I have noticed that many who have posted on this forum expressed a desire to learn new skills and gain experience. To this end, it makes sense to have a topic that deals with training.
I would like to offer my suggestions on where and from whom to get skills and experience.
1) Scouts Canada http://www.scouts.ca is a great place to start, whether you are young or not so young. The program helps kids learn how-to live in the bush, how-to navigate, how-to hike, how-to canoe, how-to cook, and how-to be a good citizen. But it does not end there, leadership skills are taught and practiced by youth and the adults who support the programs. If you want a place to start, start with Scouting.
2) Canadian Forces http://www.forces.ca/en/page/training-90 Whether full-time or as a reservist, the CF is a great place to learn skills and to get to practice them.
3) Local Ground Search & Rescue Unit (GSAR). Volunteer with your local SAR unit. Skills. Leadership. Teamwork. Hey, you may just save somebody's life! Real skills for the real world. And it can be fun, too!
4) Provincial Agencies, like Emergency Preparedness Alberta http://aema.alberta.ca/pa_emergency_preparedness_week.cfm . In particular, they have two courses worth attending: Basic Emergency Preparedness and CER - Civil Emergency Response. These course offer skills and networking opportunities that will serve you, your family and your community well.
5) First Aid Training. You can never have too much first aid training. St. John's Ambulance http://www.sja.ca/Pages/default.aspx , Canadian Red Cross http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=620&tid=021 , or Wilderness First Aid or Responder Courses http://www.wildernessmedicalconsultants.ca/courses/wildernessFirstResponder.htm , http://wildernessfirstaid.ca/courses/essential-wfa/ewfa-bundle.html?gclid=CJTP-sTagq8CFQZ_hwodhT9x2w , or http://www.calgaryoutdoorcentre.ca/wilderness_skills . Also, a minor point on first aid training, if you are a leader with Scouts Canada or a member of a volunteer SAR unit, they will provide you with first aid certification or pay for the course, because they need you to be qualified to handle minor situations as part of your volunteer job.
6) Canadian Ski Patrol http://www.csps.ca/eng/index.php3 , Another volunteer orginization that gives you skills and experience in exchange for your time.
7) The Junior Forest Wardens http://www.jfwa.ca/ , another youth org that teaches skills and leadership to the young people in our country.
Now other ways to gain valuable skills and experience that are more family or individual oriented would be to start camping. If that means starting with glamping - glamour camping or RV'ing, so be it. Get out there and do it. Now if you want more challenge add camping to hiking, canoeing, kayaking, x-c skiing, snowshoeing or biking. Each type of camping has its own rules. Car camping, nearly no weight limit on gear or food. A 7 to 10 day mountain trek or traverse, every ounce counts and you can not skimp of calories, shelter or sleeping bag. But the only way to know is to do it. Start small, pitch a tent in the backyard in July or August. Work your way up to a week long winter outing in deep snow and very sub-zero temps. Practice living in a tarp lean-to with a small campfire in front.
I guess that is a good place to start. I hope this starts some good discussions on skill development.
This is really good advice. Information becomes knowledge, but that is all you will get sitting in front of a computer. Experience is when you actually get out and do things with the knowledge. Its easy to talk about building a fire when its wet, but how many have done so without gas, paper, lighters and non-nature materials?
Other good places are the local Fish and Game association, and canoe and kayak clubs. Best yet, find a buddy or mentor who already does this. Lots of things never get talked about; cooking bread on a stick, fishing with no hooks, navigating and marking trails, or perhaps un-marking a trail to not be seen...
Its an adventure that begins only when you leave the house.
Very good observations Phone Guy!!
Mentoring, whatever happen to mentoring?? The age old process of handing skills from one generation to the next. Why does the current education system veer away from mentoring??
Mentoring becomes lost when the younger generation thinks us old guys don't know sh*t.
They want to know what button to push for instant gratification and results. If there is an effort involved, they have little interest.
Re: Alberta EMA + safety links
Postby gc_mountainman » 25 Mar 2012 13:48
Here is a link to a very useful guide book in PDF from Alberta Health Services.
http://insite.albertahealthservices.ca/%20...%20-guide.pdf Apparently, this link does not work, nor do the other links I found, so maybe AHS has stopped making this guide available. The root website is http://www.albertahealthservices.ca I hope that helps. I tried using their search function with the title of the guide "Personal and Family Disaster Preparedness Guide" but the two links I found did not work. Sorry folks. (Edited 01 April 2012, 0834hrs)
This should be a great starting point for all of us trying to get stuff in order. I recommend everyone read this. And most of us should use the fill-in the blanks to get our ideas out of our heads and down on paper. Because not every scenario ends in the destruction of the planet Earth or the extinction of mankind.
Some, emergencies, you get to return home at some point in the future. How are things in Slave Lake? Has your town been rebuilt? Any suggestions from those of you who had to evacuate/bug-out last year during the wildfire season?? What can we learn from your experience?? Thanks.
I figure I might as will post the link on this page as well. The link goes to a PDF workbook for developing a emergency plan for yourself or your family. It should help some of the people who visit this site.
Cheers.
The last link for 'insite' isn't working... nor does insite.albertahealthservices.ca/
any ideas on where it was originally hosted?
thanks,
Sorry about that. I am not a techie, but I will see if I can figure out another link.
Any suggestions on how to upload a PDF into my message??? Use simple instructions, please, I am not a programmer. 😆
Sorry, it's all dark magic to me too.
Alright, I have tried the link - failed. Visited the main website: http://www.albertahealthservices.ca and the two links I found did not work either. Sorry folks.
They're on to us lol..
Can't allow us to be edumacated...
LOL. You could be right, suppress the masses!! Yikes, maybe it is already time to run to the hills??? 🙂
If a person was looking to develop are variety of outdoor mountain skills such as hiking, map & compass skills I would suggest trying The Alpine Club of Canada or the U of Calgary Outdoor Recreation department. As an Alpine Club member you can take hikes or ski trips rated from beginner to expert with much the same at U of C Outdoor Recreation. Fees are quite reasonable often with car sharing to keep costs down. All the leaders will have courses and experience in wilderness leadership plus be familiar with the area to be travelled. At the U of C a person, given a modest credit card limit, can rent all the gear needed for any trip. Of course if funds are not an option Yamnuska Mountain guides in Canmore have every level of training available.
"Personal and Family Disaster Preparedness Guide" from AHS.
I was given a hard copy last year. I will try to locate a working link to this.
WHEN you come to the end of your rope TIE A KNOT & HANG ON.
Thanks Omniscient One.
My attempts earlier this year failed. Possibly, because they closed down the website since it was for 2011.
(Must be nice to be able to spend everyone's money and build new websites each year.) No wonder the government and its minions are always out of money So, I digress, sorry.
The guide is a good starting point for most.
Mountainman.
PS - Another good course to attend is the Civil Emergency Response (CER) Course. Alberta Emergency Preparedness use to host the course, not sure of the current status. Or read:
It's A Disaster! ....and what are you gonna do about it? by Bill & Janet Liebsch OR
EMERGENCY - This Book Will Save Your Life by Neil Strauss Both are good to read. Neil's book even includes some humour to a serious topic.
Bump!
It might be time for this topic to make it back to the top for a day or two.
Skills never go out of style.
Mountainman.