“ It’ s just been a really fun adventure that the two of us have gotten to go on. We’ ve never owned a business before. I’ m really passionate about this, and she is so supportive to get me out doing what I love, but also recognizes the importance that it has to other people.”
The name Don’ t Panic was somewhat inspired by“ Hitchhiker’ s Guide to the Galaxy,” but the phrase was a motto of Sam’ s long before he became an EMT or a wilderness medical instructor.
“ It’ s that little reminder of,‘ Don’ t panic. Start making decisions. Start doing something, but don’ t panic.’
“ And I think wilderness medicine, that’ s what it gives you. It gives you enough education, enough background, enough skills, tools in your toolbox to, instead of having to have a panic attack, you start doing something,” said Sam.
The mission of Don’ t Panic is to provide responders with the skills and knowledge to respond with confidence.
“ We want all of our students, everyone that we train, to be able to look at a situation and see themselves doing something productive for it. Most people, when an emergency happens, they want to run away from it because it’ s scary, because they don’ t know what to do. And we want our students to be able to look at an emergency situation and say,‘ Hey, I can do something. I’ m going to respond to it. I’ m going to do something.’ And so that ability to respond with confidence drives what we do,” said Sam.
Through Don’ t Panic Sam offers a wide range of medical courses.
Well beyond a basic first aid course is the Wilderness First Aid Course, where students do a deep dive into a wide range of medical emergencies, traumatic emergencies and environmental issues. Students get a lot of practice with patient assessment and what to do with that patient for an extended time. The course is 16 hours and taught over two days.
“ By the end of it, students are running scenarios where a traumatic injury has happened, there’ s underlying medical conditions, the environment is challenging and they’ re able to work through those. So they’ re able to learn quite a bit in even a limited two-day course,” said Sam.
Meanwhile, the 80-hour Wilderness First Responder course is taught in a hybrid style with 30 hours of online training and 50 hours of in-person training over the course of five days.
“ This does a really deep dive into all those medical conditions and medical emergencies that you would learn about in a wilderness first aid, but has a deeper understanding of what’ s actually happening. A wilderness first responder is sort of the gold standard in the outdoor industry,” said Sam.
The course equips students with the skills and knowledge to prevent situations as well as treat and manage things in a wilderness environment. It also teaches students how to manage the people in a situation long term,“ because you may be the one in charge, and if someone gets hurt, they look to you now,‘ What do we do? How do we help them? What are we worried about?’
Don ' t Panic students master critical, hands-on skills by navigating realistic trauma scenarios, ensuring they are prepared Don ' t Panic students master critical, hands-on skills by navigating realistic trauma scenarios, ensuring they are prepared for the unpredictable challenges of wilderness medicine. the unpredictable challenges of wilderness medicine. Photo courtesy of Don’ t Panic
“ Our students get an opportunity to not only run dozens and dozens of scenarios, but they also learn about how to manage an incident, how to coordinate a rescue, call in for extra resources or perform the rescue themselves,” said Sam.
The certification is good for three years, and Sam teaches a recertification course as well.
In his Wilderness Emergency Medical Services( EMS) Upgrade course, Sam takes EMTs, paramedics and nurses who already know the medical side of things and shows them the wilderness mindset of doing more with less.
After the last class, Sam said,“ They had a lot of great takeaways that they’ re like,‘ I can’ t wait to go back to work because I have this new knowledge and new respect of how I could do my job if I didn’ t have a climate-controlled environment or all the supplies.’ So it really brings them back to that foundational medicine.”
The newest training is a Wilderness EMT course. This dual course is around 170 hours, and students get a national registry EMT certification as well as a wilderness first responder certification.
“ That’ s what I took when I got started, and absolutely loved it. It’ s immersive, and you’ re just living and breathing wilderness medicine for weeks on end, and it makes sitting for that exam that much easier,” said Sam.
Sam also teaches a basic first aid and CPR course, as well as other first responder training courses like emergency vehicle operations and traffic incident management.
6 Down Country Roads January / February 2026