Nathan VanderKlippe
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 10/02) - There's hardly a hint of mischief in Shelley Cuthbert's eyes as she explains how to play the part: "You're 65 kilometres from Yellowknife. It's -15, the wind is 20 km/h. You're yelling, stripping your clothing and confused and disorientated. And you have a gun hanging over your shoulder."

Doug McCallum checks D. W. Hartt for bruising and pulse. They were simulating a person who broke through thin ice on a snowmobile. - Nathan VanderKlippe/NNSL photo

Sounds like something out of a bad Northern movie, where the madman in question has just lost his last dog to the cold and his last flask of rum to desperation.

If it sounds like I'm being coached to act drunk, it's because I am. But I'm not playing an alcohol-induced stupor: I'm suffering from hypothermia, a condition that strikes both body and mind.

Now it's up to Doug McCallum and Tony Jay to first calm me down and disable my rifle, then warm me up and get help.

Both are participating in the outside segment of an arctic first aid course run by St. John's Ambulance last weekend at the F.O.L. site.

Treating a person with hypothermia was one of nine scenarios they worked on - others included caring for a bear-maul victim and retrieving someone who had fallen through thin ice.

For now, though, McCallum has offered me a mug of steaming coffee. In exchange, I drop the gun.

He wraps me in an imaginary sleeping bag and goes through a lengthy procedure, checking my pulse and feeling for bruising and broken limbs.

The exercise ends before I can be strapped to a makeshift sled and dragged back to Yellowknife. It's a good thing, too:

At five km/h, it takes a long time to travel 65 kilometres. The rule of thumb for winter injuries: 20 minutes out on a snowmobile takes three days back on foot. For first aid, it's even simpler: use common sense.

But common sense has always benefitted from a little training. That is what brought seven trainees out to the St. John's course.

Developed by Jesse Adair and Wayne Jure, both Northerners, this is the first time a first-aid course has been taught with a specific arctic focus, which means extra attention on dealing with cold and isolation.

"First aid is first aid - it's the environment that changes, and your approach changes," Adair said.

"Any kind of injury in the cold is scary. If you get into serious injuries out here, you just try to stabilize (the injured) to get him flown out."