News

Moving a Patient Cross-Country: For an Airlift or a Ground Evacuation
Whether you're carrying a patient to a landing zone or out on foot, moving them cross-country is its own skill. Learn how to decide when to move, package and carry a patient over rough terrain, and hand off safely at the aircraft. Read more...
So You Decided to Call for a Helicopter: How to Select a Landing Zone
Made the call for a helicopter evacuation? Your next job is the landing zone. Learn how to pick, survey, and mark a safe LZ, keep your ground crew safe around the aircraft, and plan for the terrain that won't let one land. Read more...
Using Radio Communications in the Wilderness
Learn how to plan, test, and use wilderness radios for group coordination and medical incidents, including clear messages, lost-contact procedures, and backup options. Read more...
Wilderness Nutrition: Fueling Your Body for Safer Adventures
Good trail nutrition supports energy, warmth, and recovery. Learn practical food-planning habits, hydration considerations, and when symptoms need more than a snack. Read more...
Exposure Injuries: How to Stay Safe in Heat, Cold, and Severe Weather
Learn to recognize and prevent hypothermia, frostbite, heat illness, sunburn, and other outdoor exposure injuries, plus when to seek emergency help. Read more...
Hydration on the Trail: Stay Prepared, Not Just Thirsty
Plan your water supply, recognize hydration warning signs, and avoid common mistakes on the trail. Learn why staying hydrated also means knowing when water is not the answer. Read more...
Stroke in the Field: Recognize the Signs and Respond Quickly
Learn to recognize a possible stroke with BE FAST, record last-known-well time, provide safe field first aid, avoid harmful interventions, and activate urgent evacuation. Read more...
Altitude Illness in the Field: Recognize the Signs and Act Early
Altitude illness can escalate from headache and nausea to life-threatening brain or lung complications. Learn field warning signs, safe response priorities, and when urgent descent and evacuation are needed. Read more...
Cardiovascular Emergencies in the Field: Recognize, Respond, Evacuate
Learn the field priorities for suspected heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrest, and severe bleeding: recognize warning signs, call for help, give first aid within your training, and plan evacuation. Read more...
The Basics of Medicine: A Beginner’s Guide to Learning Safely
A beginner-friendly introduction to body systems, vital signs, infection prevention, medication safety, and knowing when to seek professional help. Read more...
Scene Management: Taking Control of the First Five Minutes, Urban and Wilderness
Strong scene management keeps responders safe and patients moving. Here's a practical framework for sizing up, assigning roles, and staying in command from arrival to transfer of care, on the street and in the backcountry. Read more...
Why Regular Training Matters: The Importance of Seeking Quality Wilderness First Aid Education
Regular, quality wilderness first aid training isn't optional — it's essential. Learn why skills fade, protocols change, and how often you should recertify to stay prepared in the backcountry. Read more...
When to Call for the Bird: A Go/No-Go Framework for Helicopter Evacuation
In a wilderness emergency, few decisions carry more weight than the call to request helicopter evacuation. Call too early and you burn resources for a walk-out. Wait too long and a stable patient becomes a critical one. This framework gives you a repeatable process for making that call with confidence. Why This Decision Is Hard Helicopter evacuation is fast, expensive, and not always possible. Weather, terrain, daylight, and aircraft availability all work against you. The pressure to "wait and see" is real — but so is the risk of a... Read more...
Common Homesteading Injuries and How to Handle Them
Homesteading comes with real injury risks — from cuts and burns to animal bites and heat exhaustion. Learn how to recognize and respond to the most common homestead injuries, and discover how wilderness first aid training can prepare you for emergencies far from help. Read more...
You Are Your Own First Responder
In an emergency, the most important person in the room is the one already there. When a car accident happens on a remote highway, when someone collapses on a hiking trail, when a coworker goes into cardiac arrest in the break room — the first person to respond isn't a paramedic. It's you. The bystander. The coworker. The hiking partner. The person who was already there when it happened. That's not a burden. That's an opportunity. The Gap Between "Help Is Coming" and Help Actually Arriving The average EMS response... Read more...
Splinting in the Wilderness: Principles and Techniques
A properly applied splint can mean the difference between a manageable evacuation and a worsening injury. Learn the core principles of wilderness splinting, what materials to use, and how to splint common injuries in the field. Read more...
Evacuation of Patient to Elevated Care
When Evacuation Becomes the Treatment In wilderness and remote settings, there comes a point where the most important intervention you can make is getting your patient out. Evacuation to elevated care — whether that's an urgent care clinic, emergency department, or trauma center — is itself a critical medical decision that requires planning, communication, and execution under pressure. Indications for Evacuation Not every injury or illness requires an immediate evacuation, but certain conditions demand it. Evacuate urgently when your patient presents with: Altered mental status or decreasing level of consciousness... Read more...
SMARCHE: The Trauma Algorithm Built for When It Matters Most
Breaking Down SMARCHE S — Scene Safety Before you approach any patient, assess the scene. Is the threat that caused the injury still active? Are you about to become a second casualty? No matter the environment — a car accident, an industrial site, a remote trail — a responder who goes down is a net loss. Confirm the scene is safe, or make it safe, before you move in. M — Massive Hemorrhage Uncontrolled external bleeding is the leading cause of preventable traumatic death. It kills in minutes. Address it... Read more...
When Seconds Count: How Trauma Medicine Differs Between Everyday Emergencies and the Wilderness
Every year, thousands of people die from traumatic injuries that were potentially survivable — not because help wasn't available, but because the right help wasn't available in time. In an urban setting, that window is measured in minutes. In the backcountry, it can stretch into hours or days. Understanding how the leading causes of traumatic death differ between everyday life and the wilderness — and how trauma medicine must adapt — is the foundation of wilderness medicine training. Top 10 Causes of Traumatic Death in Everyday Life In urban and... Read more...
Understanding the MIST Report in Wilderness Medicine
Learn how the MIST Report — Mechanism, Injuries, Signs & Symptoms, Treatment — is used in wilderness medicine to communicate critical patient information during handoffs. Read more...
DOTS: A Wilderness First Aid Assessment Tool
What Is DOTS? DOTS is a systematic physical assessment tool used in wilderness first aid to identify injuries and medical conditions during a head-to-toe patient exam. The acronym stands for: D — Deformities: Abnormal shapes, angulations, or asymmetry compared to the opposite side of the body. O — Open wounds: Cuts, lacerations, abrasions, punctures, or any break in the skin. T — Tenderness: Pain or discomfort when pressure is applied to a specific area. S — Swelling: Localized or generalized puffiness, which may indicate inflammation, fracture, or internal injury. Why... Read more...
The Dangers of Daily Life: Why First Aid Training Belongs at Home Too
Emergencies don't only happen in the wilderness — they happen in kitchens, workplaces, and backyards every day. Learn why first aid training is essential for everyone, everywhere. Read more...