburg shares his thoughts on what it means to be a physician, how he became an aficionado of wilderness medicine and how he depersonalizes rescue situations. He discusses topics such as injury prevention, rescuer and physician liability, and the risks, rewards, appropriateness and ethics of rescues. One of the questions I am most frequently asked by medical students and residents-in-training is how they can work wilderness medicine into their future as busy clinicians. Now I can suggest this book as an example of how one doctor answered his calling. Mountain Rescue Doctor is a useful addition to the literature of wilderness medicine because it sheds light on one doctor's motivation in devoting a large part of his professional life to this dynamic and essential specialty.

Terrific

I got this book from the library and it was so good that I just had to buy it for my son (who is a climber) and my grandson who is in pre-med.

Outstanding

Life-threatening situations don't always result from poor planning or risky behavior; sometimes a single misstep on a muddy trail can result in a fall that leaves a hiker stranded on a rocky ledge, close to death. Whether injured or lost, people's lives depend on the courage and commitment of search and rescue organizations like the Crag Rats, a volunteer SAR group living near Mt. Hood, Oregon. Dr. Van Tilburg's book is an account of rescues the group has made. Gripping, fascinating, and always well-written, the book has only one flaw: it comes to an end far too soon. I'd love to read more about the Crag Rats and wilderness medicine. Five stars.

Riveting and Real

Van Tilburg's account of rescues on Mt. Hood will hook you early and keep you up late. His account of the heroism and humanism of the Crag Rats is unforgettable. You got to thank men and women like him for the courageous work they do. Kudos to Van Tilburg for bringing us their -- and his -- stories.