This 3-day on-site course is located at our Taos, NM campus. Students must successfully complete the following prerequisite courses to attend:
The Standard Wilderness First Aid Certification
The Advanced Wilderness First Aid Certification
Our Wilderness First Responder (WFR) is a hybrid program demonstrating a minimum of 72 hours of Wilderness First Aid (WFA) and WFR training. Students will receive certification for each level completed on the way to the final WFR certification.
The first 48 hours of the WFR are the online WFA and Advanced WFA courses. These are prerequisites for the final on-site, 3-day portion which awards a WFR certification.
During the 3-day, onsite WFR, a large part of the training is performed in a scenario-based environment with an emphasis on hands-on learning and testing as we move through subjects. CPR/AED certification is also completed during the WFR on-site.
For those students working through the Austere Medicine Program and Herbal and Off-grid Medicine Experience (HOME), the WFR on-site is also embedded as 3 days within the 13-day on-site HOME course.
Additionally, for those students wishing to integrate field herbalism into their curriculum, the Herbal First Aid curriculum is now taught as a separate course.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW FULL COURSE SYLLABUS
The full WFR program (from WFA through WFR) includes the following curriculum:
- Legal definitions, good samaritan laws and scope of practice
- 1, 2 and 3 person carries and stretcher carries, improvisational litters
- CPR/AED certification
- Introduction to knots and lashings
- Managing Head Injuries
- Primary Survey
- Secondary Survey (physical exam, vital signs, SAMPLE history)
- Ankle and Knee assessment and taping
- Shock assessment and treatment
- The acute abdomen
- Bandaging/Taping Techniques: Shoulders to Ribs
- Bandaging/Taping Techniques: Occlusive Dressings and their uses
- Bandaging/Taping Techniques: Compression Bandages
- Bandaging/Taping Techniques: Field Expedient Tourniquets
- Field Management of Pelvic Injuries
- Bandaging/Taping Techniques: Buddy Splinting
- Bandaging/Taping Techniques: Traction Splints
- Wound Closure methods
- Open vs. Closed Fractures
- Wound and Infection Management
- Primary and Secondary Survey Practical Exercises
- The Austere Team: Provider roles in the field. Food allergies.
- Environmental Injuries and Hazards: Heat, Cold, Altitude, Lightning strikes, Drowning and Immersion
- Venom and venomous bites
- Toxins and poisons
- Spine management in the field (to include clearing the spine)
- Medical emergencies in the field
- Building first aid kits
- Charcoal and aspirin
- Medication administration assistance
- Radio and Communications
- Group Scenarios: post disaster response
- Low light triage scenarios
- Establishing of an Incident Command Center
