Wilderness First Aid Training

About two years ago I took a 20 hour class on "Wilderness First Aid" at UC San Francisco. It was one evening of CPR plus two full days of instruction and practical exercises. I would really recommend this class for those who kayak regularly, especially if you are on more remote sections of rivers where rescue is difficult or there are extreme conditions, e.g. cold. They were long days, but I had a lot of fun taking the class.

Wilderness first aid differs from regular first aid quite a bit since it assumes that help is at least hours or days away. As a result, many of the solutions to medical situations go beyond what is taught in "regular" first aid classes, e.g. where the primary response is always "Call 911".

My class was taught by Bobbie Foster from Foster Calm: http://www.fostercalm.com . I think she is a great instructor, but there are many other places that offer instruction & certification. Including CPR certification, it was about $100 or a bit less depending on the size of the group.