Committee vs. Committee Chair

[scoutldr 726]

As I stated in another thread, my wife is a school nurse. As such, she also has responsibility for emergency care of faculty and staff members. One way she's solved this is to request each adult to write down "things we need to know in case of an emergency" and place it in a signed and sealed envelope, which she keeps on file to be opened only in the event she has to call 911 for any of them. At the end of the school year, she hands them back at the last faculty meeting and asks if anyone needs to update anything. Might be an acceptable compromise for you.

[Eagle94-A1 2687]

Yep, EVERYONE HAS A HEALTH FORM (all emphasis) is from national. No health form, no weekend activities.

 

A few ideas.

 

1) Have Parts A and B, the parts that do not need a physician to sign and are valid for up to 72 hours, filled out when recharter is due.My Cub Scout Pack does that.

 

2) One month prior to summer camp, everyone going has to turn in a current Part C, the one the MD, DO, PA, or RNP must fill out.

 

3) use an accordion style folder, place everyone in alphabetical order, and SEAL IT. Bring on every activity

 

4) Make sure folks with epi-pens tell folks about them and where they are on their person.

 

 

As someone who has had to go to the hospital multiple times on Scouting business, having the paperwork helps tremendously.

 

 

EDITED: How much training has the committee members and those involved with the decision making had? With all do respect to committee members, that is my current position with my son's troop, but most I have encountered do not have any training except Youth Protection. My suggestion is to get tghe online training, and even do SM Specific.

[T2Eagle 902]

Although it seems like a black letter law thing, Qwazse is right that it's a negotiation when you're talking about adults. I would guess that most units do it like ours --- summer camp is the motivator. You will not be allowed to check-in at camp without all the medicals. Focus on a comfortable date before that to collect everything and try to collect from especially all the scouts at the same time. It's also a good idea to get medical forms A&B when you get the original application from a new scout. I have had several out of council camps ask to see forms for a weekend campout, but our council camps do not.

 

This is not the hill you should die on, for adults, there's not really that much utility to the forms. If you go to the ER and you're conscious they're going to take a history from you. If you arrive at the ER unconscious some information might be helpful, especially if you have something unusual, but for the most part the medical professionals have protocols to use and that's what they follow. After all how many peope walk around with a medical history in their back pocket in case they end up at the ER that day. Do your best, especially to get the youth forms, make sure that everyone knows that if they're choosing not to provide forms they're running contrary to the rules, and then let them do their best.

[scoutergipper 277]

I wouldn't spend any time re-organizing medical forms before each monthly campout. They're good for a year, so you should have a separate list of when those expire so you can get on Scouts or Adults as necessary. But one binder or accordion folder or whatever containing all the medical forms should go on every campout regardless of which Scouts or Adults are attending.