Wilderness First Aid

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO WILDERNESS FIRST AID?  I’M TRYING TO DECIDE IF I SHOULD TAKE A 1-2 DAY URBAN FIRST AID COURSE OR ONE OF YOUR WILDERNESS COURSES.    

Urban first aid courses are designed for situations where Emergency Medical Services will arrive in 10 to 15 minutes.  Wilderness First Aid is designed to give you the tools and knowledge necessary to care for a sick or injured person for hours or days, depending on your training level.  To do this, we focus on giving you a lot more tools and decision making ability by helping you to understand what is going on ‘under the hood’ during a medical emergency.  Emergencies in the backcountry are unpredictable – we also help you to have the confidence to use your own common sense to decide a course of action when the situation is unclear.

WHAT GEAR DO I NEED TO BRING?

A list of recommended gear will be sent to you with your course information package.  In short, you should prepare for each day as if for a day hike, including adequate footwear, layers, rain protection, snacks, water, and your ten essentials.  It is very important that you prepare for the worst weather the season might offer – you will spend a lot of time outdoors, and being cold and wet will negatively affect your learning.   

I WANT TO TAKE THIS COURSE BUT I DON’T DRIVE – WILL I HAVE TO ARRANGE TRANSPORTATION TO A REMOTE LOCATION?

Our 20- and 40-hour courses take place in areas that offer easy public transportation and local biking access.  In Vancouver, it’s Pacific Spirit Park – located between Vancouver and the University of British Columbia.  In Squamish, most courses take place in the areas around Smoke Bluffs, the Stawamus River, or the Stawamus Chief.

ALL OF MY PREVIOUS FIRST AID COURSES WENT IN ONE EAR AND OUT THE OTHER.  WHAT MAKES YOUR TRAINING STICK? 

Great question – there are a few factors that make our courses stand out:

1. Exceptional instructors and an outstanding commitment to learning.  All of our instructors are experienced responders with plenty of patient care experience, a love of the outdoors, and a passion for teaching. They have not only completed the Canadian Red Cross’s exceptional WFA instructor training, but also our own rigorous in-house instructor development and apprenticeship program.
2. Our courses always take place in natural wooded areas or coastlines that offer an immersive experience – you feel like you are really dealing with medical emergencies in the wilderness.
3. We spend a lot of time finding the perfect teaching accessories – including functional medical learning aids, anatomical models, theater-quality make-up, and dastardly props to help create a feeling that you are responding to a ‘real’ emergency.  
4. Combine all of this with our scenario-focused teaching model – which gives you more hands-on practice than any other first aid course – and you will walk away with more confidence, better skills, and longer skill retention than you would ever expect from a course of this length.

THE LAST COMPANY I SCHEDULED WITH CANCELLED MY COURSE BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T HAVE ENOUGH STUDENTS.  HOW OFTEN DOES THIS HAPPEN AT COAST WILDERNESS MEDICAL TRAINING? 

Almost never.  You are committing your time to this course, and the least we can do is the same.  

That being said, our more advanced courses cannot be delivered effectively without a certain minimum number of students.  If we are ever unable to reach these numbers, you will be informed as soon as possible, receive hearty and heartfelt apologies, a full refund, and an invitation to attend the next training opportunity at a discounted price.