I knew I had to make up for myself somehow after things
didn’t quite go according to plan this summer… My immediate thought was I should run away to France to the refuge of
my friend’s chalet in the Alps and summit Mt. Blanc on my birthday… You’ve got
to dream big, right? And I hope that does happen soon, but not before I learn how to deal if and when shit hits the fan out there.
After I came
back down to earth and returned home, I thought OK, I’ve got to add something
to my repertoire in order to progress out of this self-proclaimed “failure.” Through
a bit of research I decided to enroll in a wilderness first responder course
and an STCW (standards of training, certification and watch keeping) US Coast
Guard sanctioned course. These two courses, I feel, will build my knowledge and
certification in areas I’d like to pursue, like outdoor education and adventure
camps for kids, and continuing to work on yachts in ideal locations. Since my
work experience in those areas lacked this summer, I might as well go back to
the books and build from there.
Wilderness first
responder came first, beginning the day after Labor Day, kicking off September
on a great foot. The SOLO Wilderness Medical School in Conway, NH is base camp
for a group of WFR and WEMT students for two and four weeks each. There are
about 20 students in the WFR group and 20 or so in the WEMT group. For the most
part we are separate, but share meals and dorm housing.
Day one consisted of the awkward introductions and uneasy feeling of not
knowing what to expect, which quickly subsided as we jumped right into
scenarios and performing care on pretend hurt patients. Coming into this with
some basic knowledge of first aid after spending many high school summers as a
lifeguard, I felt decently comfortable with what I was getting myself into. Yet
this is a 10-day intensive course where we start from scratch with basic
immediate care of a hurt person in the wilderness, CPR, first aid, bandaging
wounds, treating allergic reactions and snake bites, to more serious trauma
like broken bones, splinting, placing broken femurs in traction, properly
carrying a victim out of the woods, etc. This is such pertinent and relevant
material to have in my back pocket while doing the things I love most – skiing
and enjoying the outdoors. Although as a coach, if I encounter an injured
athlete, I am strictly forbidden to perform care on them due to lawsuits and I
am to follow the protocol of calling ski patrol to let them do the dirty work,
this kind of knowledge will be incredibly useful for my own adventures with
friends in the backcountry.
 |
"Because shit happens..."
|
The SOLO school
is one of the premiere specifically wilderness medical schools in the world and
has been operating for nearly 50 years. This kind of training drew an
incredibly unique crowd to the SOLO School for their September courses. The
typical crunchy post grad and current college students abound, yet we also have
a young woman who’s contracted by the Army to provide cultural intelligence to
special ops teams in Afghanistan, a man about to embark on building a
hut-to-hut trail system through the Costa Rican cloud forest, a man who started
the first and only on-the-ground mobile paramedic operation in Cairo in
response to all the upheaval going on there, a former Navy rescue swimmer, a
young man taking this course in order to immediately seek an Air Force
recruiter to enlist for para-rescue, and a paramedic who traveled all the way from
Australia. Based on the diverse backgrounds and far reaching home bases of the
students here, I believe this must be the premiere wilderness medical training
facility.
 |
| Practicing splinting with ski poles, a jacket and layers for padding - very realistic tools |
 |
| ski pole make-shift arm splint and sling |
 |
| The students are pretend victims in our practice scenarios - injuries got pretty real with theater makeup |
 |
| I'm the victim with a splinted leg - please never let this happen in real life! |
 |
| Make-shift head splint/immobilizer with air mattress, layers for padding and crevat triangle bandages as ties |
Week one of WFR training is in the books and I’m now equipped with the
know how to approach a distressed or injured person in the backcountry, gauge
their condition and treat as appropriately as I possibly can with very limited
resources in usually adverse conditions. Although I have all this new knowledge
at my fingertips, in no way do I ever want to have to use it. Interesting that
I took 2 weeks out of my life and paid a good chunk of money to learn these
skills, yet hope to God I’ll never put it to use. However simply having the
skills to remain calm and take charge in a shitty situation in the backcountry
gives me a newfound confidence to continue going out there to do what I
love.
 |
| A fun way to learn what's in our guts in case we come upon an abdomen injury |
No comments:
Post a Comment