Wilderness First Aid Course

Just before the semester started up, I went over to the University of Missouri for a 2-day, 16 hour Wilderness First Aid course put on by Solo. We spent part of the time in the classroom learning basic anatomy and physiology as it relates to Wilderness First Aid and part of the time practicing assessing someone for injuries, splinting broken bones, taking vital signs, etc. For most simulations, our instructor used makeup to give us some injuries that our classmates needed to fine, like this sweet fake ankle bruise I got for one simulation.

The biggest difference between Wilderness First Aid and regular First Aid is the amount of time that you're away from help. In day-to-day situations in populated areas, regular first aid has a goal of treating and keeping someone alive for up to an hour, which is usually the longest it takes to get to a hospital. In WFA, that hour extends to a full 24 hours, and often beyond, as the time needed to get help to an injured person and then get the injured person to a medical facility greatly increases once you're away from roads. As a result, we talked a lot about assessing for more hidden injuries (my ankle bruise also came with a nasty big bruise on my back that indicated kidney bleeding) that may affect treatment in that 24-hour period in a way that they wouldn't if you were just waiting for an ambulance in town.

The other major difference was in learning how to use items in your pack to care for injuries. My hiking poles became a lower leg splint. Someone's vest helped hold a broken wrist. A bear bagging cord was paired with an inflatable mattress to immobilize someone from their ankle to mid-thigh. Stuff like that. I'm pretty good at making do with what I have available to solve problems (I fixed Jeff's bicycle mirror with a coffee stirrer and some duct tape one time), so the MacGyvering appealed to me.

We didn't cover everything I'd hoped to learn, but I am glad I took the course. I haven't completely nailed down my first aid kit for the trip, and I'll add a few things I might not have otherwise added as a result of the course, but in general, I feel better about assessing and doing basic treatment on myself and others who might get into trouble out in the woods. I may or may not use the knowledge from this course (hopefully I won't have to!), but taking it seemed like the responsible thing to do, particularly when I'm spending more and more time out in the woods.