Seeking Wilderness First Aid Instructors
Do you have what it takes to teach people what to do if an emergency arises when they’re far from medical care? Then the New York-North Jersey Chapter is looking for you to become a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) instructor!
To be an instructor, you’ll need to be an active EMT or W-EMT. If your card is expired but you still want to teach, the Chapter will pay for the class for your recertification and additional training. The New York-North Jersey Chapter is the only one in the AMC that provides this WFA training. All instructors are volunteers.
The Chapter holds six to seven WFA classes per year. They involve 16 hours of fast-paced instruction over a full weekend. Most classes are at the Stephen & Betsy Corman AMC Harriman Outdoor Center in Harriman State Park. Classes are team taught, always at least two instructors per class, so no one is “left alone” to teach.
To make the WFA class more “realistic,” the classes go through emergency scenarios and get hands-on practice. To that end, the instructors use a mannequin and stage props of simulated injuries and fake blood.
All interested folks contact the Chair of the Wilderness First Aid Committee at wildernessfirstaid@amc-ny.org for more information.
Yes please. Baaaa (black sheep 😉 )
WFA, WFR, WEMT and WALS and then there’s the rescue side of things, high angle, snow, cave and swift water/flood, Medicine and Rescue combined.
Just a thought, trail crews
Nobody knows their trails better than those that build/maintain them, from a SAR perspective.
Not familiar with your version of trail crews, but ones I know of use explosives making BIG rocks smaller, high line boulders, chain saws/crosscuts, axes… with the common co-morbidities, at least a day if not longer out, with spotty comms, and a piss poor first aid kit.
Versus full on Wilderness ALS (medicine and trauma with Prolonged field care ability and reliable comms for coordinating response and talking with doc for much needed help