Chief Executive Officer, MS, RN, WEMT

Nadia Kimmel

Born and raised in Montreal, Canada, Nadia was drawn to the Rockies of Colorado as a young adult. She began leading students on month long backpacking trips around the West for various outdoor education companies. Much to her surprise the only medical training that was required of her was basic first aid and CPR certifications.

After completing her first Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course in 1992 she recognized the broader need for a more robust, field-based, wilderness medicine curricula designed specifically for outdoor professionals. Nadia pursued this newfound passion with her usual infectious intensity, and began teaching WFR courses soon thereafter. Her fascination with medicine lead to her receiving an EMT certification in 1994 and subsequently volunteering on SAR and working in various emergency departments around Colorado.

Before founding Desert Mountain Medicine (DMM), Nadia worked for the Wilderness Education Association as an outdoor educator. She also attended Colorado State University and earned a B.S. in Natural Resource Management.  Later she was asked to join Colorado Mountain College to help jump start their Outdoor Recreation Leadership program (ORL) in Leadville, CO after which she earned an M.S. in Forestry with an emphasis in Outdoor Recreation from Northern Arizona University. Her combined education and experience as a guide, outdoor educator, medical professional, and wilderness medicine instructor provided her with a solid foundation of knowledge, skills, and perspective to develop and run DMM under her own unique vision in 1998.

After founding DMM Nadia became the EMS coordinator and EMT instructor for Colorado Mountain College, which inspired her to pursue a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) from Regis University. Nadia continued to work as an ER nurse while cultivating DMM and its community from a fledgling, one-woman operation to the expanding business that it is today.

Over two decade later, Nadia continues to contribute to the field of wilderness medicine as part of the Wilderness Medicine Education Collaborative (WEMC) and as DMM’s Executive Director, focusing on curriculum development.

WFR

John Totten

Jon is an academic water rat if there ever was such a mythical person. He worked for North Idaho College in their Outdoor Pursuits program for 12 years teaching kayaking, rafting, swiftwater rescue, Avi 1, sailing, and SUP, before guiding for LTD sailing out of the Caribbean and Hughes River Expeditions on the Salmon River. His wilderness medicine career started 20 years ago when he took his first WFR with DMM owner and director Nadia Kimmel. He began instructing WFA and WFR courses for DMM in 2008, and joined DMM’s board soon after. He’s intensely proud to be a part of DMM’s culture of humble leadership and for the role he plays as board member and instructor in inspiring people to do things they’ve never done or didn’t believe they could do. With his 22 years of combined outdoor education and wild. med. experience, Jon identifies first and foremost as a teacher, with the outdoors being his primary classroom. He’s also a storyteller and musician, skills he’s eager to share around a campfire or on the back of a boat.

Must-have met kit item: Dental cement. I’ve glued several people’s teeth back in their mouths, including my own. 

Physician Advisor, MD, EMT, WFR

Dr. Jessica Evans-Wall

Jessica was a commercial river guide on multi-day trips for 15 years, so she knows how essential wilderness medicine skills are for guides and recreational backcountry users alike. Today, Jessica works as an Emergency Resident at University of New Mexico, the only trauma center in the state. It’s a fast-paced environment, and some days its all she can do just to stay afloat, but she has the privilege of working with the best people around, and she learns so much on every shift, so its definitely worth the stress! When the burnout starts getting real, she turns to wilderness medicine. Teaching wilderness medicine stokes her stoke on medicine again! She firmly believes everyone who spends any time in the backcountry needs to know how to care for themselves and their partners. On DMM’s board Jessica serves as physician advisor and supports curriculum development. Within the realm of medicine, Jessica is hoping to specialize in rural emergency medicine, and within the realm of life, Jessica currently specializes in quoting romantic poetry and Shakespeare in any tradition. If you ever have a course with Jessica, definitely ask her about medieval history. On precious days off from the ED, Jessica loves kayaking, climbing, skiing, sleeping on the ground, and learning new constellations, all with the best life partner ever who lets her perform sutures on him in the kitchen after he’s smashed his face in the backcountry. She’s especially loves hiking until her feet her and making plans at her kitchen table for unrealistically long backcountry days

Must-have med kit item: IV catheter for flushing out wounds

WFR

Trevor Fulton

Trevor has been going on long drifts and getting lost in Idaho his entire life. He currently serves as the University of Idaho Campus Recreation Associate Director, surrounded by an amazing group of students he gets to learn with on a daily basis. In addition to teaching for Desert Mountain Medicine, Trevor instructs swiftwater rescue and avalanche education courses. He is a board member and forecaster for the Wallowa Avalanche Center, a founding member of the Idaho River Rendezvous and involved with outdoor land access issues for national non-profit organizations. When he isn’t in the office, you’ll find him chasing fish, his bird dogs or water in all phases, in and around the great state of Idaho.

Critical Care Paramedic, WFR

Chris Moon

Chris Moon lives and loves DMM’s core instructional philosophy: learning through experience. He’s a Firefighter/Paramedic for the City of Billings Fire Department, where he routinely employs a combination of hands-on work and experiential problem-solving to get the job done, whatever it may be. Chris likes fighting fire, he likes being a medic, but he loves cutting cars apart. It’s the ultimate hands-on problem to be solved! Chris also patrols part-time for Big Sky Resort, and volunteers with Big Sky Search and Rescue. Chris has been teaching for DMM for 6 years, and has been serving on the Board of Directors for 4 years. As an instructor, he loves DMM’s experiential approach to learning, and the flexibility to share his experiences with his students. He’s passionate about empowering his students to learn and use street level skills such as improvisation, care prioritization and professionalism in the backcountry. On the board, Chris runs the CEU (continuing education credits) program for instructors. Chris lives with his lovely wife and their three beautiful cats, and they are proud to be the crazy-cat neighbors of their neighborhood. They like to ride bikes, ski deep blissful powder, raft long rivers, and sail Bluewater sailboats. The cats enjoy sunbathing and singing love songs to the moon.

Must-have med kit item: My mind OR triangle bandages + sharpies. Definitely the trifecta of mind + triangle bandages + a sharpie.

Program Director, Director of the Women's Wild Med Program, RN, CEN, WFR

Morgan Matthews

Morgan grew up in the funky, midwestern town of Lawrence, Kansas. At age 17 her dream of playing college soccer was realized when she moved to the heart of San Juan mountains to play at Fort Lewis College. There, she obtained a bachelors degree in Exercise Science while simultaneously developing a love for outdoor recreation. Eventually, the soccer cleats were retired and she found herself swan diving, head first, into anything involving mountain adventures.

Landing her first “real” job in a small Emergency Room in Durango, CO as an ER Technician, she discovered her passion for medicine and followed her dream of becoming and ER Nurse. In 2010 she graduated as an RN and soon thereafter began roving the country as a traveling nurse experiencing many different hospital settings anywhere from large level I trauma centers to small mountain town critical access hospitals.

In 2014, Morgan was the first on scene to tragic accident in a remote Utah Canyon that resulted in six fatalities. The aftermath of the accident left her feeling un-prepared as a solo rescuer in a wilderness setting and subsequently she obtained her WFR and began teaching for DMM in 2015.

Morgan is currently the Program Director for DMM where she has taken on the responsibility of teaching wilderness medicine courses, curriculum writing, and instructor progression. In 2019, she started the Women’s Wild Med Program. Wilderness Medicine courses for women, taught by women. The goal is to highlight and celebrate the women who are shaping outdoor recreation and wilderness medicine, and empower the many millions more who are a vital part of these industries.

In her personal life, Morgan is a connoisseur of mountaintop dance parties and a chaser of sunsets with her dog Pinto Bean. Recreationally, she believes in a balance of relaxing and adventurous outdoor experiences. Some days, she needs a leisurely hike capped off by a summit boogie sesh. On other days she needs to push herself until she questions and reaffirms what her limits really are. 

Morgan now calls Northern New Mexico home where she is able to combine her two passions which are Wilderness and Emergency Medicine, as a a ski clinic nurse at the Taos Ski Valley.