Blog
Here you’ll find our blog posts, listed by main category. To receive posts by email as they appear, sign up for updates on the homepage!
The Himalayan Rescue Association and Musa Masala Present the Pocket-size, Wallet-friendly, Altitude Tips Card
Musa Masala is very excited to have created, along with the Himalayan Rescue Association, a new version of the altitude tips card that we have been providing to the HRA clinics since 2018.
Below you’ll find an introduction from Dr. Sanjiv Bhandari to the HRA, and from Dr. Nishant Joshi Njo, on how he came to work with the HRA. A special part of this is a great interview about working at Everest ER in 2024 — special for all you Everest fans. Jam Jam!
The Musa Masala Dental Camp, 2024
Almost six months ago, we held our third annual Free Dental Camp at the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital. The growth of these events has been so inspiring. We started out with one dentist. At this camp, we had six!
Not only is this so much better for the community, allowing for more patients to be seen with a much more time-friendly exam period, but it shows the love the Nepal dental community has for being involved in a project like this. It is not easy to leave your practice, take a 10-12 hour jeep ride to a remote hospital and treat a solid line of patients who are not familiar with dentistry for four to five days. We are so grateful and overjoyed with the results of this event.
Second Physician Team Visits the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital
We are back with a story of the second physician team to visit the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital with the University of Nevada Reno Wilderness Medicine Fellowship program started by Dr. Tony Islas. (We wrote about the first here.)
We are super happy to have an update by Dr. Bridget Martinez. She, along with Dr. Donald Harker, visited and worked at the hospital with our superstar leader of the hospital, Dr. Gyaltsen Gurung.
Here is Bridget’s tale of their journey and time at our most special place, the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital. You'll also hear a few thoughts from Dr. Gyaltsen Gurung, at the bottom.
Acupuncture in the Wilderness: Q&A with Cami Hobbs
There’s nothing better than mixing your love of the outdoors with your profession. When it’s your job and it helps you to bring an added resource into a wilderness adventure, that’s pretty cool. Musa Masala welcomes our friend Cami Hobbs, MAOM,DAOM, Dipl. O.M. (NCCAOM), L.Ac.
We met Cami at the Wilderness Medical Society’s Winter Conference in Jackson Hole, where she did the awesome video with us (below) where she described her acupuncture influenced medical kit.
Teaching Nepali Children About Menstruation, Dental Care and Hygiene
Since the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital opened in April, 2022, it has enhanced the ability of the people in the area to have healthier families. Anyone can walk up the hill to the hospital and receive excellent primary healthcare from a dedicated staff. Knowing that some patients are too old or sick to make the walk to the hospital has led to some unique outreach programs.
We are so honored to have Dr. Gyaltsen Gurung, the physician leading the hospital, here to tell us about two of the outreach programs he has initiated: a class on menstruation and a class on dental hygiene and hand washing. These topics are not covered in the general education at the local schools. Giving young girls the tools and knowledge to understand what is happening with their bodies is paramount to changing the way menstruation is approached in Nepal. Boys are included in the lectures to help educate everyone. Dental hygiene is more important than ever, too, with the influx of sugar drinks that are now available locally.
The Musa Masala Dental Camp, 2023
We are privileged to have Dr. Anumesh Dahal give us his firsthand account of the second Musa Masala Dental Camp, held at the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Tapting at the end of April, 2023. We are so grateful for the team he put together to bring the only oral health organization to the area. We are thankful to Dr. Gyaltsen Gurungand the staff at the WSMH for working with us to make this possible.
We also thank our friends, Jason Tartalone at Sergeant Rescue and Pem Dorjee Sherpa of Imperial Expeditions, who helped put up the funding for this camp. Without the donations, we simply could not do this. Jason donated the funds raised during their Spring 2022 Everest Base Camp Trek to help us. Sergeant Rescue is based in Pennsylvania and provides classes in SAR, EMS and wilderness medicine. Pem Dorjee Sherpa is a friend of Musa Masala and a board member of the Himalayan Yokpu Foundation.
What is Search and Rescue? with Angela Widler, PA-C
Search and Rescue, SAR. What exactly is it? And who are these people who mostly volunteer to spend their free time looking for lost or injured people in the outdoors? Is there anything scarier than being lost, cold, hungry and tired? Well maybe a few things, like squirrels gnawing at your fingers. But aside from that, none of us want to be in a situation where we have to call for help. So let’s take some time this year to learn a bit about how to stay found in the wilderness, maybe not in an existential sense, but physically.
Let’s learn about what to bring and what to pack for different events and locations, weather and terrain, what to do if your gear breaks, and what to do if you do find yourself lost: who you gonna call?
We are launching something new at musamasala.com. Every other post for the first half of this year will be about staying found or getting found. We have an amazing group of experts from the wilderness medicine community, former military, SAR members, therapists and climbing guides here to share with you what they have learned, along with first hand accounts of people who have survived in tough situations around the world. Along the way we will share extra tips, quizzes and polls on related topics on on social media.
The Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital Tapting - Update!
We are so proud to present the latest from the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital. This film was shot and edited by the incredible Yaman Shakya and Bibek Bartaula. (They are also awesome singers.) It gives a great overview of the story behind the hospitals founding and comes right up to our visit to paint the pediatric room.
We hope it gives you all some perspective on what has been accomplished by the Himalayan Yokpu Foundation to open the hospital from just an idea on a hill in 2016.
Musa Masala Hypothermia Cards are here!!
Available now in our store, this card is a simple tool to help you recognize hypothermia, prevent it and treat it.
When going on an outdoor adventure, planning is key to a safe and fun time. Be honest in assessing your skill level for the activity. It’s easy to overestimate your skills and get in trouble. When in doubt, ask a professional guide, ranger or coach for help and information.
COVID-19 Recovery: Jeff Sweat Sings for his Voice
You may remember that back in February of 2021, we did two posts on Jeff Sweat, a writer in Los Angeles who, although his entire family caught COVID, was the only one to be hospitalized. Jeff was healthy with no underlying medical conditions at the time but he spent 28 days in the ICU. Jeff was intubated and had a tracheotomy, where an opening is placed in the neck for an airway. These procedures, along with the harm that COVID did to his body, gave Jeff great difficulty with his voice when he was released from the hospital.
How a Social Worker Reclaimed Herself Through Nature During the Pandemic
Tamar Izcovich is a clinical social worker with a private practice in NYC. She is an avid hiker and is always up for an adventure outdoors. Here she shares her personal story of how being in nature helped her reclaim part of herself during the pandemic. She also discusses some of the science of how nature strengthens our mental health. Also check out Tamar’s previous post, “Traveling Solo: Lessons Learned From Loose Rocks in the Himalayas.”
Ultrasound now at the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital!
Here is a short film of a real journey: members of the Himalayan Yokpu Foundation bringing the new Ultrasound Machine to the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital, traveling by four-wheel drive in rain-soaked road conditions.
Big thanks to Sonam Sherpa, Pasang Sherpa and Phula Sherpa, who delivered this much needed diagnostic tool. Sakar Shrestha filmed this piece in his beautiful style.
Hypothermia Signs and Symptoms
We are back with more on hypothermia. In this post, we will define this condition. We want to give you some basic information on hypothermia. In the next post, we will deal with reacting to hypothermia signs and symptoms. Keep warm, keep active and stay safe!
Battling COVID-19 in a Hospital: Author Jeff Sweat's Story
Jeff Sweat is a Los Angeles-based writer and author with a rich background in journalism and marketing. He’s also funny—very funny—and a loving father, partner, and friend to many. Until a few weeks ago, he was also healthy and active, as well as caring enough to take recommended precautions to avoid catching or spreading the COVID-19 virus.
As he wrote in a Facebook post on January 31st, he and his family had been “insanely careful,” venturing only to two stores and consistently wearing a mask around non-family members before his COVID symptoms appeared.
The Adventures of an Expedition Doctor: Q&A with Dr. In-Hei Hahn
Dr. In-Hei Hahn is a world traveler, emergency physician, toxicologist and an outdoor enthusiast. She has practiced medicine on many continents in all kinds of environments and situations. She has provided medical care in The Gobi Desert (in China and Mongolia), Transylvania, the Atacama Desert in Chile and many other adventurous and resource-limited places. We are excited to share with you an interview about her work with the American Museum of Natural History (New York), her adventures in Mongolia and what keeps her going.
Hiking Tips for Newcomers by Suzanne Cheree Ellis, NREMT-P
Have you ever gotten the itch to just get out there and head into the wilds, and when you arrived had an “oh no” moment? Suzanne Cheree Ellis, the creator of the Ellis Collapsable Isolation Box, is a Paramedic in Texas. Suzanne is here to tell us about her recent family adventure. She is starting off a new series of informative posts with two main themes: beginners’ outdoors tips and safely managing outdoor activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. We realize social distancing is often the goal of outdoor adventuring, so let’s do it safely while we explore and have fun. Thanks Suzanne, so glad you made it back to us!!
COVID-19 in Nepal
We had our first Musa Masala group Zoom call last week, and it was so wonderful for everyone to get together, even if just through the screens. We were all supposed to be in Nepal at the hospital on October 4th for the opening of the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital, then our Climbing Competition in Kathmandu followed by the first Musa trek in the Mardi Himal. But a few things have changed (COVID-19), so we took time to talk about the current situation in Nepal. We will share part of that with you here and in the next few weeks share our conversations on the opening of a road to Lukla, wow! And we will fill you in on the situation with the Wongchhu Sherpa Memorial Hospital.
Heat Illness: How to Prevent and Treat It
Musa Masala is happy to introduce Dr. Stephen Simon. Stephen is joining us as we launch our latest aid in our educational library. Here is the Musa Masala Heat Illness Card! As I write this it is 112 degrees F. outside, so what appropriate timing.