Keeping firefighters safe and being available for a quick extraction is part of the core mission of Adventure Medics of Bend.

To be part of the team at Adventure Medics would definitely be, well, an adventure.

The Bend-based event and wildland fire business grew out of a need for professional health care providers in the field, at events ranging from 50 people up to 50,000.

Adventure Medics was founded in 2015 by Matt Sabelman of Bend because he wanted to combine two passions in his life: emergency medical services and a lifestyle filled with adventure, according to the firm’s website. The medics are rock climbers, mountain bikers, surfers, endurance runners and kayakers.

It started in a Bend garage, as do many innovative, niche businesses. Today, its fleet of trucks, trailers, UTVs/ATVs and equipment are housed in several buildings off Boyd Acres Road. And, it has a satellite branch in the state of Washington.

“Matt saw a lack of professional care coverage in the event world, from the emergency medical services side of things,” said Claire Ruddenklau, event EMS manager. There is no real standard in Oregon for medical care at events, she said. This fills that void.

“We just choose to do it at the highest medical level possible,” she said. Ruddenklau grew up in New Zealand and was inspired at a young age to get involved with EMS by her dad, who volunteered for a rural ambulance service.

Today, Adventure Medics is present at all the Hayden Home Amphitheater concerts in the Old Mill District. Their tents can be seen at professional rodeos, BMX bike races, Cycle Oregon rides, snowmobile races, just about anywhere across Oregon where there may be crowds and the need for a medical safety net.

“No two events are alike, that’s the beauty of it,” said Ruddenklau. “We fill that gap where an event, for insurance reasons, may need an ambulance on site. Rather than sitting in a truck, we will have a few EMTs or paramedics there, in the crowd, around the arena or out on the course.”

“You can’t just hire your cousin — who may be an EMT or paramedic — to work at an event. He is not licensed, unless he has medical direction and is acting under a scope of practice from a physician. They would be acting as a lay person. That’s where we fit in,” Ruddenklau said.

“Our goal at events is to keep people there, having fun and not have to leave because they need some minor care, such as for a sunburn or feeling nauseous. We can give them something so they can enjoy their event.”

The firm doesn’t compete with fire departments or ambulance services. It cannot, without prior arrangement, transport someone in an ambulance directly to a hospital, but can meet an ambulance to make a transfer and will package a patient and provide interventions before the transport gets there.

“We don’t want to step on the toes of the ambulance and fire services. We aim to work with any fire department or district. In a non-911 setting — we are available for transports if they decline, say taking someone from the Bend hospital to Portland, or home,” she said. “We started off providing everything but the ambulance, but now we can provide everything and the ambulance.”

Adventure Medics are at about 200 events a year, staffing tents with paramedics, EMTs and nurses. It employs 12 full-time-equivalent positions in Bend and six in its branch at Onalaska, Washington, between Portland and Seattle.

It hires some 40 seasonal workers for the event season and 60 medically trained professionals for firefighting season.

The firm expanded into working on wildland fires in 2018. David Mull, wildland fire manager, is in charge of managing logistics, which can change at a moment’s notice. The team travels all over the West.

“We don’t have much trouble hiring people for the seasonal jobs,” Mull said. “However, it’s very difficult work. Our fire season can start in April and run all the way through November. We have crews that will be out the entire season, that’s all they do. They will be out on a 14- to 21-day deployment and do that all summer long. Then they have the wintertime to do fun things. There is a lot of interest in it.”

In July 2008, 18-year-old National Park Service wildland firefighter Andy Palmer was fatally injured in a tree falling accident on the Eagle Fire burning on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in California. Three and a half hours later, emergency medical personnel pronounced Palmer dead at the Redding airport. He never made it to a hospital.

It was a wake-up call for the Forest Service to hire backcountry medical personnel.

“We go out with the firefighters. We hike the trails and are there alongside them in case they get hurt,” Mull said. “We can stabilize a patient, close wounds, put on a splint and dispense over-the- counter medicine. Then call in a helicopter for evacuation if needed.”

Adventure Medics has another specialty: REMS or Rapid Extrication Module Support. It is a special team of four people trained in high- and low-angle rescue (such as cliffs) and vehicle extraction.

“In 2021 on the fire scene, a vehicle went off the road and a tree fell on it, caving it in,” Mull said. “REMS was there to extricate the driver and call in a helicopter.”

“When you’re four hours from any hospital and a tree falls on you, what do you do? REMS comes and packages you up and sends you on your way,” Ruddenklau said.

They have also set up COVID-19 and flu testing sites as needed at wildland fire sites.

The group offers training in emergency and backcountry first aid, CPR classes both at its shops and at local businesses. And it conducts certification classes that physicians, nurses, even dentists must take to remain current in their fields, such as pediatric advanced life support. Plus, it is constantly upgrading its staff training, finding more efficient ways of providing its services.

“Truly what we are doing is life-changing in many ways,” Ruddenklau said, “for the patients, the staff, event participants.”

An open house at Adventure Medics is set for Jan. 20 at its offices, 62980 Boyd Acres Rd. See their website at www.advmedics.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/adventuremedics.