Wilderness First Aid

In the backcountry, help can be hours away. Wilderness First Aid teaches you what to do until it arrives.

What you'll learn

Through thoughtful layering of skills and realistic practice, you will learn a systematic way to approach any wilderness emergency: how to size up a scene, assess a patient, and decide whether to treat, wait, or evacuate.

Topics covered include:

• Scene safety and patient assessment
• Bone, joint, and soft tissue injuries
• Head and spine injuries
• Hypothermia, frostbite, and heat illness
• Allergic reactions
• Deciding when and how to evacuate

Course format

The course pairs online learning, done at home beforehand, with one full day of hands-on practice in the field. Expect to spend much of the day outside working through realistic scenarios with your classmates.

Certification

Successful completion earns a Wilderness First Aid certification, valid for 2 years from the issue date. We can add CPR (certified by the American Red Cross) for $100 per student.

Private courses

Most of our WFA courses are private. A private course is a great way to get your employees, colleagues, or friends certified together, on a date that works for your group.

Request a private Wilderness First Aid course

Where we teach

We teach in Oregon and Washington State Parks and on the Mt. Hood and Gifford Pinchot National Forests, wherever suits your group best.