This was intially going to be a message to Denali Pilot, but I thought that it might be of interest to others on the site as well. I have my Alaska EMT-1 and run with the Homer Volunteer Fire Dept, but am interested in the 'Wilderness' add on. I figure if I have to land somewhere in the bush and someone is hurt the course would be of help. I was a Ranger in the army twenty years ago, and so had quite a bit of 'inventive/adaptive' first aid training, but this stuff has a shelf life. For folks out there with WEMT: what course did you attend? was it an add-on to EMT-1/ EMT-B? or did you do the entire EMT course? Comments/criticisms of the course.

Look at Learn To Return in Anchorage: http://www.survivaltraining.com/ Brian Horner's outfit does a pretty good job on this stuff.

MTV

Headoutdaplane wrote:This was intially going to be a message to Denali Pilot, but I thought that it might be of interest to others on the site as well. I have my Alaska EMT-1 and run with the Homer Volunteer Fire Dept, but am interested in the 'Wilderness' add on. I figure if I have to land somewhere in the bush and someone is hurt the course would be of help. I was a Ranger in the army twenty years ago, and so had quite a bit of 'inventive/adaptive' first aid training, but this stuff has a shelf life. For folks out there with WEMT: what course did you attend? was it an add-on to EMT-1/ EMT-B? or did you do the entire EMT course? Comments/criticisms of the course.

The "W" in a first responder or EMT is usually what the organization that is providing the training says it is. In other words no state that I know of nor the NREMT org actually recognizes a "Wilderness" EMT, though certainly some employers do. That said, the main organizations that are in this kind of training business (SOLO, WMI) advise that to add a "W" to your "EMT" you can take an upgrade course of around 50 hours, but they are few and far between and looking at WMI's page the closest one this year is in Driggs, Idaho. Alternatively, you can take a 80-hour wilderness first responder course, better known as a "WFR" (or as many call it a "woofer" ) which in their eyes will also upgrade your EMT to a "WEMT" and which will be much easier to complete in Alaska because they are taught relatively frequently. Some of it will be redundant to your EMT training but you can never get too much training I know Alaska Mountaineering School in Talkeetna sponsors several throughout the spring, not sure if you've missed the deadline for this year. You can go to http://www.nols.edu click on the "WMI" tab and check course schedules nationwide too. There are many WFR classes that won't show up on that page because several organizations sponsor the curriculum and local instructors have the freedom to sponsor their own local courses. You might just have to Google around or target Alaska outdoor training organizations like AMS in Talkeetna or the one linked by Mike above.

Hope this helps. Richard EMT-I/85, WEMT

Give a call to Deb Ajango in Eagle River, or call the previously mentioned Alaska Mountaineering School in TKA to get ahold of her. She offers lots of courses in state.

I've been a Wilderness EMT for 11 years, and a Wilderness First Responder for a couple years before that. I was an instructor for SOLO for a time when I lived back east. Almost all of my EMT practice has been in wilderness settings, including several years on an active mountain rescue team.

Once&Futr is correct that it is not a nationally or state-recognized standard. However, DOT which is responsible for EMT curricula and standards of care, does recognize a "wilderness context", defined as greater than one hour from ALS. In a wilderness context, certain parts of your standard of care are expanded, in recognition of the hazards of transport, environmental challenges, risk to rescuers, and long-term deficits from not treating injuries in a timely fashion.

These include clearing a spine that has positive MOI, reducing dislocations, restoring angulated fractures to position of function, and terminating CPR at 30 minutes, and administering food and water, to name a few. Your Medical Director or service will most likely make the final call as to whether or not they will authorize you do do these things in the field. If you are unaffiliated, I have always been an advocate for helping people first, and asking questions later.

Alaska as you may know has a "brother's keeper" law on the books, which basically states that if you see someone in trouble, you must render some sort of aid. Montana and Vermont are the only two other states with similar laws, owing to the perceived remoteness of each. (Other states probably warrant similar laws, but only these three have them at present.) Obviously, 99.9% of Alaska qualifies as a "wilderness context", which is why I think the "W" training is a sound investment up here.

A more significant part of many good WEMT courses is training to think outside the box, meaning that you practice improvising splints from on-hand materials, and so on. There should also be lots of emphasis on comfort and environmental considerations in the long-term care situation. A backboard with a hospital blanket is marginally-comfortable for a cross-town ambulance transport. Dealing with a 14-hour litter evacuation in sub-freezing temperatures and high winds presents entirely different requirements for adequately packaging a patient.

If you were an Army Ranger, then I bet a lot of this stuff would be pretty intuitive to you. As I said at the outset, Deb Ajango is one of the most active instructors in this state for Wilderness training. Get ahold of her and see what's available.

Cheers,

Denalipilot
WEMT
McKinley Volunteer Fire Department

Thanks to both of you, there are a couple of folks here in town that offer the Wilderness First Responder as well, it sounds interesting and fun at the same time. I will look into Deb's program as well as the others mentioned.

Lora Colten is/was a SOLO instructor out of Homer- you might also try her.

-DP