In August 2009, a clutch of outdoor professionals and enthusiasts embarked on what was to become a ride of a lifetime when then enrolled for the Wilderness First Responder, an 80-hour intensive course of handling medical emergencies in the wild. Organized by Wildcraft in association with the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Wyoming, USA this course equips you with a system and the skills you can rely upon when they you need to respond to a medical situation when conventional care may not be available.

Nidhi Tiwari is an outdoor professional with a difference: while she loves the outdoors and has made it her career, she also realizes that if things happen to go wrong there needs to be someone around who knows what they are doing! That was why, along with fifteen other like-minded individuals, Nidhi signed up for the Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course, organized by Wildcraft in association with the Wilderness Medicine Institute (WMI) part of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), USA.

At the end of the intensive course Nidhi and her course-mates felt a new surge of confidence to take on any medical challenge the outdoors might throw at them. From asphyxiation to snake bite, a broken limb to a bloody wound, they came away equipped with knowledge on exactly what to do so alleviate the situation. Nidhi decided to write about her experiences in the Deccan Herald: you can read more here.

Wilderness First Responder: A First-Hand Account

Tarsh Williams is Manager, Outdoors at Wildcraft. An HR professional who chose to follow his heart into the hills, he runs Wildcraft’s adventure-based training programs. Here he speaks of the Wilderness First Responder Program he underwent that equips you with skills necessary to administer first aid and treatment when conventional care may not be at hand.

One of the best places in the world to learn about the outdoors and wilderness adventure is the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) in Wyoming, USA. I’ve been among the fortunate few from India who has got a chance to go through a 120 day semester that covers everything from winter camping to wilderness medicine.

The Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course is one of the memorable programs I went through. 30 participants and 80 hours didn’t sound particularly out of the ordinary until it actually began and I realized that it was rigorous to a point of being extreme! We put up in a ranch in Wyoming, one of America’s most scenic states, but what we were about to go through was anything but scenic!

I remember one exercise where 3 members or our class were chosen to be volunteers who would subject themselves to extreme cold water to bring on hypothermia and it was our responsibility that we took action required.