Medical
Course – First Responder
This rigorous, multifaceted training course is not for the faint of heart. This course began as a requirement for our own FI Emergency Response Teams (FIRST) and was designed in conjunction with the Greenfield College Wilderness First Responder program (WooFeR). Certified ice climbing, high-altitude search and rescue, Navy search and rescue, field medics, and Emergency Medical Technicians (E.M.T.s) have collaborated in developing this extremely demanding course. Using state-of-the-art tracking, treatment, and diagnostic equipment FI prepares candidates for the full onslaught of environmental and man-made disasters.
Key components of this course are “off-the-grid” survival techniques, wilderness recovery, urban search and rescue, rock climbing, chandelier climbing (frozen waterfall), white-river rafting, cordage, botany, American Red Cross Life-saving certification, CPR, and Triage. This course requires highly developed physical and mental stamina, so if you can endure pain and suffering as much as you like helping people, this is the course for you.
Course – Combat Casualty Care
“The fate of the wounded lies with those who apply the first dressing”. -Col. Nicholas Senn 1844-1908.
FI trainers have first-hand experience treating battlefield injuries. Unlike the majority of civilian ER treated injuries which result from blunt force trauma, the modern warfare combatant uses guerrilla tactics and weapons designed to inflict maximum short-range damage to extremities and arteries. Insurgent forces in the Middle East use Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) which are designed to have the same man-down effect as the Claymore mines used by the Viet Cong forces during the Vietnam conflict. Short-burst, high velocity shrapnel expelled into the lower extremities effectively shred muscle tissue, cartilage, and arteries. The injured soldier then becomes an additional point of focus for his team or squad and creates a “Man-down” scenario that is advantageous to the enemy.
In prior conflicts the majority of victims could bleed-out out before they could be evacuated to a medical treatment facility or hospital.Modern field dressing and evacuation techniques have been enhanced to stop the loss of blood, reduce the effects of shock, and stabilize the heartbeat of the injured. FI Combat Casualty Care trainers instruct our Combat Casualty Care medics in the latest field-treatment techniques to significantly reduce the ratio of injuries to fatalities. Care under duress is the most stressful type of medical care to administer, and requires courage and ability. With the right tools, training, and response protocols a field medic can make a drastic difference in the survival rates of injured soldiers and send a warrior home to his family.
Although much of the weaponry and tactics of guerrilla warfare have endured, the treatment for insurgent field injuries has evolved. Blood clotting chemicals, nitrogen compounds which lower body temperature and slow heart rate, and prefabricated quick-clamp tourniquets can be applied to quickly stop blood loss and stabilize patients that would have died on the field in years past. Technological advances allow real-time injured status-reports, evacuation information, and medical supply-chain fluency to complement the rapid access to stage two treatment. The correct pre-hospital treatment protocol can save lives and FI can provide the proper training to facilitate that goal. If you are active military regardless of your Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) this course could mean the difference between life and death to an injured member of your squad.
