Wilderness First Aid

This weekend I completed my 16 hours of Wilderness First Aid training. Crews bound for Philmont this summer must have “... at a least one person, preferably two, (either an advisor or a youth participant) in each crew be currently certified in American Red Cross Wilderness First Aid or the equivalent and CPR from the American Heart Association, the American Red Cross or the equivalent."

Our three high adventure crews are headed north to Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario Canada this summer rather than west to Philmont but we will be in a similarly remote situation and thought it wise that we should observe the same precautions. Wilderness First Aid  prepares us for emergencies when help is some hours away.

Focused on the the prevention, recognition and response of illness and injury the course builds on basic first aid skills. Much of the time was devoted to learning and practicing how to assess, stabilize and monitor injuries. Trainees don't leave the course as EMT's or anything close but they should be capable of applying some advanced skills while waiting for help to arrive.  I wouldn't be surprised if WFA training became a requirement to obtain a tour permit for any Scout activity where emergency response time was four or more hours in length. 

Safety on any Scouting adventure depends on good leadership. Good leadership requires a commitment to training. If your Scout Council has an active High Adventure Program they have probably arranged to offer WFA training.

Wilderness First Aid article in Scouting Magazine

Wilderness Safety Council website (courses offered in Mid Atlantic states)

NOTE That while the Philmont policy quoted above specifically references  'American Red Cross Wilderness First Aid' I was unable to find any such training on their website.

Comments

[Chuck Charbeneau]

I was interested in this clas as well as I heard it mentioned by a friend of mine in a conversation about Adventure Racing, and the only reference I could find to a class of this kind was on the Dayton Area Chapter's site:

http://www.dac.redcross.org/courses_new/wilderness.php

It does metion that it fulfills the Philmont's requirements, btw.

This is probably closer to you than it is to me now that I live in La Crosse, WI.

Cheers,

Chuck.

[Chuck Charbeneau]

Ahh, upon further scrutiny, my local chapter had one a couple of months ago...HOW DID I MISS THIS?!?!

Looks like you have to go to the individual site for curricula, and these sites aren't agregated in the top level, national site's search.

[Walter Underwood]

I did WFA a couple of years ago and it scared the stuffing out of me. I can't believe I was tour leader without this training. Geez.

The WFA curriculum was developed by the Transylvania Chapter of the ARC. The full title is "Wilderness First Aid Basics" (http://www.transylvaniaredcross.com/wfab.htm).

The dividing line between WFA and community first aid is not four hours, but 30 minutes!

Scouting in the UK is much more organized about leader training for wilderness outings. They require a WFA-like course plus extensive leader training for any outing where you would be 30 minutes or more from notifying professional rescuers.

The BSA is pretty fuzzy about this. The new med form requires part B for activities where evacuation would take 30 minutes. Of course, evacuation time depends on the injury. I would do a hasty evac with a snakebite, but a very, very careful and slow evac with a neck injury. So, an evacuation time requirement is nonsense. The FAQ on form clarifies "evacuation" to mean where "emergency care is more than 30 minutes by ground transportation" which is a massive change in the meaning.

The UK version is better, with definitions for terrain zero, one, and two. "Terrain One" is "more than 30 minutes but less than three hours travelling time from a road which can take an ordinary road-going ambulance or a building which is occupied (such as a farm) or another means of calling help (such as a telephone box)." Obviously, terrain two is over three hours. Each level requires a different level of certification for leaders.

I really do wish that BSA National would take an hour or so to read up on what Scouting UK does. For a taste, check out the UK-wide Mountain Leader Training scheme (http://www.mltuk.org/).

WFA training can be done by people 14 and up. Sign up your Scouts. This is a different challenge than First Aid merit badge, and entirely appropriate for the older Scouts.

I know of a crew that went to Philmont with every member trained at WFA or WFR.

[Clarke Green]

I agree!
The other thing I'd like to see is incident reports and analysis from the BSA. I have read and reread many work-related injury reports and have found them to be a good source of safety consciousness.

[Rene Amoureuse]

@Clarke Green

BSA's incidents reports could easily be found online. Id let you do the searching by yourself.