Having what it takes to rescue in wilderness situations

A young girl hiking with friends in the mountains hikes a little ahead of her group and at Ramsey Cascades can’t resist the temptation to look down the cascades from above. She slips and falls. The 50 foot fall kills the young lady. A life too quickly, too early, taken away. A woman hiking Laurel Falls trail slips off the trail and tumbles 40 feet down a ravine. Broken and bruised rescuers use special gear to bring her back up the ravine and carry her out. An older gentleman gets “winded” and becomes faint causing others to think he may be having a stroke or heart attack. An experienced hiker that has hiked mountains for years does not return when expected from a back country trip. Search teams organize to go and find him. These stories are true. Some happened many years ago, some happened this summer. Whenever situations like this arise in the mountains there is a select group of people that come to the aid of the injured. They are Wilderness First Responders. If help was delayed, would you be prepared to help the sick and injured? Each year millions of tourists visit our national parks. Of those millions, are hikers, backpackers, climbers, mountain bikers, horses riders, rafters, tubers, and campers in the back country. Of those millions, most have a wonderful experience in our parks. Yet each year thousands get lost, sprain an ankle or take a bad fall. Many of the injuries sustained in national parks are minor and some are not. Much of the time those injuries are attended to by Rangers that maintain order and manage the park. Rangers and Wilderness First Responders responses to the sick and injured can be delayed for hours to days due to remoteness. Are you prepared to help the sick and injured? Search and rescue in the national parks require practice, skill, testing and sharp awareness of the victims needs. Many times special equipment used to conduct a rescue or a “carry-out” is used, and people are specially trained in the use of that equipment. Roane State Community College is holding their annual Wilderness First Responder and Wilderness First Responder Refresher courses in January of 2006 at Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont. Each course schedule is full and begins early at 6am in the morning and ends in the evening at 8pm. The curriculum meets the Tennessee Emergency Medical Services standards and national registry standards for First Responder training while focusing on the special situations that may develop in the wilderness. Participants are eligible for national registry and state testing upon completion of the program. The national test is given on the last day of the course. This is a great course for outdoor enthusiasts, you don’t have to be a park employee or a paramedic. This course is perfect for guides, scout leaders, environmental educators, and avid outdoors persons. Having the skills of a Wilderness First Responder is what is important when you are around anyone out on the trails or even by yourself. In the case of the young lady first mentioned in this story, Louise Barber died 43 years ago. A fund was created in her name to financially help those who normally cannot afford this type of training. “ The Louise Barber endowment fund at Great Smoky Mountains Institute is a fund designated for those wishing to participate in this program that would not ordinarily be able to come. This fund is also great way to increase the awareness of the Wilderness First Responder program,” states Ken Voorhis, executive director of Tremont, “ Gary Wade, who was with Louise when she had her accident set up the fund in her memory. Tremont has been growing the fund and managing financial aid for this program for several years now and it is important that those funds be used in training more people in this program.” Fred Baty, wilderness medicine instructor of Roane State Community College says, “This year’s course will be better than ever, haven’t they all been that way? We are expecting our best crowd ever, but only if we can get the word out to worthy candidates.”