RAFI holds wilderness first responder course

THE Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. – Kool Adventure Camp (RAFI-KAC), together with the National Outdoor Leadership School Wilderness Medicine Institute (NOLS WMI), organized the first Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course in the Philippines last month.

Sixteen representatives from RAFI-KAC, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Outward Bound Singapore participated in the 10-day training program that included trauma and wound care, evacuation protocols for serious health illnesses and a full-scale night mock rescue.

The course teaches the participants how to provide first-hand medical care in remote places, where hospital care is not immediately available.

The intensive 80-hour curriculum was delivered by dynamic educators who have practiced medicine in both wilderness and urban environments.

“As care providers, it gives us confidence and a sense of responsibility to act based on skills that we learned in class and give immediate care to a person,” said Brandon Schwartz, trainer and full-time instructor at WMI.

“We do not only teach emergency response but also other things, such as self-medication and administer medications to family members,” said Marjorie Mazie, Schwartz fellow trainer from WMI.

For more information on KAC, call Althea Santillan at 2609000 local 1001 or visit www.rafi.org.ph/kac-professional.