Energy Drinks at Camp

[kellbell23, BSN, MSN]

The danger of caffeine induced arrhythmias (even leading to death) related to energy drinks has been in the media for years but my camp still sells them to teenage campers. My fear is that it will take a traumatic experience before change occurs. Does your camp sell and/or allow them? Has anyone been apart of getting them effectively regulated or banned? As a source of income for the camp, I'm sure it will not be an easy argument to convey but I want to give it my best attempt. Any tips would be much appreciated!

[Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B]

I have only seen one case where a child was ill related to energy drinks. It was strange not the cardiac stuff you would expect bit migraine symptoms and agitation. He drank three in a row, our doctor was not pleased about the drinks being on camp. We don't ban them per say, but they are discouraged. Most of my kids don't leave camp except for structured outings where their interaction with outside food is limited due to allergy risk, so this kind of takes care of itself.

I I worked at another camp where the kids could walk to a local store and they would consume all manor of crap, and contact and bring back food that had peanuts in it, leading to at least one epi pen being needed that season. No energy drink issues per say, but worrying.

If any camp I worked for sold energy drinks to children i would raise all kinds of hell to stop that. Otherwise just limiting options to buy them is probably ok. IMHO