“Become a Spaceflight First Responder”

 

 

Spaceflight Advanced Medical Support Certifications

The Spaceflight Advanced Medical Support Certification Program is rooted in the certification by Wilderness Medical Associates International (WMAI), which carries the rigors of its 30-year history of wilderness medicine professionals. The WMA curriculum has been overseen and continually revised by a committee of medical practitioners and academics, and has been taught on all seven continents.
Sovaris Aerospace, in exclusive collaboration with WMA, has evolved these wilderness-based medical support certification programs and tailored them for the spaceflight environment in order to offer specialized Spaceflight Medical Support Certification Programs for commercial spaceflight participants.

Certifications include the following:

Spaceflight

First Aid

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Spaceflight First

Responder

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Spaceflight Advanced

Life Support

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Why we Need More Spaceflight First Responders

It has been well established that humans entering any extreme environment benefit substantially from redundancy in selected capabilities.  This is particularly true of redundancies in medical support capabilities.

The image sets below represent two hypothetical spaceflight scenarios.  The first is a spacecraft in flight, while the second is a surface habitat (Lunar, Mars) or space analog habitat (HERA, Mars Desert Research Station, Concordia Station Antarctica, etc.).  In each case, what is shown is a crew and passenger composition in which the members have varying degrees of training in spaceflight medical support.

The one image in each set represents a hypothetical spacecraft, crew, passenger, or habitat composition in which only a single member (red) is trained in spaceflight advanced life support.  While this may be adequate for many circumstances, it may be severely limiting for certain crises (especially if the lone advanced life support provider is the one who suffers the emergency).

In the other scenario, all members have some training in spaceflight medical support.  This proposed composition includes:

  • one trained in spaceflight advanced life support (red)
  • two trained as spaceflight first responders (blue)
  • three trained in spaceflight first aid (green)

We propose that this configuration affords redundancies in capabilities and creates a ‘team’ environment in which flight members are better prepared to work together to meet challenges.  It also assures that medical support team leaders have capable members on board who can carry out first aid or first responder instructions, including those from the ground-based medical directors.

An additional benefit to such training is that these skills are translational to use on Earth, creating a greater number of first responder-enabled people in our communities.  Moreover, training in spaceflight first responder skills also affords more people the ability to authentically become part of the spaceflight community, as the commercial spaceflight sector takes flight.

Curriculum

The curriculum devotes considerable time to practical sessions and realistic simulations that prepare students for the stress of actual emergency situations in the field. Emphasis is placed on good patient assessments and hands on practice. The program uses a systems-based approach to medicine, to identify a progression of problems within each system and to be able to make informed risk/benefit decisions for each problem. An understanding of risk assessment and prevention/early intervention is emphasized, as part of a decision-based assessment.  Each program contains a telemedicine component, which enables students to effectively communicate with medical leadership, based on the ground.

Faculty & Purpose

Our faculty and curriculum developers have widespread experience and have conducted training  in  extreme  environments, including  aviation,  spaceflight  (ISS),  battlefield medical response (SEAL teams, Special Forces), search  and  rescue (e.g. Himalayan search and rescue),  remote  space  analogues (Antarctica),   high   altitude   research,   oceanic research (NOAA), oceanic expeditionary (National  Geographic), jungle expeditionary (Geoversity), artificial  gravity  research (NASA),  HALO  parachuting  (high  altitude,  low opening), Naval Aerospace Medicine Operations, parabolic flight research, and others.

These Spaceflight  Medical  Support  Certification Programs are designed to:

  • Elevate the safety of suborbital flight
  • Build a culture of safety, as we evolve to point-to-point and orbital flight
  • Assure   that   more   passengers, crew, and support teams are first responder enabled
  • Build a growing community of space aspirants on earth who seek specialized training relevant to space

A Culture of First Responders

We  envision  a near future  in  which  all  space participants  will  have,  at  minimum, Spaceflight First Aid certification.  We  further  envision  that every  flight  will  have  one  or  more  participants certified in either Spaceflight First Response or Spaceflight Advanced Life Support. This  will  enable  a  professional  capability  in  pre-mission risk management, a congruent response to  unanticipated events  in  flight,  and  assure  a capable  cohort  of  passengers  and  crew,  should telemedicine directives be required from ground-based medical staff.

This  should  be  of  particular  relevance  to  flight providers,   ground   crews,   ground   emergency services,   training   organizations,   paying spaceflight participants, physicians, government, and others.

It will also give birth to a robust safety capability,  as  the  field  evolves to  point-to-point transport and orbital excursions.

For More Information on Registration and Course Schedules, Please Contact Us: info@sovarisaerospace.com