Health Reminders & Tips
- For the health of our community, children should come to camp healthy! If your child is sick in the days leading up to camp, or if someone in your household is sick, please contact us to discuss an arrival plan. We may ask that your child stay home until their symptoms are improving and they have not had vomiting or a fever without fever reducing medications in the last 24 hours. We require that any camper displaying symptoms of respiratory virus (including sore throat, headache, cough, congestion, fever, sneezing, runny nose) take a rapid COVID test prior to traveling to camp.
- On Opening Day, we will conduct our usual health screening, which includes asking about rashes or symptoms of respiratory illness. Should the camper report any symptoms of respiratory illness, a rapid COVID test will be conducted upon arrival, and if that test is positive, the camper will be asked to return home at that time.
- At this time, we do not plan to test the entire camp for COVID during the summer, and we will not be conducting any asymptomatic opening day testing for campers in 2025. Any testing for respiratory illness will be at the discretion of our camp medical providers at Upper Valley Pediatrics.
- We ask that you discuss the signs and symptoms of respiratory illness such as fever, chills, body aches, cough, loss of taste or smell, congestion, difficulty breathing, etc. with your child before camp. Remind your camper that they can and should go to the health house whenever they don’t feel well. During the summer, we will follow the CDC’s guidelines for respiratory viruses. Should a camper have a fever above 100.4, they will be admitted to our infirmary in our Health House until they are fever free for 24 hours and their symptoms are improving. Campers may be given a surgical mask to wear in the infirmary for the protection of our staff and other campers. Should the camper’s respiratory symptoms be concerning enough to warrant a visit with our camp medical providers (Upper Valley Pediatrics), it will be up to their discretion if a rapid COVID test is a helpful diagnostic factor.
- Please check your child for head lice prior to camp. Head lice are easily transmitted and their presence can go unnoticed; a visual inspection is required. If you are unsure how to check for lice, your child’s doctor or school nurse can help. If you treat your child for head lice, inform the camp nurse in order to ensure follow up. You can also learn more about doing a lice check at home at: https://www.webmd.com/children/ss/slideshow-lice-overview.
- Educate your child about doing daily tick checks. According to the CDC, ticks most commonly hide in and around hair and ears, in armpits or belly button, around the waist, behind knees, and in genital area. A good tick check should involve a camper looking for ticks and feeling for little bumps. Their counselors will remind them, but your camper should be familiar with how to do them.
- Reinforce habits of good hygiene and health with your child. Include things in your conversation about hand washing, teeth brushing, hair washing, nail trimming, proper diet, staying hydrated, using sunscreen and bug repellant.
- Discuss dressing appropriately for the weather, and changing out of wet or dirty clothes.
- Remind your child that regular showering is an essential part of community living.
- If your camper has a history of bedwetting, please discuss with your child a plan for how they will notify their counselor. If they need supplies such as pull ups, bed pads, or extra sheets, please send them with your camper. The Health House will take care of discreetly laundering their sheets in the morning and can house any supplies the camper may need. We’re happy to help make suggestions for things that work at camp!
- Campers who menstruate should have their own products to keep in their tent that are the brands and style they prefer. All of our bathrooms away from the tent field are equipped with pads and tampons that they are invited to use so that they don’t need to worry about carrying supplies around with them, or racing back to the tent in between activities. Our health house also has an ample supply of menstrual products. For campers who have not started menstruating but might start at camp, we have pads and tampons available. Our nurse and health house assistants are also more than happy to answer any questions, handling situations with sensitivity and discretion.