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Wilderness Advanced First Aid (WAFA) Training Concludes

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C/CMSgt Aldinger (left) and C/SSgt Leinen treat a wound on a victim. Photo Credit: 1st Lt Deborah Leighton, CAP (click image to view full size)
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Sugar Valley Composite Squadron holds WAFA Final Exercise

4/2/2018––On the weekend of 24-25 March 2018, the Wilderness Advanced First Aid (WAFA) class continued at the Sugar Valley Airport. 12 students, 4 instructors and 16 “volunteer victims” participated in the training over the course of the weekend.

After reviewing the materials from the first half of the WAFA course, the class then reviewed the new material for the day: abdominal illness and injuries, neurological injuries and illnesses, diabetes and allergic conditions. Following the review, the class spent a fruitful 90 minutes discussing the contents of various levels of first aid kits, from the most basic personal kit all the way up to a medical kit for Encampment. A number of items were proposed and then discarded as the class recognized limitations based on weight, cost, or relative utility and value. By the end of the discussion, everyone, including the instructors, had a much deeper appreciation for the potential contents of a truly useful first aid kit.
 
The afternoon consisted of hands-on practical stations covering the same topics as were reviewed in the morning. Based on a wide range of scenario exercises, the class explored more of the practical and subtle aspects of providing first aid in the field.
 
The second day, the last training day for the class, dawned white with a covering of unexpected snow. That did not deter any of the participants and the morning continued with a review of that day’s material including physical and environmental hazards, poisonous plants, snakes and spiders, and water emergencies. Students had a chance to see the variety of potential hazards facing ground teams in the NC field. Practical sessions again emphasized the material covered during the morning.
 
Near the end of the morning, the “volunteer victims” began to arrive. Following a lunch of pizza and salad, the volunteers were all assigned a trauma role consisting of various injuries and illnesses that had resulted from an explosion in the hangar. The students were briefed about the exercise and given basic instruction in the START (simple triage and rapid treatment) approach to Triage. The exercise was a great success and everyone, including the volunteers, learned a lot about the practical side of a multi-victim trauma incident.
 
The class concluded with a final exam and the graduation of 12 new WAFA certified Civil Air Patrol members!