Wilderness First Aid Class

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oruacat2

Joined
Jul 30, 2009
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Hey gang - I'm thinking of taking a wilderness first aid class (and the prerequisite basic first aid) taught by my local Red Cross chapter. Anyone have any experience with these ARC classes? My last formal training was 25 years ago in the Army, so I know there have been advances in techniques and equipment since then.

What say ye? Are the Red Cross-taught classes worth it, or should I look elsewhere?

Thanks in advance,
KD

Edit - I found another forum with this exact question from earlier this month, so if you want to delete this one it won't hurt my fragile ego. lol
 
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I did one from AMC (Canadian version:D) a few years ago. My response was . . . meh. It wasn't the best class and not the worst. It was two days. One in class, then one outside. It seemed thrown together. Not alot of focus on fire. shelter etc. More like, "what would you do if you are hiking and you break a leg, sit tight and wait for help". Just basic first aid, but outside. Along those lines. I'm not sure what your course entails. This was what I personally experienced, so YMMV.
 
It absolutely depends on the instructor.

If the instructor teaches what is suppose to be taught during the wilderness first aid class it will be a waste of money and time. Let me sum it up for you: splint a bone and apply dressing to an open wound.

If the instructor has a decent background in life saving techniques you can learn a little but a week (40 hrs) is not much time.

I have taken EMT courses that sucked because the instructor talked about the basics out of the book. When the certification test came around there was quite a bit that was not covered.

I would recommend not taking the wilderness course unless it is required for your job. A better bet would be volunteer now and then where EMT, Paramedic, firemen do their re-certifications.
 
R.A.T. Used to have a highly acclaimed course, but I don't see it offered (yet) this year.
 
I completed the Advanced Wilderness and Remote First Aid course with the canadian Red Cross last year.

See this link for course details.

This link appears to me as the US equivalent.

Back to your inquiry, I was really impressed with the course's content and came out of the 40 hours (2 week-ends of 20 hours) with a wealth of knowledge. I am confident I would be able to tackle emergency situation if they happened especially since the course had many hands on and real life scenarios to put the theory into practice. This was a big plus to me as theory is only limited by my ability to put it into application.

I totally agree on one of the above post about the quality of the course being very dependent on the instructor experience, qualities, etc. Our trainer duo was great and very experienced. I would like to that your class mates can also be a big factor to your appreciation of the training. Background, course expectations and respective experience can cause certain clashes..... On that, I would suggest that if at all possible, create yourself a group of "compatible" folks and approach a trainer/institution/red cross training provider to setup a course. That is how I ended taking the class via a local outdoors club. We even got a great group price because we maxed out the trainee/trainer ratio that Red Cross recommends.

My 2 cents are that If you seriously are into outdoors activities and tend to go "far away" from civilization, the Red Cross course is definitely a great investment towards safety as knowledge will always be power......
 
Hm. Looks like they've updated it since I took it. Seems much more comprehensive. Well, anything you learn is better than nothing!
 
Personally I have taken the red cross first aid courses and found them to be basically useless, apply pressure and rush to call 911, which is about as useless as tits on a boar hog when you are 3 days from the trail head.

I took a NOLS WMI WFR (National Outdoor Leadership School Wilderness Medical Institute Wilderness First Responder) course a couple of years ago, and it was great. I learned so much from it it was ridiculous. Now for me that is saying a lot, my older brother is a paramedic so I know a lot from him plus all of my years in Boy Scouts and injuring myself and just being alive. Their course really teaches you what to do through class room and hands on teaching, with lots and lots and LOTS of scenarios where you switch off with people being the victim. They actually taught us wilderness protocols so when you actually need to fix somebody and your sat phone is dead and you can't call 911, you don't have to watch your buddy die. One of my favorite parts of the class was the improvisation. They actually taught us how to use the stuff we already had on us to fix people, backpack stays for braces and sweatshirts for C collars. Very useful if you don't plan on packing a hospital in your FAK.

I cannot recommend this class highly enough, I feel it is a must for people who actually spend time out in the woods doing the things that we do. They also have other courses, like Wilderness First Aid and Wilderness EMT for those that are looking for more or less instruction.

Lastly I would like to say that NOLS is not the only place to take a course like this but when you are looking for something like this make sure it is Legit. There are a lot of people teaching WFR courses out of their church and who don't have any real credentials. Now I do recommend this over nothing, I would really try and get a class that is sanctioned by the Wilderness Medical Society as they keep up on what is being taught and any advancements in the field.
 
My bud an I are wilderness first aid instructors, as well as Full time NYC paramedics... We will be hosting a class this summer to the North east. (if we can find a venue) it is free to forum members with the exception of text books. If it gets off the ground I'll post a thread here.
 
Depends. Both are pretty simple and impossible to fail. Still I'm glad I took them. You probably have learned all the info before but being certified does not hurt.
 
The WFA class I took was instructed by a 20th SFG friend of mine and was an excellent class. We did it in the jungles of Peru during a trip and all the survival students got certified as an extra bonus. We actually did a lot of advanced techniques not covered in the standard Wilderness First Aid class. It was cool. Learned a lot.
 
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