Lesson 1

• Frontcountry Camping

  • Car camping
  • Camping on planned campgrounds where it is closed to vehicles
  • School grounds or local parks
• Backcountry Camping

  • No amenities are readily available
  • Motorized vehicles cannot reach the camping site
  • Requires some physical exertion such as hiking or canoeing
• Panic

  • Worst enemy of any emergencies
  • Makes a bad situation worse, as this spreads to others as well
  • Hinders or interferes with the rational thinking and causes confusion
• DRSABC Action Plan

  1. Danger

  2. Responsiveness

  3. Send

  4. Airway

  5. Breathing

  6. CPR
• Danger


  Always check first the danger and source of injury. Make sure the surroundings are safe and out of danger.
• Responsiveness


  Can the casualty hear your voice? Can they open and close their eyes? Do they respond to touch
• Send

  Send for help or shout for help
• Airway


  Is the person's airway clear? If the person is not responding and is unconscious, Check airway by opening the mouth and having a look inside. Tilting the head back with the Chin facing up will clean an airway.
• Breathing

  Make sure that the victim is breathing by looking at breathing signs, listening to Exhales, and feeling air coming out of the mouth or nose.
• CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation)


  If an adult is unconscious, no pulse, and not breathing, perform the CPR cycle (30 compressions then two breaths) until the emergency personnel or medics arrive
• First Aid of Common Emergencies in Outdoor Activities

  • Ferrara & LaMeau (2015), stated that "first aid is immediate emergency care for people who are ill or injured. (p.121)
• Cuts, Scrapes, and Punctures

  • Can be caused anywhere from rock climbing, cutting self from a knife, and stumbling.
• Sprain

  • A sprain is a stretching or tearing of ligaments — the tough bands of fibrous tissue that connect two bones together in your joints. The most common location for a sprain is in your ankle.
• Strains

  • A strain is a stretched or torn muscle or tendon. Tendons are tissues that connect muscle to bone. Twisting or pulling these tissues can cause a strain. Strains can happen suddenly or develop over time. Back and hamstring muscle strains are common.
  • Symptoms include pain, muscle spasms, swelling, and trouble moving the muscle.
• Fracture

  • A fracture is a broken bone. A bone may be completely fractured or partially fractured in any number of ways (crosswise, lengthwise, in multiple pieces).
• First Aid for Sprains, Strains, and Joint Injuries

  R - Rest

  I - Ice

  C - Compression

  E - Elevation

  R - Referral
• Concussion

  • A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that affects your brain function. Effects are usually temporary but can include headaches and problems with concentration, memory, balance and coordination.
• Blister

  • A result of ill-fitting footwear. It is especially seen among hikers and trekkers. Blisters can be painful and may cause discomfort.
• Burns or Scalds

  • Injuries on the skin caused by hot liquid or heat.
• Fever

  • A fever is a temporary increase in your body temperature, often due to an illness.
  • Having a fever is a sign that something out of the ordinary is going on in your body.
  • Generally go away within a few days
  • A number of over-the-counter medications lower a fever, but sometimes it's better left untreated.
  • Fever seems to play a key role in helping your body fight off a number of infections.
• Headache

  • Often experienced in trekking or hiking due to lack of eye protection from the sun's rays, tension in the neck, dehydration, swelling of brain tissue due to excessive sweating over a period of days, and consumption of large amount of water without taking salt tablets
• Altitude/Mountain Sickness

  • This happens because the rate of ascent into higher altitudes out spaces the body's ability to adjust to those altitudes. Triggering factors may be ascending too quickly, overexertion in ascent, inadequate fluid hypothermia, and intake, alcohol consumption.
• Hyperthermia

  • Hyperthermia refers to a group of heat-related conditions characterized by an abnormally high body temperature — in other words, the opposite of hypothermia. The condition occurs when the body's heat-regulation system becomes overwhelmed by outside factors, causing person's internal temperature to rise.

  May experience:

  • Heat cramps
  • Heat exhaustion
  • Heat stroke
• Hypothermia

  • Hypothermia is a medical emergency that occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce heat, causing a dangerously low body temperature. Normal body temperature is around 98.6 F (37°C). Hypothermia occurs as your body temperature falls below 95 F (35°C).
• Diving-Related Illnesses

  Barotrauma

  • A serious injury that can occur because of pressure differences between the body's air-filled cavities and the water

  Decompression Sickness (DCS)

  • A serious deep water diving related injury. It happens when divers fail to follow prescribed dive profiles, and it can also happen after a rapid ascent.
• Environmental Hazards

  • The mountains and wilderness have so much to offer to people to enjoy and these include some animals and plants which might impose hazards to people.

  1. Poison ivy/poison oak/poison sumac/wood nettle
  2. Leeches
  3. Snake bites
  4. Drowning
• Guidelines for Safe Outdoor Activity

  • Use proper equipment
  • Balance Fitness
  • Warm up
  • Stretch
  • Take your Time
  • Drink Water
  • Rest