I am writing to share something close to my heart — a dream I have carried for fifteen years that I am finally in a position to pursue. I am raising funds to attend the Wilderness Emergency Medical Technician (WEMT) course through the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), and I am humbly reaching out to ask for your support.
I am a licensed Occupational Therapist serving patients across Central Oregon through home health care. Helping people recover function, regain independence, and navigate some of the hardest seasons of their lives is not just my profession — it is my calling. I have always had a heart for others, and that same drive that led me into occupational therapy has long pulled me toward emergency and wilderness medicine as well.
The past five years have been among the most challenging and transformative of my life. My family adopted two children, welcomed a new baby, and completed a major international move back to the United States from Ukraine. Through all of it, I kept this goal quietly alive. Now that our family has found stable footing and we have recently settled into our home in Central Oregon, I feel this is finally the right time to act on this long-held dream.
The NOLS Wilderness EMT course is a rigorous, nationally recognized training program that certifies graduates to provide emergency medical care in remote and resource-limited environments. It combines a full EMT certification with wilderness-specific protocols, equipping responders to manage everything from traumatic injuries to environmental emergencies far from definitive hospital care.
My goal upon completing this course is to serve as a volunteer EMT in our community and to join search and rescue operations in Central Oregon — a region where wilderness emergencies are not uncommon and where trained volunteers make a life-or-death difference. My clinical background as an OT gives me a strong foundation in assessment, patient communication, and functional care; the WEMT certification will allow me to expand that capacity into the field when it matters most.
The tuition for this course is just under $5,000. I will continue my work as an OT and am contributing to this goal myself, but I am reaching out to friends, family, and community members who believe in the value of trained emergency volunteers. Any contribution, large or small, brings me one step closer to being able to answer a call for help when someone needs it most.
If you feel moved to support this effort, I would be deeply grateful. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. Your investment will not just help fund a course — it will help equip someone who intends to spend the rest of their life giving back.
With sincere gratitude,
Erin
Occupational Therapist, OTR/L
