NOLS Wilderness Medicine Course Well-Received at UNC
Photo by William Woodward.
In partnership with Landmark Learning, NOLS Wilderness Medicine offered a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course at UNC-Greensboro’s Piney Lake in March 2019. University students, educators, Boy Scout leaders, and other outdoor enthusiasts participated in this two-day introduction to preventing and treating common injuries and illnesses in remote settings.
“You are hiking down a remote section of trail and come across an unconscious hiker. Your partner falls off of his horse or bike in the middle of a long trail ride, bruising his arm. A member of your rafting party is ejected from the boat in a series of rapids and dislocates her arm. You are making dinner and your rumbling pot falls off of the camp stove, spilling boiling water on your leg.
Would you know how to help the patients in each of these situations?
‘In urban and suburban settings, the priority is to alert emergency responders (911),’ said Mairi Padgett, administrative director of Cullowhee-based Landmark Learning. ‘But our students will be in remote situations where help is not immediately available, whether they are a mile from the nearest trailhead or on the side of a river with no access or in Antarctica.’”
