Belaying and Bandaging: Wilderness First Aid, Silver Falls State Park, November 8-9, 2014

********** SEE BELOW FOR PICTURES FORM THIS NOVEMBER 2014 WFA CLASS****

This is an 18-hour Wilderness First Aid course sponsored by the Climbing Section of the Chemeketan outdoor club at Silver Falls State Park November 8-9, 2014. The schedule runs from 8 am to 7 pm on Saturday and 8 am to 5 pm on Sunday. The course will cover first aid skills and decision-making using realistic emergency medical scenarios as might be encountered on a climbing, hiking or backpacking trip in the Cascades. This will be a fun, intense, hands-on course that includes simulated-terrifying outdoor scenarios in dark, cold, wet, chaotic conditions. (See pictures from last years course.)

Instructors, coaches, "patients" and hysterical bystanders

Mike Niemeyer, Wilderness Advanced-EMT (Bio)
Dorothy Brown Kwaiser, Wilderness EMT
Dr Mike Gabe, MD
Dr. Mark Olson, MD
Michael Gurley
Bryon Snapp
Christopher Salaz
Joanne DeMay
Mary Francis Jackson
Alicia Niemeyer
Chonteh Rivertree
Terry Walstrom

Students (*=Also attending October 24th CPR class.)

Milan Apeltauer*
Susan Currie Sivek
Marcus Sivek
Forrest Gill
Frosty Gill
MacKenzie Gill
Karen Blocksom
Teresa Gaulin
Zdenka Apeltauer*
Brittany Kenison
Christene Bennett *
David Danskey*
Katie Woodward
Mike McKinney
Marilyn Holler
Heidi Sunderman*
Jillian Sunderman*
Kurt Sunderman*
Alexandra Phillips
Sheri Hilgers
Kevin Compton

PREREQUISITES and PREPARATION

A State parking pass is required to park in Silver Falls State Park. Passes are $5 a day and can be obtained from a machine in the North Falls parking lot and 1/4 mile from our training location.

Must be 16 years of age or older

Must have the ability to lift 40 lbs

Must have current CPR certification. (I'll be offering the American Heart Association, Adult-only CPR AED class Friday night October 24th from 7 - 9 pm for $20 at the Drakes Crossing Fire Station for anyone who needs it.)

Be familiar with the Mazama Rope Litter (We will cover this and other rope liters in detail in class)

Provide your emergency contact information to Mike Niemeyer.

Sign a class agreement and release form and mail it with your registration fee (or bring the form with you to the first class if you are registering within 1 week of class.)

You will need a watch that displays seconds and a headlamp.

Bring snacks and meals for both days (we won’t be feeding you). We will have a kitchen facility available with a sink, microwave, fridge, stove, etc.

Bring a day pack or backpack that can get knocked around a bit – with supplies you’d typically bring on an outing. Bring an extra thrift-store quality shirt and pants/sweat pants – should you volunteer to be a patient in a scenario. A small foam pad is optional - something for you to sit or kneel on when you are outside assisting a patient.

Wear/bring warm clothes and a waterproof shell layer or rain pants/coat.

Bring a towel or rags to dry yourself off as we come in from outside scenarios.

*********WFA 2014 PICTURES*****

REGISTRATION:

Cost is $45 for Chemeketan members and residents of Drakes Crossing Fire District, $56 for all others. These fees cover the cost of expendable first aid supplies students will use in the training. All trainers are volunteering their time. Students will need to purchase the textbook on their own (see options below). You are on your own for meals. A State Park parking pass is also required ($5/day). Payment is required to confirm your reservation with checks payable to the "Chemeketans". Email Mike Niemeyer for additional payment instructions.

Course reading:

I've reviewed about every wilderness first aid book out there and have not settled on a clear winner as students vary in their background and your own first aid goals. This is a highly interactive course that will have you diving into things right away. To get the most out of it you will need to have read one of the texts listed below prior to the first day of class. We will have a brief quiz the first day to help reinforce your reading assignment. Here are some of the text's available and benefits/limits of each.

Wilderness first aid books for the lay person:

A newer publication (August 2013) that is both waterproof and low-cost is "The Wilderness First Aid Handbook by Grant S. Lipman available at REI and on Amazon at This text is a good resource with current first aid and CPR protocols. $9.49, Its a packable size at 5 x 7 inches. Also available as a Kindle e-book.

Backcountry First Aid , Buck Tilton. This book is $5.36 from Amazon . It’s also available at most outdoor stores including REI. It is is 128 pages small in size (4 x 5 inches), very inexpensive, and covered the basics needed for a weekend wilderness first aid course. It also fits nicely in your first aid kit. The 5th edition was published in 2007.

Wilderness Medicine: Beyond First Aid Paperback – November 6, 2012 by William W. Forgey M.D. , $12.19, a larger reference book at 288 pages and 9 x 6 inches. It is a well reviewed book by a respected wilderness medicine expert.

For the medical professional:

Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine: Expert Consult - Online and Print. June 7, 2013 by Paul S. Auerbach MD MS FACEP FAWM. If you have a medical background you'll appreciate the information in any of the books by Paul Auerbach, MD. This book is $44.45, 1024 pages and about 8 by 5 by 1.5 inches. I frequently use this text as a handy desktop reference (I usually have a medical dictionary nearby when I'm reading it). If you want the definitive wilderness medicine reference book see his Wilderness Medicine: Expert Consult Premium Edition - Enhanced Online Features and Print, Hardcover – December 21, 2011 its spendy at $147.43 and large at 2304 pages.

Online reference materials:

WFA Patient Report form and Checklist (Version 14)- I developed this form for this class and will be including it in your first aid kits for use during the class scenarios. It is a good idea to get familiar with it before class. (The form should be printed 2-sided and folded twice so the numbered pages open in order.)

Wilderness First Aid - legal issues
Hypothermia Guidelines - Alaska (This is an advanced protocol for EMS folks but provides a detailed discussion of cold injuries.)
American Red Cross Wilderness First Aid Pocket Guide (online as PDF)
Article "When Friends Become Rescuers" regarding accident on Mt Thielsen. (From Bryon Snapp)

Accommodations:

Silver Falls State Park has cabins, and RV and Tent sites for those who want to stay at the park during the course. Some students have indicated they might want to share a tent site. There is no staying in the N Falls lodge overnight (Our training venue). The N Falls lodge is located in the group camp area but we didn’t reserve that camping option due to expense and limited amenities. The tent sites at the main campground are a few miles south of where we will be but have hook ups, heated restrooms and showers. They have cabins and meals: http://www.silverfallsconference.com/cabins You might just give them a call if the reservations link doesn't work. 866-575-8875.

Carpooling from Salem:

A State parking pass is required to park in Silver Falls State Park. Passes are $5 a day and can be obtained from a machine in the North Falls parking lot and 1/4 mile from our training location.

If there is interest I recommend Salem folks meet at 6:30 am Saturday and Sunday at the State Motorpool on airport road and leave at 6:45 am. But lets confirm this via email to make sure there is interest in this option.
We will be at about 1550 ft elevation. (See links below for Park weather and webcams).