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The Common Cold vs Flu

The cold and flu season is starting to rear its ugly head, and we cannot seem to get away from the coughing and sneezing. But why are we more prone to these infections during the colder months?

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

The Unpredictability Of Flash Floods

Flash floods result from relatively short, intense bursts of rainfall, often from severe thunderstorms. It can occur in almost all parts of the world and poses the greatest threat of loss of life due to flooding.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Clothing For The Outdoors

Clothing might seem like an afterthought when one is headed outdoors or planning for an adventure. Still, it’s the first and most important layer of protection between you and the elements.

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What To Do When Someone Is Drowning

Nearly 80% of people who die from drowning are male. Drugs and alcohol are involved in half of adolescent and adult deaths associated with water recreation. Trauma from water recreation is secondary to dives, falls, and horseplay. And failure to wear a personal floatation device (PFD), while boating, results in a staggering 88% of drowning deaths.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

How to do a Patient Assessement

The management of someone injured is probably the most important topic in all injuries, sports, and outdoor medicine. There are four effective survey techniques that are used in your initial assessment of a sick or injured person.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Altitude Illness

You can get altitude sickness if you travel to a high altitude too quickly. Breathing becomes difficult because you're not able to take in as much oxygen. Altitude sickness, also called acute mountain sickness (AMS), can become a medical emergency if ignored.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

How To Survive an Avalanche

This article outlines life-saving concepts related to avalanches but does not cover all aspects of avalanche safety. To be truly safe from an avalanche, a person needs to take an avalanche safety course. Understanding avalanches is one of the more critical topics in wilderness medicine, if not for any other reason than that injury and death rates are rising.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Burn Wounds and The Rule of 9

The rule of nines is a method doctors and emergency medical providers use to easily calculate the treatment needs of a person who’s been burned.

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Honey for Wound Healing

Honey has been used as a wound dressing for thousands of years, but only in more recent times has a scientific explanation become available for its effectiveness.

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What is an IFAK and why do you need one

IFAK usually means “Individual First Aid Kit”, or “Improved First Aid Kit”. It is designed to address immediate life threats such as massive haemorrhage (bleeding out), airway and breathing issues, hypothermia etc.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

How To Stop a Bleed

Uncontrolled bleeding is the number one cause of preventable death from trauma. No matter how rapid the arrival of professional emergency responders, bystanders will always be first on the scene.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

A Beginner’s Guide To Outdoor First Aid

Many lovers of the great outdoors spend more time learning survival tips they're very unlikely to need than they do learning simple, essential first-aid practices. While these tips might not seem as glamorous, you'll be happy you know them when you're out amongst nature with no phone signal.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

Why You Should Take A Wilderness First Aid Course

What if you, a friend, or a family member, get sick or injured in the wilderness and you don't have easy access to medical care? Here are a few reasons why wilderness first aid training is the perfect next step for your outdoor adventures.

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Philip Swart Philip Swart

3 First Aid Skills Everyone Should Know

First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or promote recovery.

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Kilimanjaro Gear List

Looking for a Kilimanjaro packing list? Look no further.

Trekking Kilimanjaro can be daunting, and it is important that you have the correct gear to accommodate every condition and situation you may find yourself in.

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5 Stress Free Travel Tips

Travel is a wonderfully weird activity – it can bring you great amounts of joy, whilst simultaneously making your stress levels soar as you fight your way through crowds and adapt to a new environment.

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Training To Climb Kilimanjaro

How To Be Perfectly Prepared For The Summit? Training to climb Kilimanjaro is as much about your physical endurance as it is about your mental stamina.

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Malaria

Malaria is a parasitic infection of red blood cells. It is acquired via the bite of female Anopheles mosquitoes.

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