Bay of Fires RescueMED Retreat
13 - 17 May, 2025 | $5,995
19 - 23 May, 2025 | $5,995
Over five days in Launceston and on the remote Bay of Fires coast of Tasmania, complete a Wilderness Rescue Medicine Course for advanced care medical practitioners in remote and austere settings. RescueMED's ACEM-accredited course “Wilderness Rescue Medicine” is specifically designed for medical professionals seeking to broaden their skill base and build confidence in providing cutting-edge medical care in remote and austere settings. This course has been developed right here in Australia for our local conditions and has a particular emphasis on the medical presentations likely to be encountered in the Australian environment.
'Wilderness Rescue Medicine is approved for 31.45 ACEM CPD hours’.
RescueMED
RescueMED was established by Kerryn Wratt in 2013 to provide specialist consultancy, training and response services in wilderness medicine. Kerryn has an extensive background in the provision of medical services in remote and austere environments in a diverse range of roles. This includes 20+ years of experience as a frontline paramedic having worked in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea as well as substantial periods in Victoria and Tasmania in Australia.
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In 2012 Kerryn received a scholarship from the Emergency Services Foundation to explore emergency response systems that deploy medical personnel into remote and wilderness environments throughout North America. Kerryn’s subsequent report helped inform the establishment of Ambulance Victoria’s statewide paramedic wilderness response system. In 2018 and 2019 Kerryn delivered Basic Wilderness Life Support courses on the Annapurna Base camp trek in Nepal and in 2020 he volunteered with the Himalayan Rescue Association at a high altitude medical clinic in Pheriche. Kerryn is a current member of Alpine Search and Rescue Victoria and has specialist training in tracking and search methods as well as being an AUSMAT (Australian Medical Assistance Team) member available for deployment to large-scale medical incidents internationally.
In 2020 Kerryn completed his Fellowship of Wilderness Medicine in association with the Wilderness Medicine Society in the USA. In 2021 the WMS awarded Kerryn the Warren D Bowman award for services to Wilderness Medicine, the first time this had been awarded outside of the USA. Recently Kerryn has helped develop and deliver Ambulance Tasmania's paramedic wilderness response alpine training programme. Kerryn is currently based in Burnie, Tasmania where he works as a Clinical Support Officer and Wilderness Response Paramedic and serves as founding President of the Australasian Wilderness and Expedition Medicine Society (AWEMS).
Bay of Fires RescueMED Retreat (5-days)
The course will provide a contemporary overview of medical care in the wilderness and will be facilitated by internationally recognised experts in wilderness medicine. We will introduce the essential components of medical care in remote and austere settings and develop individual practitioners through group discussions, workshops and increasingly challenging scenario-based simulation. This will all be occurring in the tremendously beautiful and luxurious setting of the Bay of Fires Lodge.
This is a rare opportunity to bathe in the beauty of this remote coastal environment whilst pushing yourself to develop your clinical practice in a wilderness setting.
- Accreditation
"Wilderness Rescue Medicine is an Australian College for Emergency Medicine accredited 31.75-hour course. This course can be utilised by paramedics and nurses for CPD as far as it is relevant to the individual practice setting."
“This course has been approved for Fellowship in the Academy of Wilderness Medicine (FAWM) credits through the Wilderness Medical Society. Actual credits awarded depend on personal credit needs and history.” See the FAWM course approval here.
- Testimonials
The hike, guides, and food were fantastic. The accommodation was spectacular. - Treena Q., (June 2023).
Highlights - location, swimming in the icy waves. great integration with the rescuemed course location, swimming in the icy waves. great integration with the rescuemed course. - Emma W., (June 2023).
Well organised with incredibly knowledgable, personable and hard-working guides. Fantastic accommodation and set up at the Bay of Fires. The team with RescueMED were also very knowledgeable and catered the course to the group - I would highly recommend them. Luke D., (June 2023).
Day One: Workshop Day at Red Feather Inn
Day one is devoted to units that require the use of audiovisual aids and connection to the internet. Morning tea, lunch and dinner are included.
- Workshop elements
- 9:00 am - For those staying in Launceston CBD, we offer a complimentary shuttle service from Chalmers Church (5A Frederick St, Launceston)
- 9:45 am Meet at Red Feather Inn and store luggage.
- 10:00 am Introduction and Welcome to Course.
- 10:30 am Safety Considerations.
- 11:30 am DRSMARCH Overview.
- 12.30 pm Lunch.
- 1:30 pm Haemorrhage Control Workshop.
- 2:30 pm Airway Workshop.
- 3:00 pm Spinal Cord Protection.
- 3:30 pm Afternoon Tea.
- 4:00 pm Hypothermia.
- 5:00 pm Scenario 1 — Putting it all Together.
- 6:00 pm Dinner.
- 7.30 pm Review of the day and briefing for tomorrow.
Day Two: Launceston to the Bay of Fires Lodge
Approximately 4 hours of walking
After our morning journey from Launceston, we arrive at the Bay of Fires, to be greeted by the azure blue waters, white sandy beaches and iconic orange lichen-covered granite boulders.
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Our lunch spot today is nestled in the dunes near Eddystone Point Lighthouse. We’ll have time to explore the lighthouse and its long-standing story before it's time to get our walking boots sandy as we trek far-stretching beaches that lead to the celebrated Bay of Fires Lodge.
Afternoon tea will be waiting. Come evening, venture into the library or have your hosts deliver a cold drop while you dip toes into a foot spa on the back deck. Dinner is a Tasmanian long-table affair, featuring produce from the island matched with fine local beer and wine. - Workshop elements
- 6.15 Guides arrive
- 7:00am Guests meet in walkers base, briefing, gear set up etc.
- 8am Depart Red Feather Inn.
- 11.45 Arrive at Eddystone to commence walking.
- 3-4ish: Scenario 2 out on track, on the beach below the lodge
- 5: Arrive at the Bay of Fires Lodge
- 6:30 Drinks and Welcome and dinner
Day Three: RescueMED Retreat
Following a relaxed breakfast, our workshop takes place in the stunning Bay of Fires Lodge with scenarios at nearby locations. Dinner is a Tasmanian long-table affair, featuring produce from the island matched with fine local beer and wine.
- Workshop elements
- 7:15 am Breakfast.
- 8:30 am Leadership in Medical Response.
- 9:30 am Communications in the Wilderness.
- 10:30 am Water Purification.
- 11:30 am Navigation Theory in the Wilderness.
- 12:30 pm Lunch.
- 1:30 pm Patient Packaging for Movement.
- 2:30 pm Shelters.
- 3.30 pm Scenario 3.
- 6.00 pm Dinner.
- 7:30 pm Late: Extended Nighttime Scenario 4.
Day Four: RescueMED Retreat
Following a relaxed breakfast, a second workshop day unfolds at the stunning Bay of Fires Lodge with scenarios at nearby locations.
- Workshop elements
- 7:15-9:30 am Breakfast (goes late due to our late night).
- 9:30 am Debrief Night Scenario.
- 10:30 am Bites and Stings in Australasia.
- 11:30 am Wound Management.
- 12:30 pm Lunch.
- 1:30 pm Fracture Management.
- 2:30 pm Heat Illness.
- 3.30 pm Scenario 5.
- 6:00 pm Dinner.
- 7:30-9:30 pm Debrief/Feedback. Cover off specific questions or gaps.
Day Five: Return to Launceston rejuvenated
Approximately one hour walking
Following a leisurely breakfast at the lodge, there’s time for independent exploration before we depart the lodge. Unlike our other walking, today we venture through eucalypt forests and coastal heathland. We’ll enjoy a forest lunch to the sound of native birds, including the endemic green rosella.
We travel on to Launceston where you have the option of leaving us from Red Feather Inn around 5:45 pm. We drop off at Launceston Airport at 6pm followed by Launceston CBD at 6:15 pm. If you are staying at Quamby Homestead we will organise a transfer for you.
Upon our return to Red Feather Inne there will be time to raise a glass to your acheivements.
The Bay of Fires Lodge
Set on a hilltop, 40 metres above the pounding of the sea and surrounded by National Park, the Bay of Fires Lodge is the only building on 20km of outstanding coastal wilderness.
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Enjoying views up and down the pristine white sandy beaches in an area of great significance to the Aboriginal community, a truly ecologically aware building has been gently let into the landscape. Two long timber and glass pavilions allow maximum connection to the landscape with minimum impact on the environment: all building materials - Tasmanian hardwood and plantation pine - were lifted in by helicopter or hand carried to the site.
The lodge is autonomous in providing and managing its existence. Here you will experience true communion with nature in an accommodation that combines simplicity of design with comfort and warmth. In the magnificent living area with its large timber deck and open fire, you'll enjoy delicious meals prepared with the freshest local produce, accompanied by fine Tasmanian wines. Solar power provides the lighting, while hot showers and comfortable hotel beds add a touch of luxury at the end of each day's activities.
There is a small library which is comfortable and cosy looking out over the ocean. This is a great place to sit back and relax or look through our selection of books and magazines.
Itinerary Details
Bay of Fires 'RescueMED' Retreat (5-days)
Price - $5,995
- Each trip requires a minimum of 8 guests (Single Share). The maximum is 9.
- Minimum numbers must be confirmed 4 months prior to departure.
Bookings
- Phone: (03) 6392 2211.
- Email: enquiries@taswalkingco.com.au
- or complete the below enquiry form.
- TWC Return Walker discounts do apply.
Special Interest Walks - Terms and Conditions
Our standard booking terms and conditions apply to all bookings. In addition:
- Cancellations
- more than 90 days from the scheduled departure date, a fee of $350 per person will be charged with the balance payment refunded;
- within 90 days of departure, no refund is available. Bookings are transferable.
- Minimum numbers are required four months before departure.
- This walk cannot be booked in conjunction with any other offers and discounts.
Inclusions
- Return transfers between Red Feather Inn and the walk.
- Red Feather Inn Workshop Day
- Heritage or cottage room.
- Meeting space, tea, coffee, lunch, dinner and breakfast.
- 3 nights at Bay of Fires Lodge twin share.
- All meals and non-alcoholic beverages, plus a limited selection of Tasmanian wines.
- Use of a backpack and Gore-tex jacket for the duration of the walk.
- Two qualified guides for the duration of the walk.
- Two RescueMED instructors.
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