Merry Lea offers wilderness first aid course

Event: Wilderness first aid workshop
Dates: Thursday, Aug. 27 and Friday, Aug. 28, 2015, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Location: Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College, Wolf Lake, Indiana
Cost: $175, includes instruction and lunches. Please email mlevents@goshen.edu or call 260-799-5869 to register.

Merry Lea will host its annual Wilderness First Aid course on Thursday and Friday, August 27 and 28, 2015, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. An instructor from the SOLO School of Emergency Medicine and Rescue, Conway, New Hampshire, will teach the 16-hour course. Participants earn a two-year certification recognized by the American Camping Association, U.S. Coast Guard and various guide licensing boards.

The Wilderness First Aid curriculum covers patient assessment, rescue techniques, fractures/dislocations, splint improvisation, spinal cord injury, managing environmental emergencies, shock and preparedness.

Hands-on practice with medical scenarios is an important part of the course. For example, participants practice splinting broken bones with available materials and bundling up a hypothermia victim. At the end of last year’s course, students rotated through a series of roleplays where asking the right questions could be a matter of life and death. One of their patients leaned against a building clutching his chest. Another wheezed ominously. Yet another turned out to be diabetic. To learn more about SOLO courses, see http://www.soloschools.com/.

The cost of $175 covers instruction, certification and lunches. Lodging is also available Wednesday and Thursday nights for $20/night. Register promptly, as class size is limited. A registration form is available online at http://merrylea.goshen.edu/news-events/upcoming-events.