Wilderness First Aid / Responder class near NYC

Looking for a class or course on Wilderness First Aid ( WFA ). I am CPR certified not sure if it is needed as a prerequisite.

Wondering if anyone knows of any good classes that they have taken or can say something about.

REI / EMS offers something like this - not sure about the quality of the class

Some guide services offer basic WFA classes

Also there are classes from NON climbing vendors that offer this.

Again, asking about the feedback or if anyone can recommend a class or a course.

Not sure if its better to go with a guide (more focused on climbing injuries I guess = meaning more severe accidents - although I understand that it is still more or less basic WFA) or with a non climbing vendor.

Any advice? reviews?

Looking for something near NYC, or in the Gunks.

Thanks for any help

Roman

Scroll through the schedule: soloschools.com/index.cfm?e…

Check out the NOLS - Wilderness Medicine Institute website as well. They have classes throughout the country. There will probably be one in your area.

NOLS is a great program to do a WFA with. I took my WFA with Desert Mountain Medicine, which is similarly structured to a NOLS WFA course. If you are planning to guide people, or be responsible for many people in the wilderness for an extended amount of time, the Wilderness First Responder course (WFR) is a more comprehensive, in depth course. While WFA is 16 hours, WFR is 80. WFR is the standard at which most SAR volunteers have to be as a minimum. If you are looking for something in the middle, Wilderness Advanced First Aid (WAFA) is 54 hours? and is a good middle ground. CPR is not a prerequisite for any of these courses, but most classes include CPR, AED as part of the curriculum. It is recomended that you either take a WFA before your WFR, or have a basic knowledge of how to evaluate people and asses injuries. Some WFR classes have pretests with questions like: what is the anticipated worst case scenario of a major burn? If you know that the answer is: hypovolemec shock, septic shock, and a few others, you will be fine to directly take the WFR. WFRs can be more expensive than WFAs or WAFAs. It all depends on what your goals are. WFA is mostly about learning how to stop and fix life threats, and do an emergency assessment in a wilderness scenario and learn how and when to evacuate. WAFAs and WFRs go much more in depth than the WFA. A WFR can use different types of pharyngeal airways, for instance, something that a WFA is not trained to do. Hope you found this helpful.

Solo offers it up at binghamton university for cheap

You do not need CPR to take WFA although they are often offered together. I took mine through SOlO and it was a great course. My instructor was based out of the Keene Vally, although I took the course in Burlington. Check out there website, (linked above) for course dates.

In addition to SOLO, the other big provider is Wilderness Medical Associates, which I can recommend. Their course schedule is on their website - wildmed.org - and over the next two weeks you have your pick of Wilderness First Aid classes in CT, NY, and VT.

Steve Lulek at Green Mountain Rock Climbing in Rutland VT is a fantastic instructor and offers WFA classes for large or small groups.

+1 for MWA - did a 2-day WFA in the daks through them before my EMT and thought they did a great job.

Thanks guys.

I will book a class.