UNAIR NEWS – The interest and popularity of tourism and natural sports in the archipelago such as mountaineering is getting bigger. Unfortunately, it is not followed with knowledge of mountaineering health and safety.
In this regard, Reyner Valiant Tumbelaka, an alumnus of the Faculty of Medicine class of 2007 was moved to build聽an聽educational聽platform聽called @dokterpendaki.聽Reyner admitted that it started when he was going up a mountain聽and had an accident.
“The development of infrastructure and facilities in various national parks as well as the promotion of Indonesian tourism has resulted in an increase in the number of enthusiasts. However, the number of accidents and mortality while mountaineering is also increasing, 鈥漞xplained the man who was born in Kendari, September 27, 1989.
Reyner continued, those accidents would not have happened if climbers were well-equipped and educated with the right, scientific-based knowledge on mountaineering medicine.聽So far, there has been no聽educational聽platform聽specifically discussing mountaineering medicine in Indonesia, discussed by professionals who can be understood by anyone.
In this聽platform, Reyner tries to educate public on preventive measure and victim handling while on the climb, from the general things such as treating wounds, handling cramps, burns, basic life support, to specific ones such as聽acute mountain sickness聽and transportation of victims during a climb.
Together with his colleague, dr.聽Clarissa Azalia, Reyner packaged the knowledge in the form of聽timeline聽posts,聽stories, to webinars via Zoom and聽live聽Instagram.聽The speakers are medical specialists from various cities in Indonesia who are聽concerned聽with the topic, as well as professional climbers who have reached the seven highest peaks of the world.
“The public can access our platform by following the @dokterpendaki Instagram account,” he said.
Reyner said that he started the platform聽in August 2020. Instagram was chosen because the main target is laymen, amateur climbers, or recreational people who use Instagram to share good photos when climbing, selfies, and achievements at the top of the mountain.
“Through Instagram we can reach audiences well. In addition, Instagram is one of the social media that has the most active members, “he added.
Within four months,聽@dokterpendaki聽account聽managed to attract 8,000 active followers, and聽more than 400聽webinar聽registrants聽for each topic.聽The enthusiasm of the community to study the mountaineering medicine health knowledge exceeded the expectations of dr.聽Reyner.
“The challenge is time and effort, building聽this聽platform聽requires consistency,” he said.
In the future, Reyner admitted that he wanted to develop a YouTube channel and website as a further step to accommodate people who learn from the platform. He hopes that there will be sponsors from the government and the private sector, so they can reach more people to enjoy nature safely and comfortably. (*)
Author: Muhammad Wildan S
Editor: Feri Fenoria
