November 07, 2007
Bowling
Green, Ky. - Emergency providers, outdoor professionals and Western Kentucky University students will be able to receive Wilderness First Responder (WFR) training during the 2008 WKU Winter Term.
Hands-on training will help enable participants to provide first aid in areas where advanced medical care may be hours away. The Wilderness First Responder curriculum uses the principles of long-term care, improvised resources, and varying environmental conditions as the framework for learning.
The course is scheduled for Jan. 8-16 at WKU and various field locations in Warren County. Students who successfully complete the Wilderness First Responder course will receive a Wilderness First Responder card and an American Heart Association Adult Heartsaver CPR card (or equivalent).
Class participants will learn how to deal with medical emergencies when they are miles from help and dialing 911 is not an option. Wilderness medicine differs from traditional first aid in three respects. First, many phases of patient care must occur in the field because transportation to medical facilities may take hours or days. Second, severe environments increase the complexity of any emergency and heighten risks to patients and rescuers. Third, limited equipment makes resourcefulness essential.
The WFR training course is open to students seeking college credit as well as to the public. Anyone interested in taking the course for credit needs to contact Dr. Steve Spencer at steve.spencer@wku.edu. If you are not a student but are interested in the course, the fee is $570 and you should contact Sharon Woodward, director of Continuing Education, at (270) 745-1910 or by email at cont.ed@wku.edu.
For information, call the Continuing Education office at (270) 745-1910 or visit the WKU wilderness first responder website at www.wku.edu/winter/WFR . The website includes a course registration form for non-credit students and a course gear list.
Continuing Education is a unit of WKU’s Division of Extended Learning & Outreach (DELO).
More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
For information, contact Stacey Biggs at (270) 745-1926.
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