EXTREME MEDICINE

Discover the incredible stories of the extreme-conditions medics swapping their prescription pads and stethoscopes for rafts and snake venom...

-  Parisa Hashempour

COSTA RICA'S JUNGLES might seem an unlikely spot for a group of medics to converge. But trekking through this dense stretch of Central American wilderness, that's exactly who you might encounter. Trading stethoscopes and lab-made pharmaceuticals for rafts and snake venom, these medics come together under the guidance of World Extreme Medicine, an organisation training paramedics, physiotherapists, nurses, and doctors to work in the world's most volatile and remote conditions.

Extreme medicine is a subdiscipline of medicine in which healthcare providers respond to crises in war zones, assist those left behind after humanity's most horrific disasters, and conduct medicine not just on land, but also deep beneath the sea and even in outer space. While all medics need to think on their feet, Mark Hannaford, the founder of World Extreme Medicine, explains that for extreme medics, that need is heightened. Medics might treat a patient in the blistering heat of a desert, on an ice-cold tundra, or stabilise a person at altitude or in the dark. Despite this, he says, "you don't need to run a marathon with a rucksack on every day to be an extreme medic." Physical fitness is not the challenge. "The challenge is adequately preparing yourself for the environment you are going into."