SwainRN

My son and I worked at a lovely camp in Maine this summer. He has some disabilities but did well as an aide to the camp directors- drove a golf cart and did errands. The camp director and staff were very nice and we met some really lovely people from all over the country. The health center was really nice and we were fortunate to have a great group of nurses this year. There was some frustration trying to figure out what the health center director wanted, and figuring out the health center policies and politics when they were not in writing. We had some broken bones (lots of fingers) but no major injuries. Safety was really stressed with the campers and staff. I ended up renting a car after 2 weeks and letting the other nurses use it. Having a car is a definite must! The camp was large and had many activities, but we were all disappointed to find that we had access to very few of them, and sometimes our time off did not allow us to do much but swim and maybe play tennis. I would return to the camp if they will allow me to come for 4-5 weeks, 8 weeks was too long for my husband back home. I will be looking for something for my son and I next year for a shorter length of time. Regarding lice, we did have a company come in and do lice checks on the girls (250 or so). The y did a thorough job and we ended up with 10 cases fo lice. We did all of the treatments however. It took a lot of pressure off of the nurses at the beginning of camp to have the checks done for them, it would have been very time consuming.

Thank you for the insight. I have been pretty much thinking along those lines. This will give me some suggestions to give the camp directors that I am working with to see if they will accommodate him.

I am entertaining several camp nurse offers. My major concern is a good match for my 17 y.o. son. He is a great kid but has some LD and mild autism (to simplify things). Part of my agreement is that a job be offered to him as well. He is independent and gets along fine with others but will need a "kinder/ gentler" type environment. Any suggestions would be helpful.