Wilderness First Responder

January 5th-13th, 2009

Ithaca, NY

Leave it to COE to make 70 hours of intensive first aid education actually fun.  In spite of the fact that each of the 8 days of class started at 8 am and went straight through til 6pm, and in spite of spending much of that time in a basement, the class was hands on, interactive, and very engaging.  We performed CPR, created our own improvised litters from equipment we had in the basement, cleaned out wounds on pigs feet, actually injected each other with saline, and spent a lot of time in "simulations."

A spinally stable improvised carry

Using a tarp and ropes to create a litter

A piggy back style carry using a mountaineering rope

The small scale simulations used some very realistic makeup and some improvisational acting skills to create one-on-one situations between a patient and a rescuer.  These let us practice patient assessment and deciding on treatment plans for everything from common problems, to "once in a blue moon" problems, to "hope this never, ever happens" problems.  The full-blown simulations created larger accident scenarios where rescuers had to work together, organize triage, allocate resources, and safely evacuate patients.

A beautiful winter afternoon at the Challenge Course

The class after finishing Simulation 2-- 1 dislocated shoulder reduced, 1 ankle injury stabilized, 1 anaphylactic reaction stopped, and 1 possible spinal injury carried out through 20 inches of snow.

With this new WFR certification, I'm cleared to give CPR, use an AED and supplemental oxygen, give injections of epinephrin for anaphylaxis and severe asthma attacks, and give spinal assessments.  This is the level of first aid necessary for me to hopefully teach the Costa Rica tree climbing class next winter.

But, intense as the class was, we did get one free day and a little extra curricular play time-- we spent an afternoon building an igloo, an evening rock climbing, and a morning winter tree climbing.

Igloo building process-- after sleeping in and a hearty pancake breakfast on our day off, everyone was ready for a day of fun in the snow.

Starting to dig out the igloo.  We ended up with all 9 of us fitting comfortably inside.

Bouldering on the Lindseth wall-- most of our WFR class stayed late one night, and we ended up climbing until midnight.  I discovered that bouldering is really just twister for grown ups.

Dusting some snow off the platform for a little winter tree climbing.  Julien (one of my co-instructors for tree climbing, who also took WFR) and I took a bunch of our classmates out to try it for the first time.  It was a little chilly, but beautiful.