Camp nursing in summer

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Has anyone done camp nursing in the summer? I'd love to hear about it.

How long of a stretch does it usually last?

How's the pay?

Can your kids attend while you are there? Is there a discount if they do?

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Specializes in ED, School Nurse.

I work at a camp for children and adults with developmental and/or physical disabilities. My kids stay at camp with me all summer and are allowed to participate in any activity they want, as long as it doesn't displace a camper. My daughter loves to help out in arts and crafts and music/drama and my son goes boating and helps out with outdoor games. My son worked in the kitchen this past summer and my daughter also works the day camp for younger campers who might not be ready to stay overnight. So my kids don't "attend" camp because they don't fit the criteria to be an actual camper, but they definitely are involved in camp activities.

There are some camps where staff children can attend at a reduced rate or for free. I have only worked at this particular camp so I can't speak for how that works at other camps.

My pay is decent. And by decent I mean really good. :D I make more per pay check at my camp than I do my full-time job. So for 10 weeks (5 pay periods) I am making BANK!!! This past summer, I earned that money though. I was the only licensed health professional on staff (the summer before I had a new grad RN with me). I had 5 CRMAs working with me to pass meds (we have HUGE med passes as I am sure you can imagine with the population of campers we have). So I was called out every time a camper was sick or injured. I know we are looking for another nurse this summer so if you are interested, PM and I will give you info!!

Our camp is funky because we only have 6 day sessions. So we turn over 70-100 campers every 6 days. There are 7 sessions spread out through the summer. We start training in early June and this year we end in early Sept which is really late- I have to talk to my director about that!!! A lot of camps in my neck of the woods are desperate for nurses, so some are willing to work with your schedule. A lot of the long term overnight camps in my area have two 6 week sessions. They were all looking for nurses last summer, too.

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Specializes in School Nurse.

There is a Camp Nurse group with a lot of info there. Kids can go, but that decreases your pay.

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Specializes in School nursing.

Ohiobobcat, if the dates were a little different, I'd be PMing you for more info. My school has already been in session for like 2+ weeks in early September...

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Specializes in ED, School Nurse.
Ohiobobcat, if the dates were a little different, I'd be PMing you for more info. My school has already been in session for like 2+ weeks in early September...

Mine too!! This schedule is different than previous years. The camp is going to lose a lot of staff for those last 2 sessions between the college-age staff who have to go back to school, and the people who are employed by school systems who need to go back to school as well.

Don't be afraid to PM me if you are still interested, even if you only want to try it out for week or two.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Community Health, School Health.
Ohiobobcat, if the dates were a little different, I'd be PMing you for more info. My school has already been in session for like 2+ weeks in early September...

Are you looking for day camp or overnight? The overnight camp where my two kids go is looking for nurses. They offered me a job but it doesn't work with my schedule (my kids attend second session and I would go with them, but I have to be back at my school 8/1). It's in NH, called Camp Tel Noar and they have two other camps (camp Tevya and camp pembroke (all girls). Pembroke is in MA down near Plymouth, Tevya also in NH.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Community Health, School Health.

Also, for Boston-area folks, or MA/New England, Boston Ballet does a Summer Intensive and they are looking for nurses. There are a couple of good job websites for camp nurses but they are escaping me right now. Also, lots of day camps in and around Boston.

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Specializes in School.

I help with our district church camps. I volunteer just so I can go to camp. We have one week of youth camp and one week of kids camp. We have to pay for my kiddo's to go as campers. When my son went as a counselor, he did not have to pay.

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Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.

I've never worked at a summer camp, but have looked into it a bit - I looked around nurse.campstaff.com and found lots of jobs. I heard about it here on the camp nurse forum, so they might have lots of other info too.

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The nurse formerly known as Big Al LPN is a great resource, I think he recently switched his username to his actual name.

Look for him under the Camp Nurse Forum. I'm sure he will answer any questions.

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Specializes in School nursing.
Also, for Boston-area folks, or MA/New England, Boston Ballet does a Summer Intensive and they are looking for nurses. There are a couple of good job websites for camp nurses but they are escaping me right now. Also, lots of day camps in and around Boston.

Every year I see that and every year the dates never work with my school job :(.

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I am from Texas and worked a summer camp in upstate New York about 9 years ago. I was there for 3 weeks. My daughter got to be a camper for free, no reduce in my pay which was $1000 week. I was the only nurse on staff and kids came to the clinic all day and all night. I figured out that I ended up making about $6 an hour with being on call 24/7. Even the teenage camp counselors would get time off every few days to leave camp, but I was stuck there!

It was a fun experience. My oldest daughter is in college and still keeps touch with her camp friends.

Been there done that! If I ever did it again, I would go for somewhere that had more than 1 nurse and we were on a rotation and not on call the entire time.

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