Introduction

I would like to welcome everyone to our Wilderness Medicine Meeting for 2004, Man and Nature: The Global Environment/Human Interface.

For this years topics we have chosen speakers who will talk on a variety of topics which although dissimilar tie into the effects of the Environment in causing human diseases. Many of our speakers are not physicians but related occupations that we hope will give a different perspective to aspects of Health.

Our meeting is for Health Care professions, but is open to the general public.

Last year we had representatives from Public Health, Aviation, the Canadian Air Force, Cancer Manitoba, Rural Manitoba, Police and academics attend and we hope to continue to have a mixed audience since one of our strong points was the discussion periods that followed our speakers. This year's topics are:

Mosquitoes an Overview : by, Dr. Terry Galloway, an Entomologist at the University of Manitoba.

Terry will focus on the behaviour and medical importance of many of the mosquitoes responsible for medically important diseases- Yellow Fever, Malaria, Japanese Encephalitis, Western Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus among others. His talk will focus on the life cycles and behaviours of these insects and what makes them so virulent to people. Last year his talk was very popular, but this year he will focus more on the mosquito and its biology.

Terry is a University of Manitoba Entomologist and has been studying ticks in Manitoba for 23 years. He assists with the ongoing Deer Tick Surveillance Program run by Manitoba Health and the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health.

Tropical Skin Infections : by, Dr. Richard Hayday, MD a Dermatologist.

Richard is an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba and practices Dermatology at the Winnipeg Clinic. He will talk on many common skin problems from tropical vacations. He will also continue his focus on the importance of skin cancer prevention in travelers, which was his main topic at last years talk.

Wilderness First Aid : by, Debra Smith BA, BSc, NREMT-P.

Deborah is a paramedic and will give an overview of simple first aid skills that can be easily learnt by laypeople that can give immediate first aid when resources are low and help is remote. Deborah also has an interest in activism and continues to be involved in numerous Human Rights causes.

Animal Acquired Diseases : by, Dr. Scott Clifford, a Veterinarian.

Scott will talk from his perspective about common zoonoses such as rabies, mad cow disease, influenza and SARS. He will talk about how the transfer of a disease in an animal occurs into humans as well as what people can do to avoid acquiring new emerging infections. This is a very broad topic and Scott will focus his talk on the ways in which animal diseases jump from animals to people. This is a crucial understanding not just for past and present outbreaks, but also for preventing future problems.

Dentistry in the Developing World : by, Dr. Elsa Hui-Derksen, a Dentist.

Dr. Hui-Derksen is a dentist practicing in Winnipeg with the Cholakis Dental Group. She is also a part-time instructor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Dentistry.

This winter, Dr. Hui-Derksen traveled to the country of Belize located in Central America with Kindness-in-Action, an organization that provides volunteer dentistry in third world countries.

In her spare time, Dr. Hui-Derksen is an avid marathon runner.

Elsa will talk about her recent overseas work in Belize.

In addition to discussing managing Dental conditions in under serviced areas, she will also suggest Dental Health for travelers who may require management of problems in remote areas.

Wilderness Travel and the Search for Ethical Purity : by, Professor Arthur Schafer.

Prof. Schafer is a Philosophy Professor and the Director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics, at the University of Manitoba and known for numerous publications and work with medical ethics. His talk will examine many of the interesting dilemmas confronting travelers to developing nations-the positive and negative effects of Tourism, Developmental aid, and Distribution of wealth to poorer classes, many of which have no simple answer. His talk will examine some of the more pressing issues and offer possible solutions and choices on how travelers may use their travelers may use their travels to ethically aid local peoples.

We have also invited certain groups from around Winnipeg to attend and hope that representatives from, Amnesty International , UNICEF and the Canadian Liver Foundation will attend.

We have also extended an open invitation to members of the Manitoban Restaurant Association for our last talk by myself on Hepatitis A Domestic Outbreaks, which will discuss the importance of Hepatitis A outbreaks in local restaurants, their impact on the community, and methods of preventing future outbreaks.

In addition to our speakers, we hope to have poster presentations by both Medical Students regarding their foreign electives and International Development students on their overseas projects.

We welcome any comments and ask for your active presentation in this years meeting. Please fill out our evaluation forms and we are interested in hearing what you would like to hear for follow up meetings. We are also planning a workshop in Wilderness Survival skills for the fall. Our website www.skylarkmedicalclinic.com , will continue to serve as a main forum for future announcements and updates of similar programs.

Sincerely,

Gary Podolsky, MD

Skylark Medical Clinic