Growing up in Jim Thorpe, Dr. Daniel Plavin always aspired to be a hometown doctor, serving his neighbors.

And like many Carbon County residents, Plavin also fell in love with the mountains and lakes near his home.

“In high school kids would go out to the mall on Fridays. I would go out into the woods and have campfires, go fishing - things like that,” the 2010 Jim Thorpe Area High School graduate said.

Today, Plavin has achieved his dream of being a hometown doctor. He has also combined his career in medicine with his love of the outdoors.

Plavin recently earned a certification in wilderness medicine, as well as the title of Fellow of the Academy of Wilderness Medicine.

Wilderness medicine involves addressing health risks and safety issues in a variety of remote areas including the mountains, deserts and the ocean.

Those who become certified must show that they can take traditional medicine and apply it in areas that have limited resources. That includes treating and transporting patients using only the materials they have with them, and occasionally things that they find along the trail.

For Plavin, the certification is a validation of skills which he has practiced since before he became a doctor.

As a member of local fire and ambulance companies, Plavin has assisted with numerous rescues at Glen Onoko Falls. Before it closed to the public in 2019, it was also one of his favorite hiking spots.

Plavin says the same issues affecting Glen Onoko affect outdoor destinations across the country and around the world. Anywhere that people are taking part in outdoor activities, there is a risk of injury. Often, those injuries occur in areas where people can be difficult to reach, and the assistance of volunteers is vital.

“It is important to have trained people to provide medicine to assist, assess, get them out of the woods and determine if they need more care,” Plavin said.

In order to obtain his certification, Plavin had to train others in wilderness medicine skills such as tick-borne diseases, water purification, stopping hemorrhages and splinting injuries.

With his certification, Plavin hopes to travel to the base camp of Mount Everest with the Wilderness Medicine Society to provide medical support for climbers. It will give him hands-on experience with unique altitude-related illnesses in a location where medical care is a long way away.

“It’s one of the highest achievements in wilderness medicine. When people think of austere environments, that’s usually the first one they think of,” Plavin said.

He also hopes to teach those skills even more to local firefighters, search and rescue teams, and other doctors in the St. Luke’s Family Medicine Rural Health residency program, where he is currently the chief resident.

Plavin said like in wilderness medicine, rural health doctors must provide the best care possible with the resources available.

One of the reasons Plavin wanted to become a hometown doctor was to increase the medical resources available to his neighbors. The rural health residency program, which began just four years ago, gave him that opportunity earlier than he expected.

When he completes his residency, Plavin plans to have a family medicine office in Jim Thorpe.

“Jim Thorpe has helped make me who I am. The least I can do is help the town, because it helped me,” Plavin said.