"Best training manual I have seen for teaching the lay public what to do when EMS can not be there."
- Firefighter Gary McLean, RN, Paramedic,
Sandy Fire Dist, Sandy OR

This one-day course contains the most critical essentials to save the savable lives during the waiting period when 911 can't come. These first crucial minutes and hours of a disaster are when the most lives are either saved or lost. DFA is designed for citizen's response to natural disasters like earthquake and major destructive storms, or for any major emergency where there are large numbers of people injured at the same time. In mass-casualty incidents there will not be enough local EMS rescuers and ambulances for everyone immediately. The majority of inured will have to wait from 24 hours to 3 days for professional medical help.

Most of those who die, will do so in the first 3 to 30 minutes. According to a study by the College of Emergency Surgeons in 1983, qbout 40% of those who had a chance to survive but died in the first hours or days could probably have been kept alive by simple first aid actions, if someone already there knew what to do and could do it quickly. Disaster First Aid is designed to save those lives that are needlessly lost in large multi-casualty emergencies.(see Disaster Triage)

The Disaster First Aid course is complete but concise, practical and do-able by almost anyone from age 14 to seniors. It teaches some of the same disaster protocols used by Fire Department and ambulance EMTs and Paramedics, scaled-down to citizen level. With the INSTRUCTOR KIT, nurses, EMTs, Paramedics, coaches, firefighters, Eagle Scouts, camp counselors, Lifeguards, CPR & First Aid instructors, and ordinary citizens in all walks of life can teach this course.