Movie:

Bear Island

Where: Netflix

About: Three brothers follow their dreams, and journey to the remote island of Bjørnøya (Bear Island) in the Barents Sea. Travelling with surfboards, snowboards, and a paraglider, and supplied with food foraged from supermarket bins, they search for the perfect wave.

Why: The movie really embraces the outdoor spirit. It’s interesting to watch these three brothers conjure, plan and then pursue their dreams of spending two months on a remote island. How do you survive in, let alone surf through, the harsh conditions of the Arctic? With freezing temperatures, strong winds, and, of course, the ever present risk of an encounter with a polar bear? You can tell why it took them one and half years of preparation. One of the brothers says, ‘I am not brave. I like doing objectively dangerous things in a safe way.’

In the end it’s an easy to watch, feel-good movie, but it also addresses more serious subjects like plastic pollution and the importance of family.

Book:

Mountain Recue Doctor

About: Christopher Van Tilburg, M.D., is an American doctor with a varied work schedule. His career has taken him out of the Emergency Room to ski patrol, mountain rescue, cruise ships, and as an expedition medic on six continents. Dr. Van Tilburg’s work requires a unique combination of emergency medicine, survival skills, agility, and extreme sports. In ‘Mountain Rescue Doctor’, Van Tilburg shares personal stories of harrowing rescues and recoveries full of nail-biting suspense.

Why: The author describes some of their mountain rescue cases in great detail. In doing so, he makes clear just how complicated any extraction off the mountain can be. He explores how different factors influence a rescue, and how effective teamwork is of the utmost importance. In addition, he shares some personal insights to life, such as how his passion for wilderness medicine began. “As a young medical student, I didn’t bother to think, can I make a living at wilderness medicine? All I could focus on was that I was to begin the journey to specialising in wilderness medicine. I would forge a career that would take me far beyond medicine, and perhaps one day, merge my two lives.” This is probably something our readers can relate to.

Podcast:

The Wilderness Medic Podcast (S3E7) Medic SOS

Where: Spotify

About: Dr. Daniel Grace is joined by David Tamale-Sali to talk about the big taboo in medicine: quitting. He discusses the shame he felt after being kicked out of Medical School, and the road to recovery and acceptance. Later in life, he helped a Doctor in distress on social media, and this inspired him to put together a book with the help of hundreds of doctors, gathering words of wisdom, encouragement, and strategies for overcoming burnout.

Why: David talks about the pressure he felt from his family to study medicine. He explains this by telling a joke that runs in African families; ‘There are four jobs you are allowed to have: doctor, engineer, lawyer and a disgrace to the family.’ It is still difficult for doctors to openly, and privately, have second doubts about their medical career. Therefore we need to open up the conversation, and show young medical students and doctors that these aren’t blasphemous or even uncommon thoughts. It is vital that we destigmatise the subject and discuss it in the open, and David is making good steps towards that.

Watch this space to get your quarterly AM Team recommendations. We would also love to hear your suggestions!

Please send them to: rogier@theadventuremedic.com