Camp Meds

I haven't used it myself, as my kids stay only a week or so at a time, but this is becoming very common among the kids-stay-all-summer camps, and I haven't heard any negative feedback (though I've mostly heard from directors and counselors, not nurses). The potential drawback people talk about most is the extra expense, but obviously this is not going to be a problem for the kind of family that sends kids to these camps--unless your camp offers scholarships, in which case the director will want to work with the family to make sure the extra cost is included in the scholarship.

The camp I was at last summer used White's Pharmacy and it was a complete nightmare.....but I'm pretty sure that was specific to this pharmacy, not in general. It was my first summer at a camp, so I have nothing to compare it to. The concept sounds great, and it worked very well for the kids who got the right medications. But that specific pharmacy was incompetent and the ACA does not endorse them anymore. So, I'm anxious to see what we do this summer!

We were a no meds camp for over 10 years. As the camp is for free for impoverished and abused kids, this means a LOT of kids never got a camp experience. I tried for 8 years to allow meds and finally won with the director.

We use the "bingo cards." Parents are mostly on pharmaceutical assistance programs and we've had no problems getting approval for a week's worth of meds packaged this way. The local pharmacies all help us out and usually provide the packaging for free. Each pharmacy may have only 5 or 6 kids that go to camp so it's not a huge expense for them but a great community service.

There's a separate card for each dose (e.g., if the med is BID then there are two cards). There are drawers for each time and we arrange all the kids meds so that everyone is getting their meds (other than prns) at the same time so that we don't spend 12 hours a day passing meds.

If a kid shows up to camp with a properly labeled Rx bottle, he/she still comes to camp without the bingo cards. I tape the bottle to a blank card and stick it into the proper slot and simply dispense from the bottle.

We've never had a problem. I've had complaints from other nurses who were used to not having meds, but this all about the campers NOT the nurses.

I have been a camp nurse for 12 years and we started using Campmeds a couple of summers ago. We use a company out of Florida. It is run by a nurse who used to be a camp nurse. It is the best! The biggest problem is getting all the parents to participate. We have over 100 campers on meds and Campmeds made our lives so much easier as nurses. If you get the right company to service the camp, it makes for a much easier and safer summer.