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YOUR HEALTH

Still no oversight of summer camp health care

By Beth Greenberg, Globe Correspondent, 6/24/2003

y now, summer camp is paid for and perhaps all that remains before departure day is the purchasing of flashlights and attaching of name tags. The choice of summer camp was probably based on your child's area of interest -- sports, arts, outdoor adventure. You're aware of what activities are available, have an idea of what the bunks look like, and know where to drop off the extra inhaler in case your child has an asthma attack. But aside from sending in the health and inoculation forms, you might not know anything about the camp's health-care system or who provides it.

Marie Dacey of Winchester, whose daughter, Lisa, attended art and theater summer camps for five years, represented the views of many parents when she said, ''We looked for camps that fulfilled her interests, and assumed that the medical piece was in place.''

Every summer, more than 10 million children participate in more than 12,000 day and residential camps across the country. Aside from the requisite scrapes, cuts, and bug bites, most return home refreshed, with new friends, new experiences, and fond memories to take far into the future. And, while few sustain serious injuries, summer camp health and safety regulations vary widely throughout the country and there is no federal oversight. ''Can you generalize about health care at summer camps from state to state?'' asked Dr. Edward Walton, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist at the University of Michigan who is currently researching summer camp health. ''No. So, the onus falls on parents to ask questions.''

The Recreational Camp Safety Act has been introduced to Congress during 19 of the past 20 sessions. Intended to create a set of national standards for summer camp health and safety, ''It has regrettably gotten very little support,'' said Betsy Hawkings, spokeswoman for US Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, the bill's sponsor. ''Summer camp requirements vary so completely from state to state; a camp licensed in one state could be very safe and a camp in a neighboring state might have no standards placed on it at all.'' In addition to Shays's bill, for the past two legislative sessions, US Representative Robert Andrews of New Jersey has submitted a similar bill, the Camp Safety Act. He has yet to receive a single cosponsor.

In 1989, the US General Accounting Office presented a report on summer camps to the congressional Subcommittee on Health and Safety. According to the report, ''There is no nationwide information on how many youth camps operate in the United States or the incidence of accidents, illnesses, and fatalities. No federal agency currently compiles data on youth camps or monitors activities relating to their safe and healthful operation.'' No more recent study has been published. According to Walton, ''Basically, there's been no change.''

It might be a difficult task, however, to design one set of regulations for camps in every state. ''There would be significant challenges in how to standardize across the board,'' said Patricia Hammond, director of standards for the American Camping Association, an organization composed of camp professionals whose mandate, since 1910, has been to ''ensure the quality of camp programs.''

''Implementation would probably still be at the state level,'' Hammond added. ''And states have very different health concerns: Lyme disease in the Northeast, altitude and cold water in the West; the challenges vary from region to region.''

The requirements for health staff also vary regionally. While most states require that a ''medical supervisor'' must be on site at all times, the qualifications for that position may range from registered nurse to basic training in first aid.

In an era when more and more children are diagnosed with medical conditions that require prescribed medication, the responsibility of camp health staff is substantially increased. ''It becomes a management problem,'' Hammond acknowledged. Who administers the drugs, where are they stored, and how far is the camp from a local hospital? These are questions worth asking. The American Camping Association has designed its own health and medical standards, which the General Accounting Office recognized as being higher than those established by the states, and can be voluntarily adhered to in exchange for the association's stamp of approval.

Summer camps most often provide valuable and fun times for youths. But it is worthwhile to delve deeper into the glossy brochures and online videos to determine who is supervising your child's health and safety. A few well-placed questions should fulfill the need, including who the medical staff is and whether or not your insurance covers the camp experience.

Walton, who went to camp for 14 years and whose children now go every summer, is an enthusiastic advocate of the summer camp experience who states, simply: ''I want to make camp safer.'' Yet he is also aware of the irony of the nation's limited attention to safety at summer camp: ''You can't send your kid to day care for three hours without the states being all over it. But you can send your kid to camp for six weeks and there's little oversight.''

This story ran on page C3 of the Boston Globe on 6/24/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.