Entries filed under 'first aid'

Smartphone Apps for Your Next Group Campout

Part 2 of our series on smartphone apps: This time, cool apps for car campers! There are now oodles of handy Android or Apple apps specifically designed to up the fun, help you coordinate your campsite and even prepare you for the unexpected on your next group camping trip. Of course, when it comes to car camping (and especially backcountry camping), battery- and reception-dependent smartphones can't always be counted on. Good gear and outdoor smarts are really your only constants. With that ...

Posted by Francesca K on August 9, 2011 12:24 PM & Tagged apps, camp songs, camping, cookbook, electronics, first aid and smartphone | permalink | Comments



It's Tick Time: Are You Prepared?

Ticks are nasty little arachnid bugs that only know how to do one thing well, which is to make you sick. Fortunately, REI and the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS have some simple tips to keep you healthy. First, know your enemy. Ticks can live anywhere where you might camp. They like vegetated areas, especially ones where small mammals live. Their main occupation is a behavior called "questing," which is crawling upwards en masse and waving their tiny arms around until some unsuspecting ...

Posted by Hovey WMI on July 8, 2011 1:15 PM & Tagged CDC, Lyme disease, NOLS, WMI, Wilderness Medicine Institute, first aid, health, tick fever and ticks | permalink | Comments



Treating Snakebite: Keep It Simple

If one believes any of the lore on treating snakebites, then you have a bewildering number of options. Should I pack the limb in ice or apply ice only on the bite? Should I use a stun gun or jumper cables from my car battery to run electricity through the bite? Perhaps I should slather it with meat tenderizer, use a tourniquet, hope my special black rock absorbs venom or resort to incision and suction, a la John Wayne in the film True Grit.  If you believe the credible medical advice, as I do, ...

Posted by Tod at WMI on July 29, 2010 8:20 PM & Tagged NOLS, WMI, backcountry, first aid, rattlesnake, snakebite, wilderness medical institute and wilderness medicine | permalink | Comments



Wilderness First Aid Training: Now at an REI Near You

I've spent years trying to explain what wilderness medicine is and what it isn't. In its simplest form, wilderness medicine is simply medicine performed in specific circumstances often involving extended patient contact, challenging environmental conditions and limited supplies. It does not include radical medical techniques performed on the side of K2 or understanding of how to use indigenous plants as medical therapies. It is much simpler than that. A broken bone is a broken bone whether you ...

Posted by Shana_WMI on July 15, 2010 11:49 AM & Tagged NOLS, WMI, backcountry, first aid, wilderness medical institute and wilderness medicine | permalink | Comments