Vol. 19, No. 35

July 6, 2000

Course stresses basics for wilderness emergencies

You're backpacking in the Shenendoah Valley. Two days into your hike in a remote wilderness area, someone in the group stumbles, falls down an embankment and breaks a leg. ?Far from medical care or even the means to get it, what do you do? In June, the Department of Health and Exercise Sciences Department sponsored an intensive 80-hour "Wilderness First Responder" course in what to do in a wilderness area, two hours or more from help when a medical emergency occurs. Roger Spacht, health and exercise sciences, said, "Students learned the basics, appropriate in almost any medical emergency situation." Those who passed the course successfully became certified to administer emergency medical care in remote areas. The course consisted of lectures followed by hands-on training, demonstrations and practice. Classes were conducted by professional instructors with Wilderness Medical Associates, specialists in wilderness medical training. Students learned how to do the things that would be done in a hospital emergency room to stabilize a patient. They were taught how to recognize spinal injuries, set broken bones, relocate dislocated joints, avoid infection, deal with heart, allergy and asthma attacks and how to construct a stretcher and evacuate the injured. Demonstrations and simulations took place behind the Carpenter Sports Center and at the White Clay Creek State Park and were made as realistic as possible with victims, fake wounds and stage blood. Spacht said the course was beneficial and might be offered again next spring. For more information, call Spacht at 831-8611.