Real Life WFR Rescue on Mount Rainier
This Base Medical WFR graduate found herself on a Mount Rainier Rescue just 10 days after her course.
Rescue on Mt. Rainier.
Ten days after graduating a Base Medical Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course in Portland, OR at the Mazamas Mountaineering Center, Carol found herself as the first on scene of a rescue on Mt. Rainier.
“I was not expecting that!” said Carol in an email to her Base Medical instructors. “I was volunteering on the Sunrise side at Mt Rainier hiking up to Mt Fremont. An SOS was received by Mt Rainier regarding an injured hiker.”
The Base Medical WFR course differs from other WFR programs because of the incorporation of Search and Rescue (SAR) concepts into the WFR curriculum. Wilderness medicine and Search and Rescue are not isolated disciplines. Rather, wilderness medicine is a discipline of SAR, and SAR is a discipline of wilderness medicine.
The Base Medical CEO, Teal Harbin, elaborates more on the interface of SAR and WFR. “This is why we include SAR concepts in our wilderness medicine courses and include wilderness medicine concepts in our SAR courses. Hence, I truly feel our WFR program is more "wholesome" in that sense. Especially when adventuring in the United States and other countries where there is professional SAR response but the geographic locations of many emergencies are remote and resource depleted.”
Base Medical WFR students are trained to supplement SAR. Carol was prepared for such a role. “The IC (Incident Commander) asked if I was willing to divert and locate the injured hiker. I told him I was a WFR and that I would go…I was nervous for a few seconds wondering what I got myself into then I thought about all those scenarios we did as a single responder. As I was doing STERI on the walk down, I thought about the practice SAR and how similar my situation was to that. I told myself, “ I have done this before, I know what to do.”
The Base Medical WFR program is a hybrid course, with hours of online wilderness medicine and SAR lessons followed by a week of in-person hands-on training. The in-person training includes as many scenarios as possible for students. Carol’s WFR course was facilitated by the Mazamas Mountaineers Club. The course had 4-6 instructors each day of various backgrounds in search and rescue, mountain guiding, nursing, paramedicine, and education.
“Two miles down the lonely trail I found the injured hiker and her friend. I didn’t have any cheat sheets or anything like that, just my gloves. When I put on my gloves my brain said, ‘it’s go time for another scenario’ I introduced myself and started into the primary assessment and blood sweep. The hiker had two injured ankles. The right ankle had a deformity with radiating pain up to mid calf. The left ankle was painful and swollen. No other injuries.”
Preparing the vacuum mattress.
“The IC radioed that he was sending me a hasty team and asked for medical info and whether there were any other conditions. Oh, that is from the secondary assessment. Time to do that and give the IC the information. I took vitals and wrote everything done on the back of a NPS handout about where you can take your dogs. That served as my patient care note. The Hasty EMT and WFR showed up and did his exam. They called for an air evacuation. The helicopter came in about an hour. The helicopter team decided to place the hiker in a full body pneumatic splint. That was neat to use that. Then we carried her to the helicopter, loaded her up, and off she went. The last task was to go with the hasty team and walk the uninjured hiker three miles out to the service road where the EMT had a vehicle to take us back to Sunrise.”
Carol return back to Sunrise at 7:30pm. The entire SAR mission was over six hours. “I am so thankful for the leadership and instruction during my WFR course. All the scenarios and practice SAR stuck with me and was there to guide me. This was fantastic training. It is a great format for teaching the course. I am really thankful for all Base Medical and the Mazama instructors taught me.”
Teal Harbin expressed to Carol in a return email, “You arrived on scene before the SAR team, you stabilized and kept the patient warm until SAR arrived, you communicated information about the patient and the situation. This allowed IC and the SAR team to make better, more efficient decisions about evacuation. And you provided the much needed manpower to the SAR members during evacuation. I am so proud of you!”
Base Medical believes in preparing the true first responders to most wilderness emergencies, which are non-profit outdoor volunteers, national park staff, mountain guides, SAR responders, and the everyday outdoor adventurer. For those interested in taking a Base Medical Wilderness First Aid course or Wilderness First Responder course, check out the course pages here.
Base Medical also strives to elevate the profession of Search and Rescue. Check all online SAR courses here or contact info@base-medical.com to learn how affordable it is to subscribe your entire SAR team.
