Wilderness First Responder courses

[naturejunkie]

Does anyone know if there is any type of accreditation body for Wilderness First Responder courses? I know NOLS and SOLO are well-respected just through word of mouth, but what about the other schools? How does one determine if a school is reputable? Thanks

[Bob S]

American Red Cross may be a place to look.

Why do you need an accredited course? If it’s only for what may happen to you or other adults with you or that you may run into along the trail, it would not need to be an accredited course for you to render first aid. But if you are taking under age kids, or for a job I could see the need for an accredited course to protect yourself from a law suit. But then these days you probably would still get sued.

[rafe]

IIRC, there is (or used to be) something called the "Good Samaritan" law that protected volunteer (non-professional) first aid responders. Just something I vaguely recall from first-aid training for the ski patrol, many moons ago...

[Cannibal]

I've been an instructor for the Red Cross for about 10 years teaching professional rescuer courses and have not heard of a First Responder course specifically for Wilderness. It doesn't mean they don't have one, but the chapters I've worked with do not offer it and I was unable to find anything on the ARC website beyond the standard PR courses.

[Cannibal]

IIRC, there is (or used to be) something called the "Good Samaritan" law that protected volunteer (non-professional) first aid responders. Just something I vaguely recall from first-aid training for the ski patrol, many moons ago...

That law varies greatly from county to county; not even the whole state is on the same page for Good Samaritan laws let alone a national standard.

[DCHiker]

I took the wilderness responder course back in Maine back in 96 through SOLO (I believe). They taught us how to put a leg in traction using a coffee mug, a branch/hiking stick, belt and shoelaces. Fun stuff! I can't remember the details of the course off hand, though

[Two Speed]

Tremont's got a good program. You have to take and pass the professional CPR class before you can attend.

[Dogginfox]

wildmed.com Generally if you are acting on the patients behalf in their best interest you are not going to get into any trouble, but if you are negligent as with all medicine you may be held accountable.

[Hooch]

NOLS offers courses in Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness EMT. The importanse of accreditation in these courses for some is eligibility to take the EMT-FR or EMT-B testing for the NREMT. NOLS also offers first aid and advanced first aid courses.

[naturejunkie]

Thanks everyone. I am not concerned with any blowback from helping people. My concern is regarding the quality of the program. If I am going to spend my money and a week of leave to take the course, I wan't to make sure it is well spent. I have been planning on a NOLS course, but scheduling may conflict. Therefore, I was looking into alternatives, such as SOLO for more scheduling options. Cheers.

[Lyle]

There is no national accrediting of Wilderness Medicine courses. Go with one of the established schools, or do some research to make sure the school is following Wilderness Medical Society guidelines. Check the text that will be used in the course. WMS should be cited often throughout the book.

As you know, NOLS (Wilderness Medical Institute) and SOLO offer quality courses. Wilderness Medical Associates is also well respected.

Less known and less regulated, but potentially good are courses by National Safety Council (their book, Wilderness First Aid and Care is a collaboration of National Safety Council and Wilderness Medical Society, and is quite good but somewhat elementary) and American Safety and Health Institute in collaboration with Wilderness Medical Associates has produced a great text if somewhat dry reading. It does contain excellent information. For these last two, I would investigate the background of the instructors, but they could be very effective courses.

Most organizations offer several levels from basic wilderness first aid (about 8 hours, little practical) to advanced wilderness first aid (usually 20 - 36 hours, much more hands-on) to Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness EMT. These last two are quite intense and can run from 40 to 200 + hours.

[OregonHiker]

Does anyone know if there is any type of accreditation body for Wilderness First Responder courses? I know NOLS and SOLO are well-respected just through word of mouth, but what about the other schools? How does one determine if a school is reputable? Thanks

Here is a link regarding BSA's Philmont High Adventure programs requirement for the ARC's Wilderness First Aid or Equivalent which lists a number of other organizations that provide training

http://www.scouting.org/philmont/200...quirements.pdf

[Bootstrap]

I've been an instructor for the Red Cross for about 10 years teaching professional rescuer courses and have not heard of a First Responder course specifically for Wilderness. It doesn't mean they don't have one, but the chapters I've worked with do not offer it and I was unable to find anything on the ARC website beyond the standard PR courses.

I have taken an American Red Cross class, I am certified in Wilderness First Aid, they used the phrase Wilderness First Responder with respect to this class.

It was helpful, and I'm glad I did it, but I would also be very interested in other venues. I wish we had done more hands-on, I wish we had done more thinking through concrete scenarios. I have a friend who took the same class with a different instructor, and it was totally different, the two things that were missing for my class were most of the class for him, and he was very pleased.

I'm very intrigued by these guys:

http://www.wms.org/conf/calendar.asp

Jonathan

[RedneckRye]

I just finished a WRF course last saturday. I took it thru WMI.
WMI, WMA, and SOLO are the big 3 that teach the course. It is an 80 hour class (normal non-wilderness First Responder course is a 40 hour class) and the certification from WMI or WMA is good for 2 years and then there is a 1 year grace period to recertify. SOLO's certification is for 3 years, but has no grace period. To recert you need to take either a 3 day WRF recert class of a 2 day Wilderness First Aid class.
A WFR certification has become sort of the industry standard for leading trips, courses, etc into the backcountry. It is probably overkill for the average hiker. I was the only person in my course who was taking the course just to take it. Everyone else was either their for their job or was in some sort of recreation education college program and would need a WRF certification to get a job.

[BMRisko]

FWIW I thoroughly enjoyed my SOLO WFA class and plan on taking a WFR class through SOLO as well, hopefully I can fit in one of the classes hosted at the Landmark Learning Center.

[Spigot]

Wilderness Medical Associates is who certified me but I do guide work so like someone else said above it would be over kill to obtain this cert. It does include basic life support, anaphalyxis workshop, CPR, wilderness first aid, and protocol. I've heard WMA is the best available. It definately helped me out while hiking the PCT. I called off two helicopter rescues that someone had called in a state of panic. One was for dehydration, another for diarrea. Have fun paying for that rescue if you don't really need it. Colorado has some crazy laws pertaining calling in a rescue and putting rescuers at un-needed risk. They make you pay for it. I hike solo mainly so this cert. gives me confidence that I need. In a thru hiking environment you'll have plenty of know it alls who think they know what to do in a crisis so be ready to deal with superiority complexes that dont really know the right way to deal with accidents. Rock climbing communities deal with the same "know it all" problems. WFR has authority over rangers and police in most circumstances so be prepared to "jump in" when someone questions your WFR authority.

[shelterbuilder]

It sticks in my mind that ATC has (or had) offered a Wilderness First Responder course in conjunction with its chainsaw certification courses, so you might try contacting them, also. (Chainsaw certification needs AT LEAST first aid/CPR training to be valid.)

[HikerChick2008]

Check out possibilities thru your local fire/police/ems.

[dmb658]

I just took the WFR class at the SOLO facility this past fall, and i would definatetly recomend it to anyone going on a thru-hike. Mainly because of the fact that something could happen at any moment and its always good to know what to do in those situations

[Waterbuffalo]

I took mine through NOLS several years ago and it was top notch