High-Altitude Medicine Training and Final Integration of Mountain Rescue Services in Georgia

The ICAD Foundation is preparing the next, final edition of a specialised training project dedicated to high-altitude medicine and the integration of the mountain rescue community in Georgia. The planned activities will conclude a multi-year cycle of medical trainings implemented jointly with partners from the Visegrad Group countries.

The project is addressed to volunteer mountain rescuers, 112 emergency service staff, and high-altitude guides operating in the Caucasus region. Its objective is to complete the process of building coherent medical competences in high mountains – from hypothermia and field rescue medicine to advanced issues related to altitude-related illnesses.

What makes this edition unique?

It will be the first comprehensive high-altitude medicine training in Georgia, covering, among others, the recognition and management of:

• Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS),
• High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE),
• High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE),
• preparation of patients for evacuation in high-altitude conditions.

An important new element will also be the standardisation of rescue practice – participants will receive professional mountain first aid kits, enabling them to directly translate the acquired knowledge into everyday practice.

International cooperation and knowledge transfer

The project is implemented in cooperation with experienced mountain rescue services from Central Europe:

• GOPR Beskidy,
• Horská Služba Jizerské Hory,
• Horská Služba Pieninského Národného Parku,
• Kazbegi Mountain Rescue.

International training teams will work side by side with Georgian instructors, strengthening long-term knowledge transfer and the capacity for further local training of rescuers.

Why is this important?

In Georgia, it is very often volunteer rescuers and mountain guides who are first on the scene of an accident, before state emergency services arrive. The project responds to the real needs of mountain regions by strengthening:

• the safety of local communities and tourists,
• cooperation between rescue services,
• the resilience and self-reliance of the mountain rescue system.

The planned edition will be not only a training programme, but also a moment of integration and summary of several years of international cooperation, creating a solid foundation for further specialised programmes in Georgia.