Scout drowning at camp

I have waited a bit before posting this. At Camp Baker in Oregon, a
Scout drowned during the Mile Swim. If you are interested in the full
story, go to www.oregonlive.com and search with BOY SCOUT and you will
see the article. The reason I bring this up is because of the follow on
information that I have learned which makes this drowning even more
tragic. Apparently, this boy was taking medication to control sezures
and during the swim, he had one. But, the person in the row boat was not
aware of his medical condition and what must have happened is that the
boy had a sezure just as he was exhaling and then sank to the bottom.

I have not had this kind of situation, but I have had a set of parents
who wanted nobody to know why and for what their son needed medication.
They became outraged when I discussed with another adult leader the
boy's medical condition and what we needed to look out for (4 eyes are
better than 2, 6 are better than 4, ...). As a volunteer and
non-medically trained (as in being able to know what a particular
medication is for just by its clinical name), it is a difficult
situation to be in if something goes wrong.

So, for everyone's sake, tell the parents to inform the adult leaders of
what this stuff is for and what we need to watch out for.

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