WEMSI INTERNATIONAL IRELAND

WILDERNESS EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES INSTITUTE

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Logo for WEMSI-International Ireland featuring a mountain, a red asterisk, and text in blue, brown, and green.

WHAT WE DO

WELCOME!

We are WEMSI-International, an educational organisation committed to improving standards in wilderness medical care.

We have wide expertise and work across the spectrum from medical aspects of technical Search and Rescue, to expedition ‘primary care’, from the First Responder to the the rescue paramedic or doctor. We work in all environments from the hottest desert to the coldest ice cap, from the highest mountains to the deepest cave.

The work of WEMSI-International is voluntary, but we are all professionals and most of us work both in the wilderness and in medical provision in a professional capacity. Our faculty are all practitioners as well as trainers.

We run a number of these courses a year whilst also providing programmes tailored to specific groups e.g. rescue teams, military units and expeditions.

One of our goals is to develop trainers and training faculties. We do this through long term relationships with organisations who are committed to developing in-house training solutions.

Four people standing closely together outdoors near a body of water, with mountains and parkland in the background during sunset.
Timeline infographic illustrating the history of wilderness emergency medicine in Ireland, including a tavern, mountains and tents representing key events from 1996 agreement, through Larch Hill first training site, Joe O'Gorman's pioneering efforts, to a 30-year anniversary celebrating three decades of wilderness medical education.

OUR HISTORY

In 1995 the Irish Mountain Rescue Association (now Mountain Rescue Ireland Ltd) approved sending their training officer to America to evaluate a Wilderness First Responder course in 1996.

 However, before that event, some Dublin/Wicklow Mountain rescue team members attended the Mountain Rescue Association of England and Wales annual conference in South Wales, where they met Dr Keith Conover. Keith was on the faculty of the Wilderness Emergency Medical Services Institute in the States and had been invited to Wales to present the programme on behalf of the US faculty. Of course, the Irish persuaded Keith to bring the course to Irish shores and the rest is history.

At the end of the presentation the prescription was written and now needed to be filled. That evening negotiations were facilitated at a local tavern, where all the best negotiations succeed and the deal was struck. IMRA agreed to sponsor the new course which was then run at Larch Hill Scouting Campsite in the Dublin Mountains

Five WEMSI faculty Members travelled from the US to run the program in Ireland. (September 1996) The course was to coincide with the joint IMRA/MRI Mountain Rescue Conference to be held in DCU where Keith Conover gave the keynote speech.

The progamme had been, from the very start, a not-for-profit educational course designed to teach best practice in wilderness emergency medicine. That key tradition has continued to this day. On a faculty of 20 mad-cap outdoor educators, all give their time for free.

The US team who came to Ireland to deliver the course were: Dr Keith Conover, Jack Grandy, Dr Sam Chewing, John Gorman, and Don Scelsa.

We had no real idea what we were letting ourselves in for but 30 years later, we are still here. This is all thanks to individuals and organisations too numerous to mention. And of course, the WEMSI Family (the engine room of WEMSI). 

The key people who helped make this happen were:

Dr Gerry Butler (R.I.P), DWMRT who always kept the momentum going over the years.

Donal MacNamara, Chairman of IMRA at the time who gave us his full support in running the initial courses.

Dave Rayne (Northeastern University Boston) DFB Campus who dual certified the courses at the time.

Ben Heron and the Irish Air Corps, who were able to support our major exercises in the early days.

Dr Jel Coward took the mantle of being the first European Medical Director for many years and ran the first course in Wales.

Eric Pirie (IFMGA) who took the course to Glenmore Lodge where it still runs today.

And of course, Joe O‘ ’Gorman, Advanced Paramedic and Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue team, who has been the father of WEMSI in Ireland. His vision and 30 years of commitment as well his superpower in gathering like-minded outdoor enthusiasts and medical professionals for the faculty, have ensured that the course has not only endured but evolved into a programme of excellence, delivering the highest standard of training to those who love and live and work and play in the outdoors.

And finally, just to mention, every day on a WEMSI course is a learning day and every day is a fun day.