Wilderness First Aid - Instructor Certification

[qwazse]

I have a friend, a professional trainer, who just retired from the army and came up with what seems to be a solid wilderness first aid course. I told him I would probably try out his course if the BSA would honor it.

 

The problem: he's getting the run-around in terms of certification. (I shared with him links from scouting.org and national camp school and he has had no response from E-mails.) He tried contacting a "local" guy ('bout an hour's drive away), who said that he already offered plenty of courses. (Yeah, on weekends that non of us could attend and we would have to commute or find lodging.)

 

So does anyone have a "step-by-step" process of becoming a certified instructor? One that BSA will honor on a tour permit.

[Eagle92]

Only way I know of is to go to one of the recognized agencies and take their instructor course(s). Usually very expensive and takes several days.

[Callooh! Callay!1428010939]

If he just retired and didn't transfer the benefits while he was on active duty, he's probably eligible for Post 9-11 GI Bill.

 

The post 9-11 GI can be used to pay for some non-degree programs, like, for one specific example: the National Outdoor Leadership School's Wilderness Medicine Institute: http://www.nols.edu/wmi/

 

How much of the cost it would cover and what other training venues are eligible are subjects your friend may wish to research at http://www.gibill.va.gov/resources/education_resources/

[Eamonn]

To the best of my knowledge the BSA doesn't have ownership of any First Aid courses.

They do recognize courses from organizations like the Red Cross or the American Heart Association.

For some reason the State (Pa.) Uses the courses provided by ASHI (American Safety and Health Institute)

http://www.hsi.com/about-hsi/our-brands/ashi/

 

I think maybe because their services are cheaper than anyone else!

I'm not sure why? But the state sent me to become a Wilderness First Aid Instructor.

Being as the DOC has its own Training Center it really wasn't that big a deal.

 

One of the instructors when I took the course was involved in Scouting.

I'm not sure what Council? But it was out near Harrisburg.

He said that the He had set up the Council as a ASHI approved training center.

You might want to have a look at the link and see if anything they have to offer might work for your pal.

It seems that some Councils are allowing these courses in place of the Red Cross or AHA courses.

I'm not sure how this might work?

I don't know if local Councils are really allowed to do this or not?

Ea.

[Wëlënakwsu]

My understanding... For Tour Permits the BSA accepts certification from organizations that have American Camping Association accreditation. Thus it seems your friend should contact the ACA to accept his course.

See http://www.acacamps.org/accreditation/firstaidcpr

[Tacoma Scouter]

With out starting the who is the best or more in depth training agency.

 

BSA partnered with the American Red Cross to produce the Wilderness and Remote First Aid course. The path way to becoming an instuctor for ARC is to usally a call to the local office, they may have a low cost option to become an instructor. Here they offer was teach a few classes for the local chapter for a huge discount. Once your a First Aid CPR, AED instructor you then can bridge to other course like WRFA. I would suggest that your friend takes a look at this as an option, much safer from a liabilty stand point, and books and such are avaible, along with cetificates from a national reconized agency. Once he is an instructor he can move to other training organitions.

 

One other note the agreement with ARC, give a huge price break on certificates ($5.00 down from $19.00) for each training course.

[BartHumphries]

The BSA will offer a Wilderness First Aid Train the Trainer course at Philmont this fall. It'll be offered through ECSI [url=http://www.ecsinstitute.org/]http://www.ecsinstitute.org/[/url=http://www.ecsinstitute.org/] I took it last fall and it was a great course. Not as good as my Wilderness First Responder through NOLS/WMI, but then WFR allows a couple more things than WFA does (like the focused spine assessment) and it's a longer course overall. If you go, let me know so that I can count you as one of my three people for the Philmont Training Center Masters Award [url=http://www.usscouts.org/awards/Philmont.asp]http://www.usscouts.org/awards/Philmont.asp[/url=http://www.usscouts.org/awards/Philmont.asp] (although I hear that this is the last year for that, so hurry up and sign up then email me at bart.humphries@gmail.com before it's too late for me to collect more uniform swag).

[Krampus]

I have a friend' date=' a professional trainer, who just retired from the army and came up with what seems to be a solid wilderness first aid course. I told him I would probably try out his course if the BSA would honor it. The problem: he's getting the run-around in terms of certification. (I shared with him links from scouting.org and national camp school and he has had no response from E-mails.) He tried contacting a "local" guy ('bout an hour's drive away), who said that he already offered plenty of courses. (Yeah, on weekends that non of us could attend and we would have to commute or find lodging.) So does anyone have a "step-by-step" process of becoming a certified instructor? One that BSA will honor on a tour permit.[/quote']

 

I will PM you with a contact name I know who runs a WRFA course and might be able to help on how to get it up and running.

[qwazse]

I have a friend' date=' a professional trainer, who just retired from the army and came up with what seems to be a solid wilderness first aid course. I told him I would probably try out his course if the BSA would honor it. The problem: he's getting the run-around in terms of certification. (I shared with him links from scouting.org and national camp school and he has had no response from E-mails.) He tried contacting a "local" guy ('bout an hour's drive away), who said that he already offered plenty of courses. (Yeah, on weekends that non of us could attend and we would have to commute or find lodging.) So does anyone have a "step-by-step" process of becoming a certified instructor? One that BSA will honor on a tour permit.[/quote']

 

I will PM you with a contact name I know who runs a WRFA course and might be able to help on how to get it up and running.

Good luck with that. I just tried to PM you and got blocked!

[Krampus]

Good luck with that. I just tried to PM you and got blocked!

 

Yeah me too. Seems that is not working.

 

I hesitate to post the guy's email address as that is a bit too personal.

 

I can tell you that there are several organizations who "certify" trainers. Red Cross, Emergency Care and Safety Institute, NOLS, etc. Many of the courses are very similar. I did call my friend locally who is a physician and scouter and created his course because of his passion for scouting and medicine. His recommendation was to link up with the Red Cross. They usually require folks to be trained and certified in basic first aid, advanced first aid, CPR/AED. He ended teaming up with ARC and they sponsored his program.

 

The BSA seems to say that any of the ARC, ECSI, NOLS or other programs listed on the link below will work for BSA "certification". NOLS, to my knowledge does not certify a competing program but may take your friend on as a local instructor. ARC does a similar thing.

 

http://www.acacamps.org/accreditation/firstaidcpr