Triaging Wilderness First Aid

Video Transcript

"The primary objectives for giving first aid in the wilderness are pretty simple. There's really three basic steps. First of all, you have to go ahead and eliminate any life threatening injuries that are immediately present in the situation. If someone's bleeding severely, you've got to go ahead and get the bleeding to stop. If someone's choking, obviously you've got to get rid of the obstruction. If someone's drowning, you've got to get them to the shore and get them out of the water. And that's really the fist step in wilderness first aid. The second step is going to be going ahead and making sure that you keep the victim safe, and that you're keeping them safe from other types of harm that are around. If they're bleeding, other predators in the wilderness may come around and may be interested in the smell of blood. So fending off predators could pop up. So you've really got to be careful and make sure that your situation remains safe, not only for you as the rescuer and the first-aid giver, but also that the victim remains safe and is removed from any other immediate harm. The final step is getting them to medical attention immediately. Going ahead, getting someone to run to the top of the nearest bluff, getting on their cell phone if you don't have cell phone service where you are, calling the authorities, taking a run to the trailhead, to the ranger station, going ahead and speaking with the ranger, getting the medical attention there is so vital to their survival, that I can't even really explain how important that is. So, if you go ahead and you follow those three steps, usually everyone ends up making it out pretty safe."