Wilderness First Aid (WFA) Course Student Info

Sponsored by Dirtastic in partnership with Pacific Wilds & NOLS Wilderness Medicine

Student Information: 

Dates: June 13 and 14, 2024 (two days) 8am-6pm.  Arrive at 7:45am on day 1. 

Location: Mt Hood Town Hall 6575 OR-35, Mt Hood, OR 97041

About this Course:

Prepare for the unexpected with this fun, hands-on introduction to wilderness medicine. If you like to take short trips relatively close to medical resources, enjoy weekend family outdoor activities, recreate outdoors or DIRT BIKE! this course is for you.

You'll learn the Patient Assessment System, how to provide effective first aid treatments for injuries and illnesses common in the outdoors, how to manage environmental emergencies, and how to make appropriate evacuation decisions. You will spend half your time practicing skills and participating in realistic scenarios.

Successful course completion will earn the following NOLS Wilderness Medicine certifications:

• Wilderness First Aid

• Epinephrine Auto-injector

• NOLS Adult, Child and Infant CPR

Class Format

Check-in is between 7:45am and 8:00 am on the first day. On subsequent days, please plan on arriving by 8 AM. Course days run from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM with an hour-long break for lunch at noon. If a student misses more than 1 hour of the course certification cannot be issued. 

The class format involves lectures integrated with practical scenarios, case studies, and skills practice sessions. Attendance is required at all classes.

Curriculum:

Our curriculum has been developed and has evolved over decades by medical professionals and experts in outdoor education. Our instructors are expert educators with years of medical and wilderness leadership experience. Please see the WFA Course Outline for an overview and schedule of topics covered during your course. You can read more about our curriculum on the NOLS website as well as view other curriculum resources here.

What to Bring:

• Your helmet and any gear you ride with that you’d like to practice using/removing/improvising with

• Snacks and lunch

• Notebook and pencil or pen

• Personal bottle of hand sanitizer

• Watch with a second hand or digital second

• Sunglasses and/or protective eyewear and sunscreen

• Water bottle

• Waterproof outerwear–top and bottom

• Clothing layers that allow you to be comfortable in a variety of weather conditions, including a hat

• Clipboard or hard surface to write on

Optional:

• Slippers or comfortable shoes for classroom time

• Knee pads

NOLS Wilderness Medicine Student Agreement

:Please download the NOLS Student Agreement and read it carefully as it affects your legal rights.  There will be copies of this to sign when you arrive.  Without a signed document, you cannot participate in the course. NOLS Wilderness Medicine participants will have unsupervised free time throughout the course. Any activities during the free time are not part of the NOLS Wilderness Medicine program and are at the sole risk of the participant.

Please follow the links below to the NOLS website for overviews of other pre-course planning resources:

• College Credit

• Continuing Education

• Recertification Policies

• Alcohol, tobacco, and firearm policies

• Pets and service animals

• Essential Eligibility Criteria

• Minimum age requirements

• Continuing Education & Academic Credit

• This course is pre-approved for 18 hours of EMT Continuing Education Hours by the Commission on Accreditation of Pre-Hospital Continuing Education (CAPCE)

• .14 hours WMS FAWM credit

• This course is approved for 1 college credit through Western Colorado University ($110)  Learn more

Course Approval:

This course meets the American Camp Association 2012 Standards and the Boy Scouts of America Wilderness First Aid training requirements. Additionally, the Wilderness First Aid course (WILDMI-554), and when included the CPR/AED course (WILDMI-134), are approved by the United States Coast Guard to meet the first aid and CPR training requirements of 46 CFR 11.201(i)(1)(ii) and 46 CFR 11.201(i)(2)(iiI) for a merchant mariner credential.