Join our speaker Dr. Melissa Lem to hear about how we get our patients, and ourselves outside to experience the many health benefits of nature. Speaker Dr. Alec Ritchie will highlight some of his experiences with North Shore ( Vancouver) Search and Rescue. Stay tuned as he explains how we might avoid a helicopter airlift out of the wilderness!

8:00pm-8:45pm –  Prescribing Nature / Wilderness

– Melissa Lem, MD, CCFP, FCFP

8:45pm-9:30pm – Risk Mitigation in Outdoor Adventure

– Alec Ritchie, MD FCFP(EM)

Cost
CASEM CPD subscription – FREE
CASEM Member – $50
Non Member – $75
CASEM Medical Student – FREE
Non Member Medical Student- $25

Accreditation

This 1-credit-per-hour Group Learning program meets the certification criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Quebec College of Family Physicians, a continuing professional development–accrediting organization recognized by the Collège des médecins du Québec, and has been approved for 1 Mainpro+® credits under the condition that the ethical standards are met.

Dr. Melissa Lem is a family physician and Director of PaRx, Canada’s national nature prescription program powered by the BC Parks Foundation. Also president-elect of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, she is a long-time advocate for the health benefits of time spent in nature and ecosystem conservation. Dr. Lem was the inaugural winner of University College’s Young Alumni of Influence Award at the University of Toronto, a 2020 Joule Innovation Grant recipient from the Canadian Medical Association, and is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Alec Ritchie, MD, FCFP (EM)

Dr. Alec RItchie is an emergency physician at Lions Gate Hospital in North Vancouver, a medical consultant for BC Emergency Health Services, and a clinical associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UBC. Combining his interest in emergency medicine and his love of the mountains, he became involved in search and rescue as a member of North Shore Rescue, a volunteer ski patroller for Whistler Mountain, and a staff doctor at Mike Wiegele’s Helicopter Skiing in Blue River. He is the chair of the Medical Advisory Committee for the BC Search and Rescue Association.