Author Archives: Abigail Polsby

U.S.A.F Pararescue Squadron SRT/SRT-1

 

 

I look forward to these classes very much. The PJs are an adventurous group of young men faced with active duty deployment Search and Rescue missions for the United States Air Force all over the world as well as Search and Rescue Missions in the US. I have the utmost respect for these guys and the job they do. This group was no exception. With 6-days for river rescue training we had ample time to cover the course material as well as fill it in with everything thing I could come up with. Trust me when I say that I really have to work hard to keep challenging them. But we did it, and had a great SRT-1 /SRT-A combination course. From High-lines to canals, low-heads to Class-IV whitewater, we did it all… and then some. Talk about efficient. Thanks for a good week gentlemen. -ZB 6.2013

Swiftwater Rescue on the Rogue River

Thanks to Rogue Wilderness and their guides for a great few days of training.

We kicked off the 3-day training with a fun, albeit bloody, day of wilderness first aid, and then moved into two days of swiftwater rescue training. Argo, or ‘Gnargo’ as the rogue guides like to call the rapid, provided us with some excellent training opportunities for day one.

During day two we based out of Indian Mary campground and were able to incorporate a down-river component through Hellgate canyon. Great times.

Thanks for all you who came out to train and a special thanks to Rogue Wilderness and Rogue Canyon Adventures Have a great season!

-ZB 5.14.13

Always Be Prepared; Boys Scouts in Wilderness First Aid training

So says the boy scout motto:

Always be prepared.

The ten scouts and parents who took our 2-day wilderness first aid training this past weekend in Coloma are hopefully now more prepared than before. These guys are off for a week-long excursion to Mt. Fillmore area later this summer.

Hopefully they won’t have to put their skills to the test, but it never hurts to “be prepared” -ZB 4.29.13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilderness First Aid Training with CCC

Thank you to the California Conservation Corps. We had a great two days teaching the new backcountry crews wilderness first aid and CPR. A special thanks to the administrators and leaders that made this training possible. For the first time ever, the backcountry crews received a wilderness component to their training.

This group will spend the next 6 months in California’s parks, working on trail crews all over the state. In class we found both literally and figuratively, that a little fake blood goes a long way. In two days students got lots of hands on practice with backcountry first aid skills and participated in staged scenarios.

Great work out there and have an awesome season!

wilderness first aid training course with California conservation corps.

Reviewing wilderness first aid skills

wilderness first aid training course with CCC

Successful skill scenario complete

wilderness first aid training course with CCC

California conservation backcountry crew

practicing wilderness first aid training skill

Practicing new wilderness first aid skill

scenario practice during wilderness first aid training course

Practicing new wilderness first aid skill

 

Swiftwater Rescue Advanced Training Course

An advanced swiftwater rescue course can be pretty hard to pull off with such a small group, but these guys were up for the challenge. We had fair weather with a bit of cold rain, which we hammered through. The night search was probably the highlight with them having to find me tucked under a rock “unconscious”.

Getting me free was their first challenge and then transporting me to the other side of the river proved to be a whole other ball of wax (not to mention the cookout we had before hand had us all a bit sluggish).

These photos are from a 3 day SRTA with 5 guys from 3 different departments.

 

Swiftwater Rescue Training with FDNY

Sierra Rescue/Rescue 3 West had the extreme honor of training some of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) guys.

We had tons of fun in Coloma and Lotus on the South Fork American, Middle Fork of the American and North Fork of the American Rivers. They had traveled so far, so we did the full tour of the Americans. We also had fluctuating water levels during the time they came out and we wanted to maximize their experience.

We had two amazing groups of 24, one in Febuary and one in March. They all participated in a 5-day Swiftwater Rescue Technician Unit 1 and Swiftwater Rescue Technician Advanced combo course (SRT1/SRTA). We had mostly sunny skies and tried to give them a good show of what a California early spring can offer.

We brought in the big guns on this one and had an all-star instructor line up with Tren Long, Mike Mather, Don Lester and John Rogers. I was able to join in with the second group in March and taught with Mike Mather and Don Lester and can’t even begin to express how much fun I had with these men. They were so far out of their normal element but had such great attitudes about trying new things and just going for it.

The week was filled with big smiles and plenty of laughs. Thanks again to all of them for their energy and enthusiasm. A special thanks to John Abplanalp and the logistics coordinators for making everything flow smoothly.  We hope to see you all again someday, you’re always welcome back!!! We had so many photos from the course, it is hard to just pick out a few for our blog.

To see more pictures, check out our Facebook album on the Sierra Rescue fan page.

Thanks again and huge hugs,

Abi

 

Wilderness First Responder Course in Flagstaff, AZ

Julie and Abi just returned back from Arizona. They had a bunch of great courses down in Flagstaff and on the Salt River.

They ran two Wilderness First Responder Recertification courses (WFR-recert) for both Canyon Explorations and Arizona Rafting Adventures (AZRA Discovery).

The Can-X class had it’s challenges with the weather as it snowed heavily for the first two days. AZRA lucked out the following weekend with sunny days. You’ve got to love the classic Flag spring weather. Below are some images from the classes.

Check out the use of cam straps to really get a patients hips down. It works great but does take a bit of practice!!

Thanks to everyone for welcoming us into your warehouses, your homes and of course your minds. We love being down in Flag, it is a home away from home.

Thanks to both Cam, Laurie and Garrett Staveley and Justin Saloman over at Can-X and Alex and Fred Thevinin and Dennis Smoldt over at AZRA for continuing to support us and use Sierra Rescue/Rescue 3 West as their go-to Wilderness Medical provider.

Huge hugs to you all and see you next year!!

 

 

WFA with San Francisco Water and Power

I am so happy to be back teaching for Sierra Rescue after the winter break. 2013 is going to be the best year in Sierra Rescue history so far. I had the pleasure last week, for my first course of the season, to teach a 2 Day Wilderness First Aid/ CPR course for the folks over at San Francisco Water and Power in Sunol, CA. These folks take it upon themselves to go above and beyond the two year recertification standards and get training with us each and every year. Their base knowledge from previous courses with Sierra Rescue made it possible for us to run a series or more complex and involving scenarios. We also spent time reviewing fun topics like splinting, snake bites, CPR, spine clearing protocol and many peoples personal favorite, the wounds lab. I cant wait for the next course.

Traveling to Teach – We love what we do!

All of us at Sierra Rescue know how difficult it can be to travel for professional training. So, to make training even easier, we travel to you! Yes, you heard us right; even though we’re a California based rescue training company, we’ve taught in several other states including Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon and South Dakota. But, we don’t limit ourselves just to the United States. We’ve taught internationally in the following countries: Costa Rica, Austria, Puerto Rice and Malaysia. These courses have varied from Swiftwater Rescue, Technical Rope Rescue, Wilderness First Responder and more!

We strive to offer our students the highest quality of training possible. So, to achieve these high standards, our instructors also travel to receive the best training available. For example, our lead instructors, Julie Munger and Abigail Polsby, traveled to England for Higher Education Certificates. While overseas they became part of the Associate Faculty at the University of Central Lancashire to further their teaching abilities and credentials. Before leaving England they played around in motorized boats on the Irish Sea with some Rescue 3 instructors from Wales and England, and got to do a little kayaking in Wales.

In 2013 we’re looking at teaching a Wilderness First Responder in Norway, a Wilderness First Aid in Iceland and a Swiftwater Rescue and Wilderness First Responder combo course in Honduras! It’s amazing how many places teaching has taken us. Thank you for your continued support and allowing us to do what we love – traveling to teach professional rescue courses! For more information on any of our courses, please visit our website www.sierrarescue.com.