Learn wilderness first aid as if a life depended on it

Join us for an intensive Wilderness First Aid course that will teach you everything you need to know about being safe in the wilderness. The weekend course will take palce Oct. 28 to 30 at the Chapter's Harwood Lodge at the base of Mt. Baldy.

This live-in three-day weekend has variously been described as “first aid boot camp” and “the best cruise I ever took.” Translation: it can be intense, demanding, exciting and fattening all in one weekend. 

Students participant in emergency drills at the Wilderness First Aid course. Next class comes up in October. Photo: Steve Shuster

Half a dozen instructors with lots of wilderness travel and patient care experience will teach you a patient-centered procedure for responding to a wilderness accident or illness (ditto for civil emergencies such as major earthquakes).  

Lectures are balanced with supervised skills training in small groups. Four accident simulations are so close to the real thing that student pulse rates take a while to come back down when they are over. 

The course costs $250; when lodging and meals are figured in, this (all volunteer-taught) course costs less than half as much as the equivalent commercial course and the training is every bit as good. This class is very popular and often fills up several months in advance. 

Class runs from 8 a.m. Friday morning to about 5 p.m. Sunday. You'll find more information and an application at www.wildernessfirstaidcourse.org. Questions? Contact Steven Schuster by phone (714) 315-1886 or e-mail steve.n.wfac2@gmail.com