- This topic has 3,309 voices and 3 replies.
- Posts
In the past week or more I have read with so much sadness, of the death of 2 trekkers the last one only 26 years of age, only a year older than my eldest son. and of 3 trekkers (possibly more) being choppered out suffering from dehydration.
People, This is not a walk in the park! This is largely an untamed and primitive country; there is no direct medical help once you leave Kokoda/Owers for your trek.. There are no medi-vac helicopters and at most times there is no direct radio contact. If you are lucky, you will have someone in your party who has first-aid experience.
Please head this advise, take all precautions that are available, use purification tablets in your water, do not be tempted to drink water that is not purified or boiled no matter what your porters tell you, use an anti bacterial hand wash and wipes, and at the risk of being shot down in flames, make sure that when you use the toilet facilities on the track, use the utmost precautions, wash your hands thoroughly after with an anti bacterial wash and use anti bacterial wipes.
We, in Australia have lived our lives with quarantined water systems, we have been conditioned to wash our hands before handling food, after the toilet, and all our utensils are washed in hot soapy water to hopefully kill any bacteria that may be left. We are conditioned to use anti bacterial wipes, cleanses, in fact everything these days have some sort of anti-bacterial quantity and we are so anti- bacterial zed, we have no real immunity to the real germs and bacteria that can cause the debilitating diarrhoea and vomiting experienced in PNG, not just the Kokoda track, but PNG in general. In my opinion, most of the trekkers are being lulled into a false sense of security.
There has been a lot of posts here about going outside your comfort zone, when in Rome etc etc etc And yes to a certain extent, they are right, Kokoda is being taken outside your comfort zone, but again, and I speak from experience, this is not the same Kokoda track that the diggers walked, they faced hardships, but of a different kind, they faced diarrhoea, but not from the elements, the diarrhoea came largely from the contaminated tins of bully beef they ate. My father, after the war, walked Kokoda as a Kiap numerous times, and he left an entire audio tape on his last trek in 1954 with the Papua Infantry Battalion detailing the difference from then to what it was in the war and one thing he points out is the difference he found with good food, organised hygiene and (obviously) not being shot at!
Your training should be rigorous and hard, EVERY trekker should have a medical, and I know that not all trekking companys insist on one, make this your personal obligation! Personal hygiene is so very important. Just to give an example, not a good one I fear, but two PNG citizens came down from PNG for the opening of the Kokoda Wall at the Gold Coast, I took them back to the airport after a week on the Gold Coast, both suffering a terrible cold, which really debilitated the elder of the two for two weeks after returning to PNG, however no-one in our group or in close proximity to them suffered from the same complaint, they had obviously picked up a bug that we, as Australians, had developed a certain immunity to.
To the families of those who have lost their loved ones, it is small comfort I know, but they are in good hands, the spirits of thousands of good men are up there with them, looking after them.It is indeed sad that another trekker has died on the track. Again I would say that it is too early to speculate on the causes of these latest deaths and they will be subject to coronial inquiries. Certainly people who walk the track must be fit and have put in reasonable training but that does not mean that they will be any different statistically from the population in general and be exempt from suffering sudden cardiac death. USA rate is 1.24/1000 people per year. melbourne rate was around 0.8/1000 people per year.
People arrest frequently with no prior warning, young children and adolescents arrest with cardiac arrythmias after exercise due to long QT syndrome,respiratory failure ,metabolic disorders and electrolyte imbalances. The difference is that in our suburbs emergency help is not that far away and the chain of survival can be initiated and continue right up to the hospital door.
Early emergency service notification/early basic life support including airway and CPR/early defibrillation/early advanced care. Adults as distinct from children arrest in two forms of arrythmia that need to be defibrillated. You can CPR someone for as long as you like but without defibrillation and advanced life support drugs the outcome without exception is death. Why the anatomy and physiology lesson?
Simply to highlight that otherwise normal and apparently healthy people do arrest unexpectedly for a range of reasons and that statistically perhaps we have been fortunate that not more people have died ,given the remote terrain and the unavailability of prompt advanced medical care. If you trek Kokoda you know and must understand that if you have a cardio/ respiratory arrest the outcome will in all likelihood not be positive.
My thoughts go out to all the familes who have lost loved ones on the track. It should reinforce in all of us that we live everyday as if it is our last and treasure those who are close to us.Pete Dowling
Hi Nettie, (39th Descendant),
Congratulations on your excellent posts which reiterate many very important issues you have raised frequently in the past. Your contributions should be required reading by ALL intending Kokoda Trekkers, not only those trekking with KTL, in particular, those contemplating the Trek as their first experience of overnight hiking.
Likewise my deepest sympathies are extended to the families of the two who have perished on the Track in the last week.
Geoff Hardie
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.