Wilderness First Responder (Finale)
Last week I successfully completed the WFR course through SOLO being held in Vermont. Beyond what I previously wrote, we spent a lot of time figuring out ways to transport immobile patients out of the woods. The culmination of these lessons was a mock nighttime rescue of multiple injured parties.
On Friday night we received an urgent call that there were reports of a group of men and women who had fallen off of the high ropes course and were in need of rescue. As a group of 22 rescuers we donned our gear and trudged out into the woods. Upon encountering the group we split up into teams, attended to each injured person’s life threatening wounds, and then worked on evacuating them to civilization. It was great to put into use everything we had learned in the past week in the closest thing to a real life situation we had seen thus far.
At first we were dealing with only two patients but our instructors threw us what turned out to be a massive curve ball when a member of our team tripped, fell, and “broke his arm.” The new patient really played up the part, insisting that it was not part of the exercise and we had to get him to the hospital immediately. We took the turn of events in stride, however, and within about 40 minutes we had all of the patients back to the comfort of the heated main hall and effectively “rescued.”
This final test was amazingly fun and the course as a whole was totally worthwhile. It will help me keep groups I am leading in the woods safe and healthy and, if the situation arises, have the ability to deal with more serious wounds, animal bites and stings, and illnesses. Many thanks to the instructors from SOLO and staff at the Hulbert Outdoor Center.
