Wilderness First Responder Training Pays Off

A student sent us in this story about how he used his Wilderness First Responder training to assist a woman that suffered a femur fracture.

A woman slipped and fell on the ice three feet in front of me. While she was lying on the ground in great pain she reported that she was recovering from a hip replacement. I had my hip replaced a couple of months ago and thus knew she was at risk for a femur fracture. She said it felt like her femur broke. I immediately rushed into action using my WFR skills by having someone dial 911 (we were in front of a drug store, one building over from the Cleveland Clinic where I had just had an MRI on my hip). I also immediately used my WFR skills by protecting the woman from would-be rescuers. The ambulance arrived in under 3 minutes, and she was transported the one block to the ER at the Cleveland Clinic. Turns out she did have a femoral neck fracture. So, thanks for the wonderful training, and know that if we had been more than 2 hours from a hospital I would have done more than call 911. Phil and Robyn’s lesson that many times the best thing you can do is “protect the patient from other rescuers” was very pertinent in this case b/c two would be rescuers first reaction was to try to have her stand up and “walk it off”. Not a good idea with a femur fracture…. Also, their constant reminders of the difference between street reaction (e.g., call 911) and field reaction immediately came to mind.