Something within 2-3 hours of Miami would be nice.

Is there some form of national standard for Wilderness First Aid training?

Something better?

I ask because I've noticed there is very little between Red Cross CPR/First Aid training and full on EMT school.

https://www.soloschools.com/

I took the Wilderness First Aid certification as part of a college class.

Yes

@Jaxshooter

Iirc he got wilderness cert'd but cant recall his details where that he posted about.

I took my WFR through NOLS, I only have good things to say about it. NOLS also does courses across the country so you should be able to find one close to you.

Solo Schools and WildMed are other solid options from what I understand.

NOLS and SOLO are the gold standards. I let my cert expire since I'm no longer leading works hikes into the woods. I've always been certified through NOLS.

Landmark Learning is a top-notch, NOLS affiliate. I really enjoyed and got a lot out of each cert course. The "real-world" scenarios they provide give hands-on experience triaging and treating patients. There's a blend of classroom and outdoor exercises. We almost had a real exercise when a pygmy rattler decided to play in our area.

What's your goal? I've seen that ARC supposedly provides WFA but I can't help but wonder what their expertise is in the field. Wilderness first aid differs (imho) greatly from your typical FA instruction since it's geared towards tracking vitals, performing extractions, long-term patient management, etc. as opposed to maintaining the patient for a few minutes until advanced support can arrive.

Unfortunately, Florida isn't on most of the trainers radar. I think Landmark only makes one or two appearances/year. I'm not aware, however, of any that are done that far south. The only places I've seen it offered is Gainesville (Florida Outdoor Academy/SOLO) and Tallahassee (Landmark/NOLS). It looks like there's actually a Jan SOLO course at the Gainesville Bass Pro. FL Heartsavers does courses at Paynes Prairie. And NOLS has a course near Orlando in Aug 2019. I didn't see anything further south than that. Tampa/Orlando seems to be the line of demarcation.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

I took my WFR through Wilderness Medical Associates. It’s an amazing course. I highly recommend taking one.

The last day of my WFR is tomorrow (was supposed to end last week but earthquakes do what they do.  I went through a SOLO instructor.  Because of the earthquake up here the instructor needed a place to teach a youth WFA class since the public school hasn"t opened yet.  I hosted it at my church where I am the part-time youth pastor.  I was able to stop by share some of my experiences with the WFR class she also had me demonstrate some splints and litter building.  It was good stuff.  SOLO, WMI(NOLS) and WMA all started as the same organization but split for some reason.  Any one of them would be good to go

Both the wfa (2day)and the wfr (2week)classes are excellent offered by either of the two organizations mentioned.  I recommend both.

Neither gives you any expanded care certification in Oregon.

For what I do as a volunteer, the wfa is enough.

I was told that taking people out for trips like I do as a youth pastor that a WFR was the minimum.  I am going to try to take an EMT course this spring and bridge it with the WFR to be a WEMT.  The instructor has told me she thinks I should take the instructor course however it is only offered in August at SOLO's headquarters in New Hampshire which is a ways away from Alaska.

I don't necessarily think you need WFR. As I sort of mentioned above, I led folks into the woods with power tools and didn't do it. It depends on your situation I suppose. In my case, I was leading work hikes to do trail maintenance. We had chainsaws, industrial mowers, etc. While hospital care wasn't immediately available, it wasn't days away, either.

Even still, my buddies and I go for weeklong backcountry trips where care could be days away and I still haven't felt the need to go for WFR instead of WFA. ymmv.

Many organizations or groups do require WFR certs for group leaders which is great but realistically do not give you any further legal care options other than perhaps relocating dislocations.  It really depends on what your organizations scope of practice for your certs covers.

At a minimum you should have; WFA, cpr and  epi.

The backboard etc would be cool. We didn't do BP, but we did do patient history and SOAP. I'd love to have done WFR but didn't feel like burning a week of vacation.

I took WFA from the Red Cross, but it was a special section with all Colorado Mountain Club trip leaders.  I used to lead climbing trips.

Things were a bit different, as remote areas were assumed where response could easily be 12-24 hours.  Stopping CPR to conserve energy.  How to move someone with a back injury.  Sucking chest wound (ice axe).  Etc.