Partnership with NOLS

NOLS Wilderness Medicine works on a sponsorship model. They have sponsors throughout the country that they partner with to host courses and share their dynamic, world class curriculum, and expert instruction. Since 2005, Ready SF has sponsored over 500 NOLS Wilderness Medicine courses mainly in The San Francisco Bay Area, as well as Alaska, Montana and Bhutan. During those courses we have educated over 11,000 students. Ready SF is one of NOLS’ largest sponsors in the country. Ready SF partners with NOLS for many reasons. Our Founder, David Yacubian, has been a NOLS instructor since 2000 and has taught over 400 NOLS Wilderness Medicine courses on 3 different continents and all over the United States. We believe NOLS offers the best instruction, the most up to date curriculum, and continues to provide the best wilderness medicine education available. Don’t just take our word for it- here are some reasons NOLS offers:  

NOLS is a nonprofit global wilderness school that seeks to help you step forward boldly as a leader through 13 campuses across the globe for field expeditions. The NOLS mission is to be the leading source and teacher of wilderness skills, medicine, and leadership that serve people and the environment. 

Since 1990, NOLS Wilderness Medicine has offered wilderness medicine courses that will prepare you to recognize, treat, and prevent injuries and illnesses that are common in the outdoors.  

NOLS instructors are expert educators with years of medical and wilderness leadership experience. They are, first and foremost, intentional educators. With backgrounds ranging from veterans of the U.S. Navy to National Park Service Rangers, outdoor educators, flight nurses, and more, they bring real and deep experiences to teaching the recognition, treatment, and prevention of wilderness emergencies.

NOLS teaches evidence-informed medicine that is field-tested on our own NOLS field courses with expert oversight. The wilderness medicine NOLS teaches is chosen carefully and is reviewed by their Medical Advisory Panel to be accurate, relevant, and practical. NOLS reviews accident data and the experience of outdoor programs and search and rescue operations to help prepare students to respond to the most likely incidents that happen in the wilderness.

Additionally, NOLS performs internal retention studies to be most effective. NOLS is not only teaching relevant and current medicine, but medicine that you can remember and use. This medicine is not just the outlook or viewpoint of one person, organization, outfitter, or region.

The WMECS standard for in-person learning on courses is a minimum of 45 hours for Wilderness First Responder, 16 hours for Wilderness First Aid, and 16 Hours for WFR Recerts. Wilderness Medicine Courses taught fully online are not recommended and NOLS will not recertify WFR certifications from providers that do not meet this standard. 

NOLS Wilderness Medicine also has partnered with the University of Utah and Western State Colorado University to offer optional college credit for an additional fee.