Offshore First Aid Course

[ridsinga]

We are offering an Offshore First Aid Course taking place on April 19, 20, 21. This course is geared towards sailors who intend to be at least three days from professional medical assistance.
This course will take place in New Paltz, NY and will cost US$400. Anyone interested should email me directly at
ridsinga@ece.concordia.ca

[halyardz]

I work at New Paltz and had no idea the course was offered. Seemed a bit pricey so it wouldn''t have made any difference anyway.

[DuaneIsing]

Pricey is right. For $400 you can get almost 4 aspirin administered during a hospital stay today!

Not trying to pick on your comment, halyardz, since I have no idea what the quality of the instruction is. Just a little funnin''.

I personally plan to take one or more such courses within the next two years, but only if my wife does, also. I want her to be able to help me if I need it, too.

[JohnDrake]

Who is giving the course?

The American Red Cross gives several first aid courses at various levels, generally for $50. I find it hard to imagine that 1) first aid would be different offshore than on land and 2) that anyone in any circumstance would want someone who had just 4 days of instruction attempting more advanced medical treatment on them.

I wonder...is there a medical service that can be accessed via VHF or SSB whereby someone with basic skills but a very advanced medical kit (sutures etc) could actually follow the guidance of a real medical professional over the radio and render meaningful care and treatment???

Just my $0.02

[Don Foley]

There are several companies that offer remote medical help. The ones I''ve seen offer insurance-type assistance as well, if you need to be airlifted or go to a boondock hospital. Do a Google search for "Marine Medical" and a few companies will pop up.

For my $.02, I think $400 for 3 days of training sounds great. I sail with my kids and would consider it worthwhile if I only needed a small part of the training on a single event.

Don