About Wilderness First Aid NYC
Wilderness First Aid NYC was founded with a clear mission: to make high-quality, wilderness-based first aid training accessible to the New York City metropolitan community. Recognizing that essential wilderness safety skills were often more readily available elsewhere, we aimed to bring this crucial training right here to NYC. We are dedicated to equipping outdoor enthusiasts and professionals with the knowledge and confidence needed to handle medical emergencies in remote or resource-limited environments.
Our courses, including Wilderness First Aid (WFA) and Wilderness First Responder (WFR), cater to a wide range of individuals – from casual hikers, campers, and climbers exploring local areas like the Gunks or Catskills, to camp counselors, trip leaders, and outdoor professionals who require industry-standard certifications.
We are proud to be an official provider of the Desert Mountain Medicine (DMM) curriculum. This partnership ensures our training adheres to the rigorous standards set by DMM and the Wilderness Medicine Education Collaborative (WMEC), guaranteeing you receive nationally recognized, high-caliber instruction. Our approach emphasizes not only medical skills but also critical aspects of risk management, prevention, preparation, and incident leadership to foster true self-reliance in the outdoors.
Meet the Instructor
Hi, I’m Ella (she/her). I’ve been an outdoor educator since 2014, primarily working out of Leadville, Colorado as an instructor, staff trainer, and emergency on-call responder for Outward Bound, and as a wilderness first aid instructor for Desert Mountain Medicine.
When I moved to Queens in 2020 (life moves in mysterious ways) I was excited to find that New Yorkers get after it! This city is full of climbers, hikers, kayakers, campers, backpackers, skiers, and bikers. However, I noticed the classic Wilderness First Aid and First Responder courses that are ubiquitous out West are hard to find here. I started Wilderness First Aid NYC to make fundamental wilderness-based first aid skills more accessible to outdoorsy New Yorkers.
In over a decade of personal and professional backcountry trips around the world, I have responded to multiple remote medical emergencies that inform how I prepare participants for their roles as responsible outdoor recreators, guides, and first responders. I’ve seen what can go wrong, and I’ve seen how effective these trainings can be for setting things right, even saving lives. So in these courses we train in risk management, preparation, and incident leadership as much as physiology and basic life support.
The time I spend outside is one of the great joys of my life. I hope these courses support veteran and aspiring outdoor lovers alike to enjoy all that nature has to offer, safely and with confidence. I am guided in my work by my responsibility to my students, my related and chosen families, the next generations, and the lands of the Ute, Canarsie, and Munsee Lenape peoples.
