Advice for a Camp Health Officer?

[ItsBrian]

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.

[RichardB]

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.   

[ItsBrian]

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 😁. 

[Jameson76]

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

[ItsBrian]

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. 😁

[John-in-KC]

Go buy a working supper for the Council Surgeon. Ask him for his/her guidance and advice. 
 

our Council requires an MD be the Reservation Surgeon at one of our properties, and a RN-NP or PA at the other, on property 24/7 when camp has paying campers on property. 

[Eagle94-A1]

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           

[ItsBrian]

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! 😁 

[SSScout]

Cub Scout Day Camp.   Our Council required a certified RN or PN or EMT for Medical Officer.   

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.    We once had a Cub who refused to drink anything that did not have a sweet flavor. The first day, our Director and MO consulted, and called the parents and told them, either the Cub drinks plain water, or YOU stay with him thru camp and provide the sweet liquid or he goes home.   He did not return the next day. 

My prime suggestion,   keep a good log.  Note every visit from Johnny Cub, Ms Parent or Janey Sibling.  Even to say "hello".  Note the time, the name and the why and the what happened.  Saves trouble and scratched heads later. AND it is probably a legal requirement. 

[IndyScouter]

9 hours ago, SSScout said:

Cub Scout Day Camp.   Our Council required a certified RN or PN or EMT for Medical Officer.   

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.    We once had a Cub who refused to drink anything that did not have a sweet flavor. The first day, our Director and MO consulted, and called the parents and told them, either the Cub drinks plain water, or YOU stay with him thru camp and provide the sweet liquid or he goes home.   He did not return the next day. 

My prime suggestion,   keep a good log.  Note every visit from Johnny Cub, Ms Parent or Janey Sibling.  Even to say "hello".  Note the time, the name and the why and the what happened.  Saves trouble and scratched heads later. AND it is probably a legal requirement. 

Totally agree with pushing water at camp.  We had one camp in our council that started treating every minor headache, stomache, etc with sips of water and a short period of rest out of the sun.  They found that most of the cub scouts were ready for action after 10 to 15 minutes with no further problems or medication needed.  Some scouts just push themselves to play hard and need an adult to give them a short break.

At our camp we always used the BSA first aid log book to document ALL cases brought to the first aider... No matter how small the issue was!  Even a scratch was documented by the camp first aider.  The BSA log book had blanks for date time reason for injury and treatment given and signature of who treated the camper.  Our staff was also trained to watch out for leaders who were treating any campers with a band aid or medicine on their own.  The scout had to go to the first aid building and the "injury" had to be documented in the log book!  The parent then usual got an earful from the first aider about the proper procedures. The log book also helped us find any patterns to injuries in specific areas of camp.  Our first aider and camp director would sign each book at the end of the week after they reviewed the entries and together discussed any changes to the program that could be made to lessen the number of injuries of campers.  We included notes in the log book about any changes made to our program due to injuries.  The council kept each log book on file for 20+ years in case of any questions arose from treatments.  This seems like over doing the process but much better to document now, then try to remember what happened days, weeks, months or years ago. 

PS...since we were a large day camp operation(400+ scouts a week/8 weeks per year) we even had a separate log book for medications that parents sent with campers to take on site.  

Hope that helps!

[Eagle94-A1]

HOW COULD I FORGET ABOUT THE DOCUMENTATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

21 minutes ago, IndyScouter said:

The log book also helped us find any patterns to injuries in specific areas of camp.  Our first aider and camp director would sign each book at the end of the week after they reviewed the entries and together discussed any changes to the program that could be made to lessen the number of injuries of campers. 

I worked at one camp that was nearly shut down due to GI bug. Long story short, we had the council physician and others come in do a second health inspection. They could not find anything, and then checked the medical logs. They detesrmined that one troop had some sick that infected everyone at the camp. I found out 6 months later at Christmas it was my cousin's son who was sick and infected everyone. She sent him to camp anyway because they paid for it and they were not going to lose any money, 😠

[John-in-KC]

On 1/11/2020 at 7:24 AM, Eagle94-A1 said:

HOW COULD I FORGET ABOUT THE DOCUMENTATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I worked at one camp that was nearly shut down due to GI bug. Long story short, we had the council physician and others come in do a second health inspection. They could not find anything, and then checked the medical logs. They detesrmined that one troop had some sick that infected everyone at the camp. I found out 6 months later at Christmas it was my cousin's son who was sick and infected everyone. She sent him to camp anyway because they paid for it and they were not going to lose any money, 😠

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[ItsBrian]

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. 

[IndyScouter]

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. 😁

[Troop185]

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.