How to Handle Backcountry Emergencies

If you spend time outside skiing, biking, camping, hiking, climbing, boating, or running in the mountains, how prepared are you to handle injuries when you are far from medical help? Will you just stand there panicked and helpless? Or will you do things that make the injuries worse?

This topic does not get talked about enough. So today, we’re talking with three experienced first responders to help you understand why — for your own personal safety, and for the safety of your friends and family — getting training in wilderness medicine is something you ought to do. There’s a lot of good information in this conversation, so please listen, and let’s all of us commit to increasing our level of knowledge and readiness for our adventures.

TOPICS & TIMES:

• Quick Christmas Party Story (4:28)

• Backgrounds: Mike Thurber, Morgan Matthews, and Justin Bobb (7:05)

• What is "Wilderness Medicine"? (13:30)

• Huge Factor: wilderness injuries involve *long* evacuation times (16:40)

• Three Real-World Emergency Anecdotes (19:40)

• Most important things you learn in a Wilderness First Responder course? (32:30)

• Difference between a WFR certification and an EMT certification (38:26)

• Emergency Scenarios #4 & 5: Driving, come up on a crash on the highway (40:29)

• Hypothermia, Avalanches, and Trauma — some important stats (44:35)

• Beacons, First Aid Kits, etc. Do you have them? Do you *know how to use them*? (53:55)

• What are the different WFR certifying agencies, and what are the different certifications a person can get? (58:49)

• How to tell if your friends, boyfriend, or girlfriend really love you (01:15:58)

• How helpful is WFR training if you are out by yourself? (01:17:28)

• FINAL POINT: Why do AVI 1 courses get so much attention, while wilderness medical courses get so little? (01:20:00)

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