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Wilderness First Aid, Nov. 2013

Huck_It_Baby

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I wanted to take a wilderness first aid course this year but time hasn't allowed. The course I saw requires several consecutive days and I haven't been able to swing it.

This summer I was backcountry canoe camping on Indian Lake in ADK and slammed a hatchet into my wrist! It happened at night pretty far back into a remote section which had no quick way back to a road. No cell reception to call for help. I didn't make it out and to a hospital until 14 hours later.

Fortunately we had first aid and my GF has medical skills!

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billski

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Good God Huck! You're lucky you hit on the side of the arm you did, and no broken bone either, so it appears.

The WFA course, which I took is two days and always seem to be held on weekends. The WFResponder course is a 5-day resident course that gets waaaay deep into the medical aspects. Like you, I don't have time for that.

This is my third time through the WFA (recert every two years). Everything finally clicked this year, and the instructor went into a lot of gory details, nuts and bolt and triage methods that I would feel quite comfortable with doing.
 

Huck_It_Baby

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I went down to the bone on one side of the laceration! Dr. said I was pretty lucky. Just missed an artery and that would have been real bad considering how far away from help I was.

I'll have to look into the WFA course if it's a weekend thing, thanks!
 

Abubob

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billski

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abub,
Why do you take photos of your injuries? Some subliminal need to relive the pain and agony? ;)
You should hike with me. The more I take these courses and the more incidents I've encountered have laden my pack heavily. Hmm, maybe that's why I'm the slowest in the group.

Nastly little "scrape" you've got there. :)

Nasty sprain. We encountered a sprain on Cannon 2 summers back. Her friend ran down to the ranger's cabin for help. She came back, alone, with a pair of crutches. Trumped my ACE bandage.... Ingenious!

What you see is what a good makeup artist can do. The 3-D is formed with clay and paint used in theater arts.
 

Abubob

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abub,
Why do you take photos of your injuries? Some subliminal need to relive the pain and agony? ;)
You should hike with me. The more I take these courses and the more incidents I've encountered have laden my pack heavily. Hmm, maybe that's why I'm the slowest in the group.

I must. Notice, however, I did not photograph my wife on the trail after the spain. I waited until she was home, drugged and "comfortable".

Nasty sprain. We encountered a sprain on Cannon 2 summers back. Her friend ran down to the ranger's cabin for help. She came back, alone, with a pair of crutches. Trumped my ACE bandage.... Ingenious!

I doubt I'll be packing crutches.

What you see is what a good makeup artist can do. The 3-D is formed with clay and paint used in theater arts.

Yeah, I really could not imagine that they would ask for volunteers to have their arms gashed!
 

ijenn

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I've been thinking about taking one of these classes for a while - are they just run through the AMC? I'd like to know more about winter hiking injuries in particular.
 

billski

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I've been thinking about taking one of these classes for a while - are they just run through the AMC? I'd like to know more about winter hiking injuries in particular.
Any group can sponsor a class. I've taken them at different AMC branches and also at a college (sponsored by an outing club.) Most of the courses (not all) in the Eastern US are run by Solo Schools, which is based out of North Conway NH. http://www.soloschools.com/ Solo lists most of the courses they teach on their web site. It also describes the curricula.
 

ijenn

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That's a great resource! I think the outing club I'm part of might have a few classes, actually - I hadn't thought about taking it through them. Thank you!
 
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