BSA Wilderness First Aid (WFA) Training Requirement for Philmont, Northern Tier and Seabase
Boy Scouts of America is now requiring Wilderness First Aid (WFA) for all Northern Tier Expeditions, Philmont treks and Seabase Adventures.
The BSA Guidelines (effective Mar 2010) state that Wilderness First Aid (WFA) is required by a crew member to qualify for Philmont Treks, Northern Tier and Seabase. The WFA course must be from an approved school. Wilderness Medicine Outfitters (WMO) is and has been for years one of the BSA listed approved schools.
Philmont Treks, Northern Tier expeditions and Seabase Adventures require at least one crew member to have Wilderness First Aid (WFA) training. This WFA certified crew member can be an adult or scout crew member. That is, ANY approved WFA training course where the certification is still current (typically 2 years) will qualify.
The change from past years is the training must be an approved Wilderness First Aid course (WFA), not simply a First Aid course.
So, if at least one member of your Philmont Trek, Northern Tier Expedition or Seabase Adventure crew has an approved current Wilderness First Aid certification, you are good to go. If not, you will require training prior to arrival at your trek so check out WMO.
At Wilderness Medicine Outfitters, we offer a Blended Learning: online and in-person, Wilderness First Aid [called WFA20] 20 Hour Course. You set the time to study! You pick a location and date for the hands on personal training near you! You are no longer tied to a schedule you have little to no control of. CPR and AED can be added as an option as well on line with hands on skill instruction from your private or group instructor in your area. We encourage you not to wait until the last minute. Click the link below to get started right away. WMO Blended learning can save you time and money.
Since starting this program in 2000, We have a very high success rate of arranging our students a skill instructor.
1 - Giving 4 hrs free training to an outdoors oriented Doc, Nurse, Paramedic or EMT you may know or find at your local fire station and then having them work with you.
or
2 - Using one of the many trained skill instructors we have.
or
3 - Finding you one of the 3000 members of the Wilderness Medicine Society (WMS) to work with you.
The first option is usually easiest as the person you find is CLOSE to you. We have had many students who have driven distances to meet up with the skill instructor in option 2 and 3 or occasionally paid to have them fly to the student. We pay the cost of supplies and pay shipping to your chosen instructor candidate and usually recommend option 1.
We are asked daily if we can help with a skill instructor in [blank] town and YES WE CAN but we need your help to get you trained in time with the skill instruction listed under details. [ Click HERE for more details ]
The WMO WFA20 course is designed to meet the Boy Scouts of America Wilderness First Aid Curriculum and Doctrine Guidelines (linked below)
This course is designed to help you learn and finish it in a short time IF you will do the work outlined.
Click this link to get started at WildernessMedicine.com under "Classes" > WFA20 Hour Course [ Click HERE ]
Feel free to [ Contact Us ] with any questions.
More Information about the WFA-BSA course by WMO
The Boy Scouts of America published new guidelines in August 2009 establishing a new standard for
Adult and Scout Leaders requiring Wilderness First Aid (WFA) training. This requirement went into full effect on March 1, 2010.
All crews going to Philmont Backpacking Treks, Northern Tier Canoe Expeditions or Seabase Adventures are required to have at least one crew member
with an up to date "Wilderness First Aid" (WFA) credential.
Wilderness Medicine Outfitters offers a Blended Learning course that meets the BSA requirements of a WFA training certification.
Blended Learning will allow you to take this course online via the internet from the comfort of your home or office.
You can work at your own pace. You will view videos and have reading material and slides to learn from.
You will have an assigned instructor to ask questions via email on topics within the WFA curriculum.
There are 4 multiple choice online quizzes during the course.
Upon completion of the WMO WFA blended learning course portion,
you will be required to complete a 4 hour in-person, hands on practice session.
This hands-on session is arranged through WMO at a time and location convenient to your location.
WMO has instructor connections all over the U.S. to meet this need.
During the early part of the course, you will contact WMO to set up the time and location of the hands-on session.
As an option, if you already know someone who has medical background such as
a EMT/EMS staff, a firefighter, nurse or doctor, WMO offers a short
training course that will get your friend up to speed on the required material.
A NOTE for Philmont Crews: Many crews headed to Philmont pass through Colorado Springs, CO. Your 4hr hands-on session
might conveniently be scheduled with WMO to take place in Colorado Springs, CO as you travel to Philmont.
WMO also offers an optional online blended adult CPR / AED course.
You may be interested in these links for more information:
Wilderness Medicine Outfitters home page
Wilderness Medicine Outfitters Class Information
Northern Tier Canoe Expeditions
BSA WFA Curriculum and Doctrine Guidelines
About Wilderness Medicine Outfitters (WMO)
We are Wilderness Medicine Outfitters (WMO)
We have been conducting Medical and Outdoor Training for over 40 years.
We offer more advanced Wilderness Medicine courses such as:
Wilderness First Responder / Wilderness EMT (WFR/WEMT)
Wilderness Advanced Life Support (WALS)
We also offer Books, First Aid Kits and much more.
Check out our website at: WildernessMedicine.com