Wilderness First Responder & CPR Course - 10/3-12/06

We (John and Adrienne) took part in a 10-day WFR & CPR course at the Environmental Learning Center near Deception Pass. The course was taught by Wilderness Medical Institute and focused on how to deal with medical situations in the backcountry. We were quite fortunate to have two great instructors, Dan & Daniel who made taking their course a second time interesting, informative, practical and well worth the effort.

Our 10-day WFR & CPR course covered a broad range of topics including medical legal issues, patient assessment & basic life support and CPR then traumatic injuries such as head, chest, spinal, and musculoskeletal injuries along with shock and environmental injuries like frostbite, heat exhaustion, altitude illness, lightning, and diving emergencies.

We then moved on to covered medical emergencies such as cardiac, respiratory, and neurological emergencies, diabetes, allergic reactions and anaphylaxis, poisoning, abdominal illness, male and female gender illnesses and injuries, and then finished up communicable diseases, first aid kits, and drug kits.

Throughout the course practical scenarios with other participants occurred nearly 5 times a day allowing for hands on practice with all of our medical skills and decision-making.

All in all this is one of the best courses any one who regularly spends time in the outdoors could take. Makes you think, does your partner have medical training?