WFR

WFR - Pronounced "woofer" is the acronym for Wilderness First Responder. If you're an outdoorsy person you may have heard of this certification. It's common and sometimes mandatory for people employed as guides, outdoor instructors etc to have their WFR cert. I have been putting off the class for about 5 years now with my excuses being that it's an expensive course and that I didn't have time to take it. The courses are offered all over the country (and world) at different places such as a college, outdoor center or NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) headquarters. Being unemployed, I do have a lot of free time these days, although it's not as much as you would think. Anyway, for Christmas I asked my family to help chip in for the cost of the course. Now that I'm living in a city, the class is offered more often and I can still sleep at home instead of in a dingy cabin with the additional cost of housing that is sometimes built in to the course cost.

So I took the class. It was offered across town at a place called TrackersPDX. We spent 10 days learning what to do in medical emergencies (or potential emergencies). We covered everything: wounds, fractures, dislocations, respiratory problems, neurological problems, heat problems, cold problems, drowning, CPR, lightning strikes, shock, cardiac arrest, splinters, sunburn and other issues that I can't think of right now. There were 30 of us in the class and we spent a lot of time in the classroom and a lot of time acting out scenarios. We switched off acting as the patient and as the rescuers. I can't give away all the secrets but as a patient I acted out asthma attacks, grand mal seizures (pouring my water bottle on my crotch before hand to portray my incontinence), unresponsiveness and having an amputated thumb. I will say that my acting skills are peaking.

After 9 days of class we had a day of testing, both written and a practical session. I passed but I think it was one of the most challenging tests I've ever taken. Being in charge of people in medical emergencies is stressful. I'll leave it at that.