For All the Blood, Sweat and Tears

Thanks to First Training, Alex and I have officially been certified for outdoor first aid. We received our certificates via mail yesterday, the day we arrived back from our trial trek (more to come on that later), and immediately began reminiscing about all the hard work that went into obtaining those slips of paper on September 23 &24.

It all started about a week ago when we set out across Auckland to make it to the first day’s location – a room within AUT’s Northshore campus. Waking up around 6am, we trudged along Auckland’s winding roads to catch the transport bus for AUT (Auckland University of Technology) from their city campus. It felt as though I had started university all over again. A busload of professors got off at the city campus and we traded them places, blending in with the students on board.

Before long we arrived at the Northshore campus and began to try to find our way to the proper room through all the campus buildings. We arrived to find that we were some of the last people and immediately noticed that nearly everyone attending the First Training Outdoor First Aid class already knew each other. They were part of the Outdoor Recreation program at AUT.

Even so, Alex and I fit in rather quickly and the class started with a ring of jokes and laughter as we got down to the business at hand – first aid. Much of what we learned that first day was what I remember learning at previous first aid courses years back – CPR, general first aid, what to do when someone is choking, etc. The only difference was that because Alex and I were in an outdoor first aid course, there was a twist. Near the end of the day our instructors (James and John) had us react to a scenario that they had created for us outside. Nothing like a bus crash to get the blood pumping.

And the blood was pumping. Alex and I, acting as first aiders, ran from the classroom to find some of our classmates spread out outside lying on the ground moaning, screaming and pumping fake blood from whatever limb was affected from the terrible incident. Yes, that’s right – fake blood. First Training definitely stepped to the top of my list with regards to that little feature in their class. It was as real life as one could get without actually injuring each other to act it out. Alex and I arrived back to the hostel that night pumped with the knowledge that the next day would have even more scenarios such as that.

The next morning we walked our way to a classmate’s house that happened to only be living a few blocks away from our hostel. From there Susan drove us to the second day location of our first aid course – the local Scouts headquarters. Tucked away in a wilderness wonderland, the setting was perfect for our planned day of doing more outdoor scenarios. Slowly, everyone else arrived wearing whatever outdoor clothing they had from their closet – sweatpants, gum boots and hoodies alike. Alex and I were wearing head-to-toe proper trekking gear. Reading for anything.

Once everyone got settled we refreshed from the day before and then started in learning more things. Things even more relevant to if you happened to need to do first aid in a more remote outdoor environment. Things such as making a stretcher out of some long, thick sticks and everyone’s hoodies. Things such as how to split a limb with what you have. Things that Alex and I needed to know as we were heading off into the bush.

After lunch we got down to the business of the scenarios. The day before we had split off the class into three groups and each group had to create their own horrific scenario that they would act out and the rest of the class would come in to perform first aid. My group chose to be the first ones to go for it. We chose to do a scenario in which the six of us had been friends camping. One person starts to have a heart attack and when three others go to help, a gas canister gets knocked in the fire, causing those three to develop serious burns. Not to mention one of those three also has asthma. In the meantime, the remaining two had been off gathering firewood, oblivious to the chaos back at the campsite, until one (myself) comes back alone to see what had happened and immediately goes into shock. The situation becomes even worse as I happen to be seven months pregnant and the shock begins to cause some premature labor pains. Through all what happened, it takes a while for the first aiders to find out that we still have a sixth person missing in the bush (the one who was getting firewood with me) – I had come back alone as the other guy had begun to feel the effects of his low blood sugar as he had diabetes.



Alex impaled from the bridge

 Anyway, there was lots of screaming, confusion and blood. But in the end, the rest of our class was able to figure out things and help us all out.

The second scenario proved to be quite different as the six people in that group decided that they were going to pretend to be part of a rafting group that went down a waterfall and landed up on some rocks along the shore. Now at this point, I should note that the location we were at was not as though we were working outside of someone’s backyard. For my group’s scenario, we actually were able to act it out around the local campfire, making the scenario as real as possible. This second group was able to get down to the shoreline where there actually were rocks along the water – and this was not exactly next door either. So when us first aiders got the call from emergency services (we were communicating via radios with our instructors who acted as emergency services), there was some difficulty figuring out how to get to the injured group as we hadn’t known previously exactly where they were.

That bit of the scenarios really proved to remind me of what it actually would be like in real life. If someone did have an incident in the bush, it is not as though one can be told to go down 2nd Street until you see McDonald’s, turn right and you’re there. In the bush, all trees begin to look the same. Trails can split off, but it can be difficult to determine which direction they’re actually going. Things could get ugly pretty fast if the first aiders are not fully prepared to navigate through the territory at hand.

As it were, we eventually made it to where the second group was, with help of one of the group members who was rather anxious about his friends that were hurt and running around trying to hurry us up. But, as we learned thanks to our instructors, the number one thing to do in a first aid situation is consider your own safety first and, as so, Stop, Think then Respond (STR). And that we did. We took a minute to assess what appeared to be a group of severely injured and dying rafters on the rocks and then intervened when we had a plan. My job was to go around and gather as much information as possible from the rafters and their conditions and then report back to the leader of the first aiders. It was tough going in that group as it brought to life the reality of what it would be like if that situation had occurred. It made seemingly small issues, such as getting warmth, a huge problem when lying on wet rocks with no shelter from the wind and no sun in sight. Hypothermia was a major play with this group, to the point where CPR had to be performed to revive a group member.

When we had miraculously healed everyone, James and John had us reflect on the scenarios – on what we could have done better and what we had learned through doing them. And then we set off to prepare for the last and final scenario – Alex’s group. Us first aiders trudged back to the Scout’s base building to wait for the call to come out. And soon after – it did.

As, again, we began walking towards where we thought the third group was, we began having difficulty figuring out which direction to go. It was when a shocked, dazed and confused group member slowly made his way passed us that we were able to get some information from him as to what had happened. A bridge had collapsed when his group of trekkers had attempted to pass it. Myself and Quin (another first aider) jumped in to help who became known to us as Tim as the rest of the first aid team made their way to the bridge location.

Tim, though needing an Epi-injection for a bee sting reaction, turned out to be in the best shape compared to the other group members. Further down the hill by the bridge location, chaos and tragedy was in the air. There was someone knocking at death’s door with a massive blood loss. There was someone having a possible spinal injury, but having a seizure shortly after being stabilized. There was blood and lots of it. And then there was Alex. Having fallen some ways when the bridge collapsed, she had landed on her back with none other than a plank of wood impaling her through her stomach to the ground. Screaming out in pain, there wasn’t much the first aiders could do as they were unsure as to how far in the piece of wood had gone through her body. Needless to say, that scenario ended our class with a bang – us theoretically only losing one person as he bled out from his massive injuries. Can’t save them all I suppose.



Alex and I with our awesome leaders John and James



That all said, First Training definitely proved themselves to have an excellent two-day first aid course for the outdoors set up. Alex and I finished the class feeling as though we could confidently and adequately go out into New Zealand’s wilderness and trust each other to be there in need. Or should anyone else we come across need support as well. And not only that, but the class was fun. The most exciting part of our class definitely wasn’t blowing air into dummies and watching their chest rise and fall – we had fake blood and the great outdoors at our finger tips. Who can beat that?

So I guess what I am saying is, much thanks to First Training for your support in mine and Alex’s journey across New Zealand. From the sponsorship through this course we feel better prepared to tackle our adventure along Te Araroa Trail this season. Above all that, I hope that we will never have to actually use the skills.

*** NOTE: a video of this experience will be coming soon! ***