Course Features

WAFA certification is intended for half-day to short multi-day trips with reliable communication and where outside assistance may be delayed up to 12 hours. As cavers, we laugh at "reliable communication" and know that some rescues take more than 12 hours. We also know that a more appropriate 10-day Wilderness Responder Certification is inaccessible for most cavers due to time and financial constraints. Southeast Expedition Medical's Hybrid, Intensive, 36-hour Wilderness Advanced First Aid course was built to bridge the gap and make the training you need more accessible.

Shop Our Store In-Person

Our traveling store will be open at the end of this course.

Realistic Scenarios & High-Quality Simulation

All our scenarios are custom-developed by us to reflect real-world situations. Some scenarios will include high-quality moulage (fake wounds and/or blood). All WAFA classes will also include a night-time mock rescue, similar to the capstone scenario in a Wilderness First Responder course.

Skills practice will include high-quality simulators/trainers and sample materials. See more detail on the CPR/AED & Stop The Bleed training page.

Evidence-Based Medicine

Wilderness Medicine Education Collaborative (WMEC) is a professional organization that develops consensus-driven scope of practice and standards for Wilderness Advanced First Aid (WAFA) Certification. 

Southeast Expedition Medical follows WMEC standards, as well as incorporates additional information from scientific journal articles to bring you the cutting edge of wilderness education.

Certifications

This course will include self-certification in Wilderness Advanced First Aid by Southeast Expedition Medical, following the standards set by WMEC, and certification in Stop the Bleed from American College of Surgeons.

Courses will also include an optional hybrid CPR/AED Certification add-on from American Red Cross for those not already certified.

By request, we can provide certification in Wilderness & Remote First Aid from American Red Cross. 

Intensive, Hands-On Hybrid

With 2.5 jam-packed days of training plus a night-time mock rescue, our courses have been described by alumni as intense. We refuse to do "death by PowerPoint" - we get you up and moving. Southeast Expedition Medical maximizes the skills practice and scenario time that can be done in a single weekend by offering a hybrid-format WAFA.

Hybrid-Format : WAFA will include 12 hours of online learning prior to 22 hours of in-person learning over a long weekend (Friday noon to Sunday evening). Our online learning was custom-built by Southeast Expedition Medical to meet your needs. Beyond the base content, our online platform includes quizzes, articles, and videos to keep you engaged during self-paced learning. Starting 4 weeks before class, we will meet virtually as a group once a week to practice your newly acquired knowledge with case studies.

Caver-Focused

Wild caves are uniquely austere environments. 

Timely communication across distances is nearly impossible. Cell phones and GPS/satellite phones have no signal. Radios will only work with line of sight. 

Additionally, caves are a 3D puzzle. A section that took minutes to pass through when healthy and mobile could take over a day to open up enough for a sked (rescue litter) - and the responding rescue team may not have medically-trained providers either.

We train through this lenses, making your learning experience targeted to the deepest concerns you may have as a caver, so you can walk away from our course feeling confident and prepared to face challenges underground.

Small Course Sizes

7-9 students per instructor

While many providers have up to 30 students at a time, we will never have more than 18 students in a class, ensuring you receive timely feedback and individual attention during the course. 

Classes that do not include rescue team members within the student group will be capped even lower - at 12-14 students, as we have found that rescue team members provide excellent peer-to-peer feedback. 

We encourage rescue team members to participate in our courses by providing CPR/AED training free of charge for up to 2 rescue team members within each class.