Take a first aid course

“In the first aid course I took, each segment would give a series of steps to follow, and then the instructor would say, “Then you call 911.” My hand shot up. “Excuse me. But what if you can’t call 911?” The entire class found this idea absurd. Them: “What do you mean you couldn’t call 911?” Me: “Well, I go backpacking in the wilderness a lot. It is my daughter and me completely alone.” Them: “Then just use your cell phone.” Me: “Umm…You can’t always get a cell signal in the wilderness! Besides, the nearest forest ranger might be miles away.” I realized that introductory first aid courses would be severely inadequate. Not only could these people not imagine situations where you couldn’t call for help, but they couldn’t fathom that help might not always be available!”

“There's always a small amount of fear when I sign up for courses like this. The reality is that you're learning skills that could potentially save someone's life. That's a lot of responsibility and not to be taken lightly. Our instructor for the two days, Brian, was really great. He kept us going through the material at an understandable pace and kept us interested. The class was a mix of theory and practical – we practiced CPR, as well as role-playing emergency scenarios and some bandaging techniques. The idea is to practice as much as you can, so if the time ever comes, the skills are second nature and you'll act quickly, without needing to think.”