by Linda Ebner Erceg, R.N., M.S., P.H.N.
It's early in the season; campers and staff across the nation
are drifting into their summer camp worlds. Orientation messages are — for
now — at the fingertips of most folks. New staff ask, "How
am I doing?" Returning staff are slipping into routines from last
summer while adapting to the new elements of this season. Camp leaders
are wondering what they forgot to cover; is everyone really ready for
the season?
Most of us do a solid job of orienting staff. We puzzle over orientation
schedules, making them reflect the "true nature" of camp.
We create lists of topics and check each as it's covered in the
orientation process. We put staff through skill checks and teach them
new skills.
And we talk about staying healthy.
But we don't do much that bridges that talk into behavior. So around
week three, all the bright eyes and brilliant smiles of staff give way
to dull affect and slow movement. Their get-up-and-go got-up-and-went.
We have more beasts than beauties surrounding us. What's a camp
to do?
Start at the Beginning
Preventing "staff infection" begins when staff and their
supervisors understand the stressors — both good and bad — of
being a camp staff member. Camp life has some unique stressors for today's
emerging adult. First, camp places them in close and intimate contact
with other people — for days on end. Privacy needs get minimized
in the quest to adequately supervise campers, and staff are exposed to
campers "all the time." Access to food, water, and downtime
changes. Attention shifts from a peer group to campers, young folks whose
developmental need for care is the antithesis to the young adult's
need for risk-taking.
Using orientation to discuss these and additional stressors is a starting
point. What makes the conversation richer and what lays the groundwork
for the rest of the summer is the bridging discussion about how one copes
with these stressors. For example, camp staff often benefit from taking
the campers' daily schedule and plotting their own schedule along
side it, noting times when "on duty" and "downtime." One-on-one
conversations with supervisors might follow, providing opportunity to
identify behaviors targeted to reduce, if not eliminate, daily stress,
things like when one might take a run, log on to e-mail, or simply visit
with other staff.
Other health-related messages to intentionally work into staff information
include:
- Normal people need eight glasses of liquid a day; camp staff
are not "normal" people. They tend to work in a fluid-leaching
environment; consequently, drinking eight glasses a day is simply the
start point for camp staff. A similar thing can be said with regard
to eating. Camp life usually increases a person's caloric needs. Eat
to maintain weight and energy. Think in terms of good nutrition rather
than calories per se.
- Staff were hired to do a job. It is, therefore, reasonable for
camp administration to expect that staff manage their personal lives
so they remain capable of doing that job. This includes getting adequate
sleep. And yes, some people can get by with three hours a night while
others need twenty-seven. The point is to stay well-rested so when
the performance appraisal question is asked — Did this staff member
manage their personal health so they remained capable of doing their
job? — the response is a positive one. (By the way, remember
to put that kind of statement on the staff performance appraisal tool.)
- Because we're human, we get ill or injured upon occasion.
As a staff person, the expectation is that, once ill or injured, one
then gets better — not worse. This message is particularly important
with regard to summer colds, the scourge of many camp health programs.
As adults, we tend to keep ourselves busy in spite of minor inconveniences
like a cold. This is just fine as long as progress toward recovery
is occurring, but it's a problem when a simple cold ratchets up to
something else like sinusitis or bronchitis. The key message is that
each staff person must attend to what they need in order to recover.
At camp, this might well include talking with one's job supervisor
if modification of the work assignment is needed to promote recovery.
- Take advantage of personal "downtime." Rather than
run ragged in an attempt to keep up with every interesting thing at
camp, be selective so personal time is available to use as needed.
There's a great adage on this topic: blow out one end of the candle
before lighting the other end. This can be tricky when uncertain about
what constitutes "downtime" and is, as a result, a great coaching point
for supervisors (and something their example should demonstrate).
- Make friends with the head cook
and the camp nurse. They're handy folks to know when need arises!
- Every once in a while, look in a mirror and ask yourself, "Would
I leave my child with me?" The health of campers and the ability
to manage a group so injury and illness are minimized, if not eliminated,
is a critical skill. Healthy staff are much more able to do this; it's
a duty owed to the children we care for. So practice laughter regularly,
value prevention more than treatment, and seek advice when the pit
of one's stomach is reacting to the gray of the moment.
Distinguish Between Staff
and Camper Healthcare Plans
Here's an interesting question to pose to supervisory staff: how
do the camp's health expectations for staff differ from those for
campers? Given that staff are employees and campers are clients, it stands
to reason that there should be some distinctions. Staff provide services
to clients. An employer's interest in employee health is based
on supporting their ability to deliver those services, the reason for
which they were hired. That same employer's interest in client
health is based on different parameters, ones often associated with program
satisfaction.
So why do camp staff usually get treated exactly the same as campers
when they get ill or injured?
Staff who supervise other camp staff — the head cook, the waterfront
director, lead counselors, activity heads, and so forth — do so
to accomplish specific tasks. Yet these supervisors often neglect to
hold employees accountable when health status impacts ability to work.
Supervisors certainly recognize the impact but, in the camp setting,
they often lack tools to address accountability. This needs to change.
Modification of performance appraisal tools and using strategies such
as including the supervisor in the care planning process makes logical
sense.
In turn, it's also important to talk about this with staff. Most have
no trouble understanding their responsibility to do what they were hired
to do, and most understand that's made much easier when in good health.
The health care provided to them should be based on an occupational health
model, not the care-giving model used for campers. But all too often,
there isn't a distinction; staff with health concerns are treated as
though they were campers, resulting in blurred boundaries. While what
is done in the health center to treat specific injuries and illnesses
may not vary between staff and camper clients, the distinguishing element
for staff is to determine how their job tasks are impacted. As soon as
this is introduced, supervisors must be folded into the discussion and a plan
developed that addresses recovery while also getting jobs done. The impact of
admitting a staff member to the camp's health center is very different
from admitting a camper.
Articulating supervisor-employee strategies when health impacts work
performance is critical to a staff health program. It's the element
that puts "teeth" between understanding the impact and seeing that
carried out on-the-job. Doing so also helps people act in a caring
manner while preserving the work relationship.
Identify the Staff Role
in Camp Health
In the quest for a healthier summer, preventing "staff infection" includes
articulating the staff role in maintaining the health of the greater camp community.
For example, health center staff may screen people upon arrival, but it's
the day-to-day attention of each staff member that catches things that may slip
through the screening process. It's the use of universal precautions and
attention to risk-reducing strategies as basic as hand washing that keeps staff
and campers as resilient as possible. It's staff use of common sense and
their individual commitment to intervene when they notice things jeopardizing
safety that puts strength in health initiatives.
A strategy to initiate this commitment is to pull last summer's incidents
out of the file, provide summative information to staff — time when the
incident occurred, where, what factors contributed to the incident happening,
what factors contributed to successful resolution of the incident, etc. — and,
based on this information, develop two or three risk-reduction strategies for
this summer. Write the strategies using measurable objectives and post them.
Revisit the topic weekly; check progress toward achieving the outcome and/or
making necessary adjustments as the camp season unfolds.
Having a plan to address overall health can be complemented by similar
objectives that are activity or cabin based. These, in particular,
make the actions of individual staff members more apparent. For example,
if the kitchen staff has a history of burns and cuts, some of which
need physician attention, a reasonable goal for this summer might be
to reduce last year's number of incidents by 25 percent. Coupling this
with specific behaviors like using hot pads that cover the hand and
forearms or sharpening knives before cutting vegetables strengthens
the likelihood the objective will be reached while also capturing individual
efforts (or the lack of them!).
Finally, staff who are empowered to make a difference — and are
recognized for doing so — do make a difference. Note their efforts
to both maintain their personal health status as well as make a difference
within the camp community. Provide coaching tips to make the impact of
their actions even more profound. Intermittently reinforce (reward) them;
coupons for a snack from the camp canteen or sitting down with pizza
to discuss their effort validates while also reinforcing the message.
And remember: any strategy that captures accountability keeps the message
focused in a manner that also allows intervention if things don't go
as expected.
A Bit of Wisdom
We're dealing with humans at camp. Hu-mans bleed and throw-up upon occasion;
we'll never eliminate all health challenges. The wisdom lies in recognizing
the times when intentional action, particularly on the part of staff,
will make a difference. That's often the elements of our camp world that
we control: the rules we ask staff and campers to follow, the schedules
we ask them to keep, and the facilities in which they function. When
one of these causes injury or illness, that's our cue to pay attention.
It marks a place where we can make a difference.
And if you think you, by yourself, might be too insignificant to make
that difference, you've never been in bed with a mosquito.
Originally published in the 2006 May/June
issue of Camping Magazine. |
