ItsBrian

26 minutes ago, yknot said:

I don't agree with either of those positions for medical reasons, but think about what you are suggesting from another angle: What kind of public relations do you think the bankrupt BSA would garner if it waived standard annual physical exam requirements in order to allow scouts to attend camp this summer and an asthmatic scout fell ill with COVID 19? It is not worth the risk of further damage to our reputation. 

 

 

Kids with asthma would be showing symptoms. It’s not something randomly found during a physical. It may be diagnosed during a physical, but I would hope the parent(s) would address the symptoms (SOB, wheezing, etc) prior to the physical. Note that the most common/most important medical history listed on Part B of the forms. Asthma is included on there.

I’m shooting out all the possibilities, in no way is this the best choice.

From what I said previously, I might’ve just worded it wrong. For a typical summer camp without any HA or treks, I feel the year prior would suffice if nothing has changed health wise. If they’re a new scout, they should attempt to get a physical (lot less new scouts than returning).

1 hour ago, yknot said:

I've seen this idea floated before about waiving Part C to allow participation at camp. First, I'm not even sure how that would work on a liability basis from an insurance perspective. Second, it would seem ill advised from a public health perspective and that the opposite would be more ideal -- a more current physical. If there was ever a time to identify any underlying and previously undiagnosed conditions, or for a health care provider to provide one on one advice before heading to camp, it would be now.  I understand the deep desire that we all have to get back to normal as quickly as possible but I don't think this is a good idea. Although I worry that wouldn't stop BSA from adopting it given the track record. 

 

I read somewhere that the old med forms for BSA were valid for 3 years. I believe it would suffice for a typical one week resident camp.

I don’t believe there are many serious underlying, undiagnosed diseases or conditions in the average teenager without any symptoms. If they have prior medical conditions or worries, then they should follow up with their primary care provider.

The problem may be getting a physical in general, for camp or not. Either way it may be a lose lose situation. 

@Ronmass

I’m the health officer at a summer camp near me and council has not mentioned anything yet. It is too soon to tell since the claims about the virus change daily. I’m thinking councils will wait until May if they will decide to open or have a limited amount weeks.

I would assume there will be additional screenings at check in with the health officer. Probably the generic questions (traveling, any symptoms, fever, etc) would be asked. I’m more so concerned how would everyone get updated ABC forms when doctors will be already packed.    I’m hoping they allow the use of last years forms.

10 hours ago, RememberSchiff said:

2020 West Point Scoutmaster's Council Camporee cancelled.

Facebook link:

Dear Friends and Family of Scouting,

It is with great sadness to inform all of you that the 2020 Scoutmaster’s Council Camporee has been cancelled due to health concerns of COVID-19. Our staff had been working hard to make this the best Camporee yet and we were excited for all of you to be able to experience it. We will be sending out further guidance on the refund process and other matters in the coming weeks via email. For those who were accepted this year, we would also like to extend an invitation to attend the 2021 Camporee since we know many of you were looking forward to this event. Please bear with us as we navigate through these issues during this uncertain time. We hope that you all are staying safe and healthy and we will get through this together. Thank you for your patience and we hope to see you next year!
- The SMC Command Team

 

Shame.. we've been going for the past few years . I always enjoyed this one more than their orienteering one.

6 minutes ago, HashTagScouts said:

The likely scenario for some areas is it will come down to local authority as well.  Here in MA, we've had some statewide mandates, but the Governor has given local health agents some flexibility for modification on what is "essential".  Some towns/cities have closed parks, others have not.  The state has closed some public parks, but not all.  There is the other potential that our camps might be able to open, but with some modifications.  Local Board of Health could allow the camp to open but require X # of sinks with hot water to maintain handwashing protocols for example.

This is what I was thinking since each state is handling it differently. We shall see!

22 minutes ago, Sentinel947 said:

I doubt it. This is an unprecedented situation so it's hard to say what the future holds. Councils will wait until they have to make that decision. 

Lets take my home state of Ohio for example: This is the latest model from University of Washington: https://covid19.healthdata.org/projections This is assuming our state continues to have the discipline to stay in the very deep shutdown we are in currently. Ohio has been one of the nations leaders in aggressive response tactics to the virus. We're also fortunate as "flyover" country, that we haven't had as many travelers to spread the virus to us. 

According to this model the peak of infections for the State will likely be mid April. Ohio has closed our schools until May 1st. There should be very few cases by June. So far so good. 

For my council, NYLT starts June 6th. Summer Camp Starts June 14th. Here are the challenges:

• Is the model accurate? Will we still have a stay at home order come late May/Early June when cases are declining? Or do we need to stay home till cases hit zero for a certain period of time? Will there be a second surge of infections over the Summer?
• Will testing be more widespread by May? Will there be an anti-body test to determine who was exposed to the virus and now has immunity to it? 
• Does this give us enough time to recruit, hire, train staff? What about getting participant sign ups and collecting money from them? Buying supplies? Sending staff to National Camp School? Will all the staff and participants be able to get their annual physicals done? Will the camp be able to be inspected by the State/County Health Department?
  • Ohio is in a tough spot economically. Many businesses were closed two weeks ago, and all non essential business were closed on the 23rd. 
  • Many Troop leaders might have to use PTO at their jobs to keep some income coming in while they are off work without pay. They may not be able to spare holding it for the summer.
• How will Troops prepare for Camp if they can't meet until late May? 
• How will we handle out of State Campers from States that are still battling the virus when camp starts? The virus will be still active in the United States by June, short of a national shutdown order from the Trump Administration asap. That shutdown order is unlikely to happen. 
• Will the School systems extend the school year to catch up on academic work? Many states have rural or inner city areas where home internet access is unstable or not strong enough for online school. Online education will continue to widen the gap between high performing school districts/students and lower performing districts/students.

There are a ton of unanswered questions here, and its still far too early to answer most of them. I could see a shortened summer camp season for us, if things follow the model I cited above. If the situation deteriorates here in Ohio, I doubt we'd be able to have camp at all. 

All good points and I didn’t think of a few of them. My main question was if any council already made the decision. That website you provided is interesting, I haven’t seen it before! 
 

I’m the health officer at a resident camp and I’m wondering how (like you said) the physicals, staff background checks, and all that stuff can be completed in such short time.

You provided very good points, thanks!

I’m just trying to get a feel to see if any councils have canceled their summer camp programs yet. I’m hoping it doesn’t last that long to where camps can’t open.

I did the other post about high adventure, but I’m wondering overall summer camp programs.

I've posted about being the health officer at a summer camp for the upcoming summer. I'm sure council is doing their part in case we have to regarding refunds and everything as a "what if" scenario, but I haven't heard anything.

I'm not really focusing too hard on it since there's nothing we can do about it. This virus changes so quickly, so who even knows if it will last until June. There's no true studies that show how long the virus is going to last, it's still too early. I wouldn't be shocked if national puts some sort of extra screening process as a precautionary measure if camps are held.

If you look at China, their numbers are already going down. If the US takes the proper steps to prevent the spread (which I believe we aren't doing enough of) then it has a chance of being gone by the summer. 

1 hour ago, IndyScouter said:

Congratulations!  I would read your friends recommendations and get comfortable with your council physicians orders for various treatments. I bet 75 to 80 % of the injuries are solved with a simple band aid and some comforting words.  Not a bad idea to also have a health care officer backup person.  It seems like injuries to campers always came in pairs and usually they were in opposite ends of the camp.  The back up person can be trained in simple first aid so they can take of any simple problems while you take care of any major first aid cases.   We even had a golf cart dedicated for the first aid officer and a portable first aid kit with a bucket containing bottle of bleach and gloves waiting at the door to respond quickly to camp injuries that should not be moved until someone evaluated their condition.  Make sure you train your staff on your expectations too.  They can be very helpful at clearing spectators from the injury site while you arrive and tend to the injury.  

I don't envy your position this year with all the virus concerns.  I do hope the virus situation will improve in time for the camp season.  You might have to include new procedures from the physician about this issue that way if any parents ask you can say you have a plan in place.

Good luck and let me know how your summer went. 😁

Thanks! Our camp isn’t super huge, I’ll be the only health officer for the camp. We see around 300 youth and adults a week. There isn’t any major accidents that happen, so that’s pretty good. I wish I had a golf cart or something!

Our protocols are so basic, so I’ll have no problem with that. EMS is less than 10 mins away.

1 hour ago, Troop185 said:

We had some M & M's that did not have the M & M's marked on them.  We kept them in a glass jar for H-Virus (homesickness).  It seem to help them, if they had a pill to take.

 

Our protocols even state to use candy (last year we used lollipops) as a placebo for HS+ kids. Haha

Update: I was offered the contract & salary recently! I’m glad to be working in the health lodge after 2 years in the FYS program.

Any tips are still welcomed! The previous health officer (also my friend) wrote a crash course for procedures. 

On 1/7/2020 at 6:34 PM, Eagle94-A1 said:

I was camp health officer for day camp and here are my thoughts.

1) Take the online training.

2) Make sure you have a copy of the Council Physician's Standing Orders. If the council won't give you a copy of them, WALK AWAY! Good friend of mine walked away as Day Camp Health officer because the council would not give him a copy because they said it  only applied to summer camp, when it it now part of the NCAP standards.

3) Keep some gatorade or other electrolyte drink in the frig. As others have said, dehydration is common. IN fact at my day camp it was the #1 illness.

4) Follow those Standing Orders and your certification/licensing protocols TO THE LETTER! You don't want to put your career in jeopardy.

5) Make sure you are easily accessible in an emergency. We had one health officer on loan from the US Navy. Long story short, he would take off and go off roading in the primitive camp of teh reservation in the HMMWV. Nobody knew where he went off to, until he walked back to the main  camp after after flipping the HMMWV           

Thanks for the helpful information! 😁 

13 hours ago, Jameson76 said:

Aside from the actual injuries that need to be attended to....

• Water is the best medicine for youth, so many times they are just dehydrated
• Applesauce is a great treat to get things moving.....which can reduce the stomach aches
• Make sure the leader in camp for the unit is aware the youth has come to the health lodge, many times there may be a backstory to an "illness"
• No phone calls home by the Scout without consulting the leader
• Talk to the Scout who needs assistance as a equal, do not talk down to them and if a leader accompanies them, do not let them speak for them
• Many issues that popup after dark fade away with sunlight

Thanks for those tips! While most are already known to my camp, I still like input from leaders from their perspective!

Ive been a first year program instructor for the past 2 summers, so most of the time that “illness” is just them being homesick. 😁

29 minutes ago, RichardB said:

Your scope of operation as a CHO is limited to that which the council health supervisor determines.    That is who you need to reach out to.   

I’m aware, just wondering if anyone has tips/tricks 😁. 

Hey all, I haven’t posted in a while since my troop is unfortunately dwindling down to a very low amount of members.

Anyway, I’m looking for tips/suggestions/tricks for a resident camp health officer. If anyone has experience or know anyone that has and has any suggestions, let me know!

The camp is relatively small, only around 300 scouts a week.

I have carried a tick key in my first aid kit for a few years yet never used it. Over the summer at the camp I worked at, I got 3 ticks within a 24 hour period on the same leg. I’m still not sure how that happened, but that’s besides the point. 

I found them later at night, so they were on there for a few hours each time. I decided to try the tick key because I wouldn’t of been able to use tweezers in two spots due to it being an awkward angle. I must say, I’m a fool for never using this before. My ticks weren’t big but weren’t small. The key was so simple and effective. It took no more than 2 tries each to get rid of the whole entire tick. It took me less then a minute each time.

My troop is a small (10) yet boy led troop. Usually how it goes is that my mom, we call her the Outdoor Coordinator, looks for different places around us and out of state. Our boys in the troop don’t really care about branching out outside of our repeated ~4 camps. Once my mom compiles a list, she has the SPL present it at the meeting, but the scouts are still more than welcome to give their ideas. We have my mom make a list as sort of a motivation kind of thing. After the list is presented, we pick and choose as a troop where we would want to go. We are very accommodating to everyone, we don’t choose something that only a few people would like to go to. Once we have the campouts for the year, the SPL and myself (JASM) work together to create a schedule of all the community service, fundraisers, volunteer, campouts that the troop will be doing. We start our new calendar year in September. Once the full schedule is made, we present it to the committee and PLC to get final approval. Sure, the committee will make some changes due to scheduling conflict or something, but we get full say in what we want to do. Shockingly, when I tell scouts in other troops around me, they say they don’t get that much of a choice.

one!

I think it’ll be cool if it’s in a public place, but mine wasn’t so I didn’t bother. It’s up to you, I see a lot of projects that have a plaque:

7 hours ago, Chadamus said:

Congrats, Brian! Would you do it again?

 

2 hours ago, WAKWIB said:

Glad you survived @ItsBrian!   Despite the conditions,  you made Scouting happen for a bunch of kids. I hope you return to be a staff man or a unit leader at your camp next year!

I’m not too sure. I work in the FYS program  and this was my 2nd year. I’m not sure if I will go back next year since I will be out of high school, but I will eventually if I don’t. 

Update: Today was the last day of the season. Tear down was done in the perfect weather, it felt like it was fall. It was hot during the season, but it finally cooled off at the end.

I didn’t want one for the longest time until my troop sort of kept pushing it and then we decided to have a full ceremony with dinner. I do not regret it, it was a great experience. I hate being the center of attention, but it felt deserved this time.

Last week was extremely brutal for staff. It was very hot and it was easily to get dehydrated. I believe the heat index was over 110 at one point. Staff still sleeps in the green canvas tents, but at least we have a electricity. I was glad I decided to bring a fan this year.  We had some nasty storms throughout the week which also made a impact on us. Outpost was harder than usual due to storms, but we still made do. This week is beautiful and perfect temperature, so I guess it’s a plus for this week. Only places in camp with AC is trading post, camp office, and health lodge. It doesn’t even really get cold, just a lower temp.

Staff tents look like this at my camp! These scouts know the drill.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/new-jersey-judge-accused-teenager-sexual-assault-eagle-scout-good-grades-good-family-juvenile-court-20190703.html