NOLS: Wilderness First Aid

Wilderness First Aid

Whether spending time in the backcountry is your passion or your profession, you should never have to ask, "What do I do now?" REI is partnering with the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS to offer a comprehensive 16 hour, two day course that will teach you the wilderness medicine skills you need to recreate with confidence in the backcountry. In just two days, you will learn the knowledge, skills and ability to make sound decisions in emergency situations. From the Patient Assessment System through traumatic, medical, and environmental emergencies, you'll experience a wide variety of topics designed to prepare you to act if an accident occurs. This course is ideal for trip leaders, camp staff, outdoor enthusiasts and individuals in remote locations.

Wilderness Medicine Institute empowers people to act with confidence in emergencies. NOLS Wilderness First Aid graduates are prepared to act. They gain practical skills that can save lives.

The Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course will help you prepare for the unexpected. This fast paced, hands-on training is designed to meet the needs of trip leaders, camp staff, outdoor enthusiasts and individuals working in remote locations. It will introduce you to caring for people who become ill or injured far from definitive medical care. Classroom lectures and demonstrations are combined with realistic scenarios where mock patients will challenge you to integrate your learning. At the end of the course, you’ll have the knowledge, skills and ability to make sound decisions in emergency situations.

Taught by seasoned instructors in a two or two and a half day format, most WFA courses are held on a weekend. Learning takes place both in the classroom and in outdoor settings regardless of weather conditions. Come prepared for wet, muddy, cold or hot environments.

The 16 to 20-hour Wilderness First Aid course includes many advanced topics that other programs leave out such as reduction of dislocations and epinephrine administration.

Best for participants ages 16+.

Topics include:

  • Patient Assessment System
  • Evacuation Plans and Emergency Procedures
  • CPR (on some courses)
  • Spinal Cord Injuries
  • Shock
  • Head Injuries
  • Wilderness Wound Management
  • Athletic Injuries
  • Fracture Management
  • Dislocations
  • Cold Injuries
  • Heat Illness
  • Altitude Illness
  • Lightning
  • The Medical Patient
  • Anaphylaxis
  • Wilderness First Aid KitsREI

When: 
Saturday, March 19, and Sunday, March 20, 2016
Art Academy Summer Program at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly MA

Music Together - Wednesday

Marblehead, Beverly Farms, Hamilton, Salem, Peabody Music Together
Music Together® is a research-based music & movement program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and the grown-ups who love them. Music Together® classes make it easy for parents/primary caregivers to play a crucial role in activating their child's music development. Classes are 45 minutes...
9:30 am to 11:15 am

Dungeons & Dragons Club at Essex Library

The Essex Massachusetts Library hosts a Dungeons and Dragons club for local kids.
Enjoy a the role playing game Dungeons and Dragons on Mondays, 5:30-7pm with Student Dungeon Master, Gus Hall. Spaces are limited, register early!
5:30 pm to 7:30 pm

Thursday, January 23

LEGO Club at Danvers Library

LEGO club at Danvers Library Massachusetts
Peabody Institute Library - Danvers invites kids to an afternoon of building and fun! Activities will include free build, themes and instructional design. All structures will remain on display in the Children’s Room till the following weeks's session
3:30 pm to 4:30 pm

Friday, January 24

Music Together - Friday

Marblehead, Beverly Farms, Hamilton, Salem, Peabody Music Together
Music Together® is a research-based music & movement program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and the grown-ups who love them. Music Together® classes make it easy for parents/primary caregivers to play a crucial role in activating their child's music development. Classes are 45 minutes...
10:30 am to 11:15 am

Kidleidoscope at Breakheart Reservation

Kidleidoscope is a program designed for preschoolers at Bradley Palmer State Park
Come join our park interpreter for a story time and nature walk! Complete a small craft and explore the woods! Walks are gently paced and approximately 1 mile, though not accessible for strollers. Appropriate for families with children 3-5 years old. Meet at the Visitor Center.
10:30 am to 11:30 am

Animal Adventures Series: Inside & Out

Come learn about your favorite animals and their habitats at the Joppa Flats Center in Newburyport Massachusetts! Photo: Kathy Crane, NOAA Arctic Research Program
Joppa Flats Education Center invites families for family fun about your favorite animals with hands-on science, songs, a take-home craft and outdoor time, weather permitting. This is a three-week series for young "naturalists" and their adventure-loving adult to learn about animals together. Please...
1:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Drop-In Family LEGO at HWPL

Wednesdays are LEGO Build Days at the Hamilton-Wenham Public Library
Put your imagination and building skills to the test at this self-directed drop-in program. All ages are welcome with a caregiver.
3:15 pm to 4:15 pm

Saturday, January 25

Superbowl of Birding 2025

The Superbowl of Birding 2025 is a unique competition conducted in Rockingham County, NH, and Essex County, Massachusetts
The Superbowl of Birding 2025 is a unique competition conducted in Rockingham County, NH, and Essex County, MA. During a 12-hour period, teams of birders of all ages and abilities seek out the greatest number of avian species and amass the most points based on the rarity of the birds recorded....
5:00 am to 5:00 pm

Music Together - Saturday

Marblehead, Beverly Farms, Hamilton, Salem, Peabody Music Together
Music Together® is a research-based music & movement program for infants, toddlers, preschoolers, and the grown-ups who love them. Music Together® classes make it easy for parents/primary caregivers to play a crucial role in activating their child's music development. Classes are 45 minutes...
9:15 am to 11:15 am

Gloucester's So Salty 2024

Celebrate Gloucester Massachusetts recognizably salty character with local cultural institutions in the heart of downtown.
Celebrate the fish city’s recognizably salty character with local cultural institutions and businesses during the 4th Annual Gloucester’s So Salty festival on January 25 and 26, 2025 from 10:00 am – 5:00 pm! Over 1,800 people came out last year to share their salty pride while enjoying free ice...
10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Guided Tour | When Granite Was King!

Find out the story behind the history of granite quarrying at Halibut Point State Park in Rockport, Massachusetts!
Halibut Point State Park is also a granite quarry with a history that goes back billions of years! Over one hundred years ago, the Rockport Granite Company quarried granite stone here.
11:00 am to 12:30 pm

Befriend the Barnyard

Befriend the Barnyard is a hands-on barnyard experience at the Trustees of Reservations' Appleton Farms in Ipswich Massachusetts
Discover our special barnyard animals! Our Angora rabbits Violet, Mabel, Oiver and Charles; Nubian goats Maeve, Morgana, and Mordred; dairy cows Gray, Jasmine, their calves Gigi and Joanie and our friendly flock of heritage chickens will take center stage as we learn about what makes them so unique...
11:00 am to 1:00 pm