FJ Cruisers of Northern California

Wilderness & Remote First Aid Certification Course

Leonie (TOE 4x4) , Paul (PB'nFJ) and I (DivnGirl) just completed this 2-day, 16-hour certification course this past weekend. As an educator, I have been First Aid & CPR certified on and off throughout my career. This course is NOT your standard first aid course. Instead it truly gives you knowledge and skills that may one day save a life in the back country.

The instructor, Kristina Hall has a business, where she educates, trains and certifies folks in CPR and Wilderness & Remote First Aid. The WFA is especially important to know while traveling for extended periods in the back country--either via foot, bicycle, motorcycle or car. What I really loved about this experience was that Kristina herself is a seasoned wheeler.

She works in partnership with the American Red Cross--is an authorized Instructor and Instructor Trainer and teaches CPR and Wilderness and Remote First Aid Training courses that can certify participants for 2 years with the American Red Cross.

Some of the things learned are patient assessment, head, neck and spine injuries, wound management, splinting techniques and a whole lot of other very important information for back country travelers. This is a very fun and informative class, with lots of hands on and realistic scenarios. And you get certified for 2 years!

Having posted up on my FB, a few FJC folks have already shown interest in becoming certified. If you are also interested, post up. Please only post up if seriously interested...as in "yes, I will take the class, assuming I can make the date and afford the fee." Her schedule is super packed and we are running out of time as prime wheeling season will be starting up soon.

UPDATE 3/10/11

It looks like a date is set for a NorCal FJC class...April 9th and 10th. Boss is working on securing a location at Hollister Hills at this time. If interested, you can post up here and/or PM Kristina Hall. Right now, we have 6 possibly 7 interested folks. She needs a minimum of 6 to hold the class.

For those also interested in getting CPR certified, I know Kristina is probably going to do a separate class for that at a later date.

Interested:

1. Boss73

2. jr vong

3. Engine Jen

4. Alessio (Possibly Monica)

5. Julie

6. Nate Eady****whoo hooo! We've got 6!!!

10.

11.

12.

THIS DISCUSSION IS BEING CLOSED AND REPLACED WITH A PLANNING DISCUSSION (VS. A 'FEELER' DISCUSSION).

Replies are closed for this discussion.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by TOE 4X4 on March 7, 2011 at 7:59pm

As Trisha mentions this well worth the 2 days. Kristina is a great instructor as she keeps things light but you do get the education your are looking for.

Permalink Reply by Engine Jen on March 7, 2011 at 8:22pm

I would be interested as well.
Jen

Permalink Reply by manoweb on March 8, 2011 at 5:28am

Oh :( I was really looking into something like this :( if only I knew you were going...

Few questions:

how much did you pay?
do you get to operate or stitch on (animal) flesh?
can you describe the class? Is it indoors or outdoors, what is the "agenda"?
do they have a website?

Of course, you can infer I am interested. I would have loved to do it together.

Permalink Reply by Boss73 on March 8, 2011 at 6:48am

HI Kristina,

First of all welcome to the site..

I hear your a wheeler, Which is always welcome here..

So do you hold these classes in one spot or are you willing to travel ? If so I may have a place where we could all get together to hold a class. I honestly have no idea how you work your classes schedule but I figure I would throw this out there to see if we could get some NorCal people interested. Maybe even have a NorCal FJ class?

Permalink Reply by Kristina Hall on March 8, 2011 at 7:02am

Hi and thank you!!

I do travel for the class and usually have 12-14 people involved. I teach all over California, Arizona, Oregon etc.

The class is lecture/group activities and scenarios. Generally we hold the lecture portion in either a class type setting, or someones work shop or I even hold them in parks. I have taught totally out in the field as well (however, people tend to get too distracted with that) I find that if folks are in a class setting they stay a bit more focused :)

Generally people bring their own camp chairs and can bring sleeping bags, therm a rests and resources that they would want to have on hand to apply remote first aid techniques.

Where are you located at? I am broadcasting a WRFA class to be held in Sacramento April 16th & 17th. April 9th & 10th are a possibility as well.

Please let me know your thoughts and what's your name?

Happy Trails----Kristina

Permalink Reply by DivnGirl on March 8, 2011 at 8:55am

Kristina, I can offer my community club house as a location. It's smaller than Jay's work place but has direct access to a restroom and kitchen and is supplied with chairs and tables. I'm centrally located in the South Bay in Sunnyvale.

Permalink Reply by Kristina Hall on March 8, 2011 at 8:57am

Awesome! That would be wonderful Trish! I am hoping to get this class together pretty soon--maybe April 9th & 10th? Otherwise, it will have to be in mid-May.

Thanks again for all of your help!!

Permalink Reply by Boss73 on March 9, 2011 at 10:27am

I am located in Santa Cruz but I was thinking that Hollister Hills has a classroom over in the upper ranch and lots of space. There is even the New property that has less challenging trails but has more privacy so one could stop on a trail and bring up some god points or maybe even have a training right on the trail for more of a real world feel.

These are all just thoughts at this point. We should discuss this more and see about getting something set up.

Oh and my Name is Tony Bosso

Permalink Reply by Kristina Hall on March 9, 2011 at 10:32am

Hi Tony!

Very cool idea about Hollister Hills--I will have to check out the upper ranch etc.

I am also in Santa Cruz and am working on putting together a class either in Menlo Park or maybe even over on this side of the hill or maybe look into Hollister Hills.

Send me your email and I can send you the details.

kristinahall@mac.com

Permalink Reply by Boss73 on March 9, 2011 at 6:07pm

Will do.. I will send ya something over via email..

Permalink Reply by DivnGirl on March 9, 2011 at 10:53am

Awesome!!!

Permalink Reply by DivnGirl on March 8, 2011 at 11:45am

Hey Alessio, I found out about it through another forum...sorry..that is why I posted this feeler here.

No stitching on flesh...this trains you to be able to provide 1st aid and to help the patient until emergency crews can take over....be it a few hours or a few days until an evacuation plan is followed through.

The course if very hands on, indoor and outdoors, with a combination of lectures, modeling, and scenarios, as Kristina said. We complete scenarios to apply our learned knowledge...such as...you are hiking and come across someone on the trail, with a protruding bone, is semi-conscious and you are 3 hours from the trail head. What do you do? Some of the things covered include: