The First Week At Moyer
This week the SCA Idaho AmeriCorps members arrived from points across the country- Florida, Michigan, Washington and areas all over the East Coast. They caravaned into Moyer en masse, driving past snow covered peaks and rivers surging with melt.
The crew dove right into to training, learning about the history of conservation, what it means to be an AmeriCorps member, risk management, group dynamics and conflict resolution. Without missing a beat they rolled into Wilderness First Responder training, which is put on by Aerie Backcountry Medicine. The course was open to SCA members and Forest Service employees and includes 80 hours of both classroom and hands on scenario training.
Topics covered ranged from improvisational splint construction, patient assesment and wound management far away from immediate care. The week was capped off with a night scenario in which the students put the skills they had learned during the week to test in a high pressure simulation. Applying the newly gained skills they executed a field excercise in which they dealt with multiple patients and successfully evacuated patients to safety while tended to their medical needs.
Next week the WFR course will wrap up and our instructors from Aerie will roll out as work skills training begins.
The crosscuts are sharpened, the snow is letting up, and the season is about to get underway.