Camper to Nurse ratio?

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Hi everyone,

I worked as the camp nurse at an overnight girls' camp last summer. It was a very good experience and they have asked me to come back. I'd like info, if anyone has it, on what optimal camper-nurse ratios are for a camp that's geared toward healthy children?

Last year, I was the only nurse/health provider for 130 campers and staff. I was on 24/7 for three weeks. We had a lice outbreak (I trained some of the staff to help me with that one.....) and then a number of cases of heat exhaustion during a severe heatwave....Plus, of course, all the usual stuff that camp nurses deal w. every day.

Despite all that, I had a good-but-totally-exhausting experience and would like to go back, but need to figure out exactly what would help make this a sane experience for me. I don't think they would spring for a second nurse, but I think they would consider giving a young staff member to be my assistant. Just not sure if that's enough (then again, if that person can be the one to hand out band-aids at midnight to all the girls who cut themselves shaving at that hour, I'd be grateful!!!!)

Thanks for any input :)

I am at a day camp with anywhere from 350 to 400 campers each week. There are 600 campers registered and I have to review all their charts. I have an EMT that comes in daily but usually goes on the trips. After 9 weeks of this I am exhausted. When we started camp 15 years ago we had only 150 each week, that was easy. Now I feel like I need another nurse but the camp doesn't want to pay for one.

Hi! I know this was a few months ago, but I've been doing a lot of research on this topic and found that often camps will have a nurse and a nursing student to assist. Hope this helps! ;)

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