Outdoor Recreation to hold Wilderness First Responder Course

The Outdoor Recreation Department is holding a Wilderness First Responder course March 17-25, during Liberty’s spring break, that will help teach safety and first aid to the sizable community of hikers on Liberty’s campus.

Lynchburg, located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, is in a region rich with mountain treks and breathtaking landscape views. With this opportunity comes an increased risk for danger to the students on the trails. This is one of the primary reasons why Outdoor Recreation Assistant Director Tim Lewis wants to host the course at Liberty’s Camp Hydaway.

“Hiking is a very popular pastime for many (Liberty) students,” Lewis said. “Therefore, we want to make sure that they are prepared for any emergency situations that they may encounter while on their personal excursions and adventures.”

The need for the course is also clear to Outdoor Recreation Director Mike Ellsworth, who noted the unfortunate amount of occurrences that have befallen students in his time at the university.

“Sadly, in the last eight or nine years that I’ve been here, we’ve had a lot of injuries and a few sad fatalities in wilderness settings, so I think it really is just educating the Liberty community and creating this culture that views wilderness first aid as something that is important and should be vital if you’re out in the woods a lot,” Ellsworth said.

At $715 per person, the nine-day, 80-hour course will familiarize both students and the general public with a wide array of medicine and first aid knowledge, including patient assessment, proper CPR and AED certification training, and illness and injury treatments. According to Ellsworth, one specific lesson that speaks about basic first aid maintenance and usage stands out to him.

“One of my favorite features of this course is … basic first aid kits … and teaching you what’s really important to be in your first aid kit,” Ellsworth said. “We all have a first aid kit somewhere, but we may not know where it is, what’s in it, and we might not know if the stuff in there is good anymore.”

While Liberty is the host campus to the course, the instruction will come from the National Outdoor Leadership School Wilderness Medicine Institute, which Ellsworth described as an industry standard in the area of wilderness medicine curriculum. The fact that those who pass the course will receive internationally recognized certifications from high-level instructors contribute to the course fees.

Despite food and lodging not being included in the course, students are able to stay in their dorms or rent tents for $100 or cabins for $150, and Hydaway has backpacks, tarps and other related materials that will be used during the course.

Ellsworth encouraged even those who are not hiking enthusiasts to take the course, as the need for first aid and other medical knowledge can come in handy for virtually everyone at some point in their lives.

“I also just say that if you have any interest in having children and taking those children outside someday, this is a great course, and it’s the most medicine information that you can get without being an EMT,” Ellsworth said. “This is just a great way to prepare yourself for little bumps and bruises or even more serious injuries. If I had the ability, I would want every Liberty student to go through it.”

 

While a wilderness instruction class that takes place during spring break at first may seem like an unappealing commitment, both Ellsworth and Lewis are passionate about the safety and medical treatment instruction participants can gain from the course.

“It’s a different type of spring break, that’s for sure,” Lewis said. “But it’s definitely worth it.”

To register, students can visit the Liberty Outdoor Recreation webpage.