Woofers Recertify After Long Weekend

Twenty-three of Bainbridge Prepares’ Wilderness First Responders (Woofers) spent the entire weekend, May 30–31, in a 22-hour crash course at BIFD Station 21 to renew their WFR credentials. These volunteers will use their skills in an emergency to provide first aid to people seeking help at the Island’s Disaster Hubs.

The class, led by Backcountry Medical Training instructors Phil, Tyler, Maddie, and Evan, involved some lectures and discussion and lots of hands-on training. Practice scenarios included responding to a car crash in the parking lot of Station 21, staffing a Disaster Hub after a major earthquake, carrying an injured person through the forest (a.k.a. thick bushes in front of the station), and thoroughly irrigating and closing up (with Steri-Strips) dirty and bloody lacerations on the skins of bananas.

The instructors interspersed humor and earned wisdom throughout plenty of examples from their own experiences as firefighter/EMTS, Woofers, and ski patrollers. They updated participants on the latest innovations in WFR medicine and led everyone in a rousing game of Jeopardy with categories like “When Nature Attacks” and “Medical Potpourri.” The class culminated with an online exam.

Photos by Scott Isenman and Sarah Lane.