[philmont] Wilderness First Aid IS REQUIRED in 2008 and beyond

I tend to agree that if this is going to be a requirement, somehow the
BSA needs to be more proactive in getting courses offered. Cost is also
an issue that crews are going to need to factor in. The Wilderness
Safety Council offers the only WFA classes that I am aware of in our
area and the cost $200. While I find $200 to be very reasonable for a
two day training class, it is still adding $17-$20 per person to the
cost of going to Philmont training only 1 per crew. So adjust your
budgets. I am a big believer in WFA and paid for it out of my own
pocket before we went in 2005 and any mention of it being a requirement.
I think it should be a requirement for any wilderness outing by a troop
such as weekend backpack trips. You are just as likely to have a major
injury that will take several hours to get medical help and evacuate the
patient on a weekend backpacking trip as you are at Philmont.

Phil Brown

________________________________

From: philmont@troop47.com [mailto:philmont@troop47.com] On Behalf Of
Craig Winney
Sent: Sunday, April 15, 2007 12:30 AM
To: philmont List Member
Subject: [philmont] Wilderness First Aid IS REQUIRED in 2008 and beyond

Allow me to re-phrase. For many midwest and eastern Councils WFA has not
been a priority. I agree that it should be required for Philmont, along
with Northern Tier, Seabase, and really for any High Adventure activity
along these lines. The fact remains, many, many Councils have relied on
the Red Cross or the Heart Association for 1st Aid / CPR training for
many years. It is becoming apparent that those organiztions do not have
the resources to accomodate this requirement in this part of the
country.

St Louis will have 20 crews for their Council contigent in both 2007 and
2008. Thats a potential of 240 Scouts & Scouters. That does not include
the numerous units from this Council that got a lottery slot. We easily
could have a WFA course with 40-50 or more participants. I am given to
understand that attempts to coordinate some sort of WFA training with
the Red Cross in this area has gone nowhere. Not because of Council, but
because of the Red Cross. Logistics and cost of a 2-day course remain a
concern. Yes, they've been warned. Its not my call on how to handle it.
I am merely a cog in the machinery (read volunteer, like all of us) and
interested observer. With a Troop going in 07 and a Troop & Venture Crew
looking at 09 and beyond, I want to see this work.

I liken this problem to an unfunded federal mandate. National says do
this, but provides NO guidance as to how to get it done. As we all know,
in this great organization of ours, the bureaucracy can sometimes get in
the way of putting on a good Scout program. In the year since this
subject first came up, has National in Irving offered any guidance? None
that I am aware of. Granted, I'm just a humble UC, but even lowly UCs
sometimes hear things that would benefit their units. Not in this case,
at least not yet.

My apologies to the list for being long-winded on this topic, but the
solutions to this problem are not nearly as simple as everyone thinks
they are.

Craig Winney

GSLAC

Philmont '06

ASM T787

Crew 982

New Horizons District Commissioners Staff

etc, etc.

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Received on Sun Apr 15 08:40:45 2007