Wilderness First Aid

[Jim Krueger]

Tom Burroughs and Paul Shepherd just completed training a new class of ACC instructors and paddlers in Wilderness First Aid. Great instructors, Tom and Paul got us through a mass of material in two days in a friendly, low-stress environment. They were experienced enough to tell us what really mattered and to offer tips along the way from their experience. It is a course that all serious paddlers and certainly all instructors should take! It will cost you fees and 2 full days, but it is worth it to know what to do in a medical emergency, especially one where you can't get help right away. Responsible for students, leading trips, going out West on long multi-day floats, then you need this course. If you use your knowledge to help just one person or save one life, it will be more than worth the time and trouble to take the class! You couldn't ask for better teachers or a better atmosphere for learning than Tom and Paul provide! Thanks guys!
Marlo Krueger

[Karla]

Thanks for the post Marlo. I hope they will have another soon so I cattend. Although I am a nurse and pals certified, CPR trained, I am sure there are lots I can gain from this class.

Karla

[cmartin]

I would like to thank Tom and Paul for their time and effort. This was a truly informative class with lots of good knowledge. To reiterate what Marlo said anyone who paddles a lot or is an instructor should look into taking this class it is worth it! Thanks again

[Deuce]

That sounds like something I'd like to do. How does one begin the process? Did a cursory search online and didn't find anything.

[Shep]

Thanks Marlo and Chris, and everyone in the class. For Tom and I, 17 participants is about as many as we feel okay with, and 2 days is really shorter than we would like to have. It worked as well as it did only because every single participant was thoughtful, engaged, well-prepared, and on-time. THANK YOU ALL!

Deuce and others... There are lots of options out there, and while I am openly biased towards Tom's classes (under the banner of Ozark Safety and Rescue Educators), there are several other good course providers as well. The key is to make sure that the class you are considering uses a curriculum that reflects the recommendations of the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS), and is in-depth enough for the situations you might use the skills in. If you are looking for a class, there are several levels you can consider:

Wilderness First Aid - ~2.5 days, an overview of the most common injuries/illnesses, and some hands-on practice with patient care.

Advanced Wilderness First Aid - ~5 days. A little more in-depth than WFA on the subjects covered, but significantly more hands-on practice.

Wilderness First Responder - ~8-10 days. This is usually the minimum required certification for outdoor educators and guides who may lead over-night trips. More topics are covered, and in more depth. LOTS of hands-on practice. More focus on long-term care of patients when quick evac is not feasible.

The above three courses can be offered by OSRE. Additionally, for people that are already professional care-providers (EMTs, Paramedics, Nurses, PAs, MDs, etc...) there are Wilderness-Upgrade courses available. Sometimes these are taught in conjunction with a WFR, sometimes they are taught separately... It depends on the provider. Many course may be used for Continuing Education hours for maintaining certifications.

Thanks,
Shep

[Shep]

Oh, and I'd also like to thank Harlan for teaching us quite a bit about wound cleaning and management during the class as well.

[OzarkTom]

I just wanted to say how great it was to have so many of our instructors and club members attend our class this past weekend.

It is definitely a challenge to attend to a whole weekend of training, but everyone was committed to the process and from all reports, had a great time!

Paul in a prior post gave a really good explanation of what our different levels of available wilderness medical training comprise of, and if you are interested in developing your skills as a outdoors person in the areas of Wilderness Medicine and / or Technical Rescue contact us at SwiftwaterRescue@gmail.com and we will add you to our emailing list.

Thanks again to all our participants! Well Done!! Don't ever forget those five points and your ABCDE's.

Cheers,