The Y.E.T.I. team returned to Foster HS this winter to facilitate a Wilderness First Aid (WFA) Course for Mr. Camacho’s Environmental Education class. Students in this class must obtain a professional level certification in order to pass and Y.E.T.I. ‘s WFA class provides an opportunity to fulfill the requirement.
The Y.E.T.I. team was immediately impressed with these students and their professional aspirations in the field of education. Students introduced themselves and answered the ice breaker question: “What interests you about education?” One by one, they talked about their desired career paths with teacher, child psychologist, youth social worker, and professor being popular choices. It was so inspiring to join these young people for just a small step along their long professional journey.
Our course started off with a full day session, covering how to conduct a patient assessment during a medical emergency in a wilderness setting. Students learned how to collect reliable information in the event of an emergency and communicate that information properly to rescuers. Skills like assessing life threats, taking vitals like pulse and respiratory rate, and a hands on head to toe examination are part of the first day’s curriculum and the environmental ed students went about practicing these skills with professionalism and attention to detail.
The next 2 weeks of curriculum involved a mix of practicing these skills during staged medical scenarios and covering common injuries and illnesses one might encounter in the outdoors. Students learned about how to recognize and treat emergencies involving head or spine injuries, wound care, infection, shock, and hypothermia just to name a few. During scenarios, students got hands-on experience trying to figure out what kind of problem they were dealing with, and decide what the appropriate treatment would be.
By the time we had wrapped up our 16 hour Wilderness First Aid course, each student had a book of notes and a professional level certification with their name on it to show for the hard work they put in over 2 weeks. We’re so glad that Y.E.T.I. was able to partner with an engaged teacher in Mr. Comacho to help these young people along in their future careers as amazing educators!
