The past week has been incredibly busy. On Sunday, Jamie and I set up our campsite at the Gros Ventre Campsite. We found a beautiful site overlooking the Grand Tetons. On Monday we started our Wilderness First Responder (WFR) class which is located at the Kelly Campus where we will be spending our year as graduate students.
The WFR class has thirty participants and is a combination of classroom and practical learning. We go from 8-5 and have been learning how to treat serious injuries and illnesses in wilderness settings. From the classroom we go into the field and are tested to see how well we understand the given material for the day. Our fellow classmates are victims (done up with fake blood, missing limbs, stage make-up) and we are in charge of rescuing them. Today we had a two-hour long scenario. Victims were found washed up on the side of a river after a rafting accident. My partner and I were in charge of rescuing a victim with a pneumothorax and dislocated knee. We spent hours holding her head in place in case of spinal injury, securing her wounds, and evacuating her from the area. From there we loaded other victims into litters, attached them to backboards, and walked mobile victims out of the woods.
Needless to say the WFR course is quite intense but we have wonderful NOLS instructors and supportive team members. Here is a link to a video which might clarify what the course looks like: http://www.nols.edu/movies/wmimovies/wfr_xl.shtml
Tomorrow is our day off - and it is well-deserved.
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