Research Review: Survey of Summer Camp Health Officers

by Greg Friese
Emergency Preparedness Systems LLC
April 10, 2005

There is a wide variety in the level of training for camp health officers, ambulance response times to summer camps, and availability of on-site emergency medical equipment, such as automatic external defibrillators (AED).

A recently published study from the University of Michigan summarizes the results of a mail survey of Michigan camp health officers (CHO) during the summer of 2001. Licensed Michigan camps are required to have a Camp Health Officer. Fifty percent (n=129/258) of CHOs responded to the survey. A CHO must have at least first aid, CPR, and blood borne pathogens training.

The study reports that 45% of the CHOs were registered nurses. The remainder is trained as paramedics, EMTs, or first responders. Forty-seven percent (47%) of CHOs reported caring for campers with significant medical problems, such as asthma (70%), diabetes (54%), ADHD (36%), and seizure disorder (23%).

Forty percent (40%) of respondents reported an ambulance response time to camp of more than 10 minutes (10% did not know). Seventy-one (71%) percent of respondents reported transport time from camp to the nearest hospital of more than ten minutes. Forty-seven (47%) percent of respondents did not know if their local ambulance was staffed with paramedics or EMTs. At the time of the survey only 2 respondents owned an AED. While this has likely improved, an AED is most effective if applied with in 3-6 minutes of cardiac arrest. Given the reported response times, an EMS AED will likely arrive too late for most camp cardiac arrest victims. This study has several important reminders:

1) Get to know the capabilities of your local emergency medical service.

  • How quickly can the nearest ambulance arrive?
  • Is the ambulance staffed by volunteers or paid staff; EMTs or paramedics?
  • Who is responsible for extricating patients from challenge courses, the swim areas, or climbing walls—you or the EMS crew?
  • Does the ambulance contain a current map of your roads and buildings?

2) Choose an appropriate level of training for the CHO and other camp staff according to:

  • Severity of clientele health problems
  • Capabilities of local EMS
  • Local licensing and industry accreditation requirements
  • Time for EMS to reach Camp. (American Camp Association standard HW-1 First Aid and Emergency Care calls for trained adult on duty at all times with at least CPR and 2 nd level first aid if it takes EMS 20-60 minutes to reach the scene, and CPR and Wilderness First Aid if it takes EMS 60 or more minutes to arrive)

Ambulance response times and transport times to the hospital

  < 5 min 5–10
min 		10–15 min 15–20
min		 >20 min Don’t know
Response time to camp
11%
39%
25%
11%
4%
10%
Time from camp to hospital
7%
24%
40%
29%
22%
7%

 

Camp health officer comfort with skills and backup

  Strongly
agree		 Agree Neither
agree nor
disagree		 Disagree Strongly
disagree
I feel comfortable taking care of sick
or ill campers at camp
65%
31%
3%
1%
0%
I have adequate medical backup if I
feel uncomfortable with a sick or injured
camper
66%
29%
2%
2%
1%
I have a local "camp doctor" who is
responsive to my needs and concerns
43%
32%
14%
7%
4%
I feel comfortable with my local ambulance
service
50%
29%
17%
4%
0%
I feel comfortable with my local emergency
department
46%
38%
10%
4%
2%

Reference

Walton EA, Maio RF, Hill EM. “ Camp Health Services in the State of Michigan.” Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. 2004. 15: 274-283 [view full research article at www.wms.org/pubs/i1080-6032-015-04-0274.pdf]

Greg Friese, MS, EMT-B, WEMT is president of Emergency Preparedness Systems LLC.

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