By Olivia Dugenet
Most people sign up for a wilderness first aid class after panicking their way through some type of backcountry medical emergency. Left with regret at having been unprepared, they want to make sure they’re ready for next time. The trouble with this approach, says Katie Luthy, co-owner of Longleaf Wilderness Medicine in Sandpoint, is that there usually is no next time. You aren’t likely to run into the same accident twice.
After some close calls over the years, I’ve started worrying about what I’ll do if some benign misadventure ever deteriorates into an actual emergency. I recently spent 16 hours over a single weekend getting certified in wilderness first aid with Longleaf. Luthy taught everything imaginable, including accident prevention, building splints out of backpacking gear, how to seal up someone’s sucking chest wound with a Ziploc baggie until help arrives, how to use tincture of benzoin and Steri Strips together for lacerations, and how to intentionally stock and organize a first aid kit.
Luthy recommends Adventure Medical for pre-stocked commercial kits because they’re organized according to accident type: wound care supplies together in one compartment, stop-bleeding-fast tools in another. You can do the same when packing or re-stocking your own kit. If you can’t take a class, research basics like how to stop bleeding, how to treat burns and wounds, how to splint a limb and how to identify problems such as hypothermia and shock. Bundle injury-specific supplies together for quick access and only carry what you know how to use.
Preparation is the only control you have in a complex and unpredictable environment. In his poem “Lost,” David Wagoner writes about wilderness, “And you must treat it as a powerful stranger, / Must ask permission to know it and be known.” Here is a stranger who can heal and purify you as easily as break your bones and feed you to a bear. Go if you can. Go far, and often. Just don’t go unprepared. Visit Longleafmedical.com to find classes all over the Inland Northwest or get a bunch of friends together and schedule a group session.
