My name is Zack and I’m 27 years old. I took the Wilderness First Aid course because of its practical knowledge of helping injured patients in the back country and a deeper understanding of medical intuition in critical situations between life and death. The 9-day course included sessions of basic patient needs and a lecture styled classroom of home principals of head to toe exams, allergies and medications. The highlight of the class was the two night styled scenarios, one of the scenarios included a five person team that quickly turned into a three person team. One member broke his leg and the other had a seizure. We learned to monitor vitals, splint and what to do if someone has a seizure. I feel that everyone should learn how to perform a full patient assessment in any circumstance. The most challenging part of the class learning what to look for in an illness or injury, and perform the necessary protocols based on the course.
This is relevant to my recovery because it helps me to understand how to keep my sobriety a priority over anything else. We had class everyday from 8am to 5pm therefore we had to make time to go to our AA meeting and talking to sponsors was always something I had to do. And, most importantly practice the principals of what we learn in meeting in all our daily lives. I will definitely use the skills I learned in the future by using clear methodical steps to assess any situation and then discuss with others to make a precise reasonable plan. Any injury or critical situation I run into will also give me insight of what to do and how to execute preforming to a certain situation. The Wilderness First Responders not only gave me an idea what life looks like outside of rehab, but also how to deal with my sobriety before anything else.
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