Instructor Profile: Janet Peterson

How many professors do you know take their office out to climb South Sister on a beautiful Friday afternoon? Professor Janet Peterson might be the only one. “Instead of a boring lunch sitting around, we decided to do something adventurous.” This Doctor in Public Health believes that offices serve their purpose, but the wilderness is where it’s at.

“I’ve always been involved in some sort of hospital or clinical aspect of medicine, dating back to high school,” Janet said. Her interest in wilderness medicine can be traced back to a decade ago when she started taking ski patrol classes.

It wasn’t until then that Janet realized she could combine her passions for medicine, the outdoors, and teaching. “Initially, I didn’t even realize you could blend the group. I’ve been hiking and backpacking and skiing my whole life, so all that was always there. The idea of joining ski patrol really allowed me to use my love of medicine and still be in the back country.”

When Janet got a job teaching at Linfield College, she was asked to teach backcountry camping courses for three weeks at a time. “In order to do that I had to have appropriate certification as a Wilderness First Responder (WFA).”

A couple summers ago, Janet looked up the Wilderness EMT (WEMT) course at Remote Medical International. Two of her instructors, Steve Guthrie and Melissa Arnot, asked her to use her doctorate and make a presentation on diabetes.

The presentation went well and Janet wanted to do more so she applied to become a Remote Medical instructor. “Now, I could see myself just teaching outdoor-related medicine. When I’m teaching the classes for RMI I’m happy. I just love it.”

Many of the people Remote Medical teaches don’t have huge medical or backcountry backgrounds. “The great thing about these courses is that they’re designed for all backgrounds.”

Janet’s favorite part of the courses she teaches? Moulage! “I think that’s a huge place where learning occurs. Moulage can make a scenario real and that’s the point. It becomes about hands-on experiential learning.”

Keep looking for more profiles coming soon.