I just started reading Eric Blehm's, "The Last Season" and something struck me right away. This book tells of backcountry rangers in Yosemite,King's and Sequoia NP. And these rangers are all labeled to be EMT's. Being they would be the first responders during SAR operations, wouldn't it make sense they be required to paramedics and not EMT's? I'm sure The Chief could shed some light on this.

I would think WFR would be best. Learning to make do with what you have with help a long time away.

I hadn't heard of that until now. Would that be kinda' in-between an EMT and Medic?

From my experience working with these folks, they are all req'd to be WFR CERT'd. Only a handful of senior folks are EMT2/ACLS or Paramedic2 Cert'd. From my understanding as well, those folks will be flown into the scene once contact is established and an EVAC not RECOVERY situ is determined by the First Responders.

Again, each SAR Entity has their own protocols and they differ from one to the other.

When I was flying SAR out of Lemoore, we always had an ALCS Cert'd Corpsman onboard in case of any situ's that would require their certs.

When I was flying SAR down on the ICE, we were all ACLS Cert'd due to the circumstances.

Again, I have been out of the loop for well over 15 years now. I imagine that many protocols have indeed changed due to funding restraints etc.

BTW... A HEARTY THANK YOU to any SPers out there that are active in any SAR entity!

SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE!

The Chief wrote:BTW... A HEARTY THANK YOU to any SPers out there that are active in any SAR entity!

SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE!

My 23 year old daughter is a paramedic and I'm damn proud of her! Thanks Chief and the same to you!

Marmaduke wrote:I hadn't heard of that until now. Would that be kinda' in-between an EMT and Medic?

WFR = Wilderness First Responder. The training is usually an 80 hour program. I've never done it, but the person who trained me in Wilderness First Aid (16 hours) does WFR courses. Her name is Bobbie Foster, and she is pretty good -

http://fostercalm.com/wildernessfirstaid.htm#wfr

A former mountain guide I used to climb with said she had wilderness EMT training. She mentioned stuff like dissecting cadavers as part of the training

I was curious about this as I know the training for EMT is far less than a medic. Absolutly nothing against EMT's but my thinking was that in the backcountry where some serious accidents happen and sometimes the injured could be stranded for quite awhile. That the ranger should be qualified for some of the procedures that may be needed on the spot. The book I'm reading though has the events taking place ib the mid 90's, so some of this may have changed.

You can add a W = Wilderness to First aid, First Responder, and EMT-1 or EMT-B. I don’t think there are Wilderness EMT-Intermediate or Wilderness Medics but I’m not 100% sure (I've never heard of them). If you have ever taken an EMT class one of the first things you realize about the class is that they teach you just enough so you know when somebody is seriously hurt, you can’t do much to help them (Especially in a "wilderness" situation). Yes, if they are bleeding, stop the bleeding. If they can’t breathe, breathe for them. You get the idea. The only medication an EMT can administer is Oxygen and Oral Glucose. In reality, if somebody is critical, they need much more than that. Another reason why a lot of people working for the USFS or NPS are not qualified as EMT's or Medics it takes LOTS of time to keep your certification up to date. Being a Back Country Ranger over the summer months makes it very difficult to keep your CE's (continuing Education) up to date. There is also something known as medical direction or online direction. This pretty much means you have contact with a doctor (Phone Call) to give you more advice. In the Wilderness you can see how this could be a problem. A Doctor or RN could give you better information on the medical direction.

The OP question was more on the subject of SAR. I know in Yosemite, the NPS helicopter does not get dispatched to the SAR (in most cases, not all) unless the person has been found and needs immediate medical attention or extraction, or there is a body recovery where they need to short haul a rescuer in. On the Yosemite helicopter the rescuers are EMT-Intermediates and can start IV's and push meds. It’s a very sought after resource and stays VERY busy over the summer. I believe that’s one of the main reasons it’s not dispatched to every SAR. It also has responsibility to fires in the park.

Sorry for making this long. Enjoy the book! It is definitely in my top 3!

Wilderness rangers and SAR volunteers should only be required to have first aid and CPR. Those that want more training should be encouraged to do so, but requiring higher levels of medical training is unnecessary.

In the Eastern Sierra, wilderness rangers are very rarely the first on the scene of an accident or illness. Most calls for rescue come via cell phone on scene or nearby. The days of looking for a wilderness ranger with a radio are long gone, and often the wilderness ranger does not even know a rescue is taking place in their area.

If a county SAR team is called to rescue someone in the backcountry, you would hope that the local sheriff sends some real paramedics in with the SAR team. SAR volunteers with paramedic training are often handcuffed by protocols that prevent them from using their advanced techniques on patients, and they are definitely forbidden from administering medications.

SAR volunteers come in all shapes, sizes, and specialties. Good SAR teams have rigging folks, tracking folks, radio nerds, grunts, medics, and management geeks. There is just too much training if all are required to train to the highest level in each discipline.

rhyang wrote:

Marmaduke wrote:I hadn't heard of that until now. Would that be kinda' in-between an EMT and Medic?

WFR = Wilderness First Responder. The training is usually an 80 hour program. I've never done it, but the person who trained me in Wilderness First Aid (16 hours) does WFR courses. Her name is Bobbie Foster, and she is pretty good -

http://fostercalm.com/wildernessfirstaid.htm#wfr

A former mountain guide I used to climb with said she had wilderness EMT training. She mentioned stuff like dissecting cadavers as part of the training

I took Bobbie's WFR course. First rate! Despite some misconceptions I've heard from others about the WFR vs. WFA training, there is very little coverage of situations with specialized equipment in the WFR, so I don't think it is over-specialized for climbers. Most of it is learning to do the important basics of assessment, basic stabilization, and first-aid very well. After hearing what the WFAs learn in 16 hrs vs. what WFRs learn in 80, I think the WFR would be important for anyone going into 'wilderness' situations (i.e. definitive care is more than 1 hr away).

Although you probably won't be able to treat a person 100%, you can at least do a lot to stabilize them, avoid further injury, assess whether to evac and if assistance is needed, and be better able to do a self-evac or inform SAR as to what is needed for an assisted evac or treatment.

As I am inept at using all three of your posts and using quotes in my repsonse: Thank you Fire 4x4, Greg and Mark. Explains a whole lot. I appreciate your time, Thanks again to The Chief as well. Merry Christmas!