“I seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, often.”
As a registered nurse who works in the emergency department at Foothills Medical Centre in Calgary, and as a teacher with Mount Royal University’s advanced critical care nursing program, and a former emergency room nurse at Alberta’s Children’s Hospital, David Rohof admits this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Having spent a considerable amount of time working in remote locations such as rural Tanzania, the high Arctic, sailing around the world and volunteering at Sunshine Village by carrying a radio and helping ski patrollers tend to injured skiers, he’s had the skills to help in numerous emergency medical situations ranging from small lacerations to broken bones.
Most recently, while hiking in the Lake Louise area in summer, Rohof came upon a man who was clutching his chest in pain, then fell to the ground and went into cardiac arrest. Rohof and a nearby stranger, who happened to be a physician, began administering CPR and the man responded to the compressions.
Rohof and the physician asked another hiker to call for help, and equipped that person with a full set of details on the patient’s condition that enabled a STARS helicopter to be dispatched, and alerted rescuers to bring nitroglycerin and ASA, the necessary medications. They carried on with intermittent CPR and rescue breaths until the helicopter arrived to fly the man to hospital.
While Rohof later learned the man didn’t survive, his actions might have helped save him.
As an avid backcountry skier, climber and hiker as long as he can remember, Rohof believes being prepared for first aid emergencies is essential knowledge for everyone pursuing adventures in the backcountry.
Local members of the Alpine Club of Canada’s Rocky Mountain Section agree, so on Tuesday (Jan. 12) Rohof will present a backcountry first aid refresher at the section’s monthly meeting.
Taking place at the Canmore Legion, the presentation is free and open to anyone who spends time in the backcountry and wants to learn or be refreshed in their knowledge of basic first aid assessment techniques. Rohof will provide an overview of first aid basics, then will delve into some of the advances in backcountry first aid treatment.
In addition to appreciating the invitation to share his well-developed knowledge, skills and passion with fellow backcountry enthusiasts, Rohof admits he simply finds everything about first aid in the backcountry fascinating.
“The biggest thing for me is the logistics and challenges with decision making that make it fascinating,” Rohof said. “For example, you’re hiking with your friend and they are hit with a rock and knocked unconscious. You are 10 kilometres from the trailhead. Night is coming. Do you stay with your friend? Do you go for help? Do you carry them out? How long do you take to make this decision and see if your friend wakes up? What do you do for your friend before leaving them? What supplies can you carry that are light enough that you will actually carry them, and that will provide the most opportunity to help in as many situations as possible?
“I simply find the subject fascinating.”
The backcountry first aid refresher takes place at the Canmore Legion on Tuesday (Jan. 12), starting at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
