This is the second in a series of emails & blog posts covering important topics about sending your child to camp. The other topics are listed below.
Parent Play-by-Play #2: Health & Safety
Our top priority at camp is ensuring your child’s health and safety. At camp we talk about Shmirat Haguf – Guarding the Body – and emphasize the importance of caring for our minds, bodies, and souls while at camp. Stretching, eating healthy meals, wearing sunscreen, and staying hydrated are a few of the preventative measures we practice! This post will focus on our health center, medications, general safety, and vaccinations.
Health Forms
Ensuring proper care of your child during their time at camp begins with our forms. By now, you’ve been introduced to CampInTouch, the online information center for enrolled families. If you do not know how to access this area, please email us at mbarak@paloaltojcc.org.
Receiving complete and honest information about your child is critical to our ability to provide proper care. Please take the appropriate time to answer all questions and tell us as much about your child as possible. It is important that we know about everything and anything that could come up at camp and might help us to care for your child and enable them to feel as though camp is their home away from home.
Parents should notify camp of issues like allergies, medications, picky eating, bedwetting, apprehension about going to camp (more about how to address feelings of missing home in a future issue), social and behavior concerns, and particular to this year, any feelings stemming from the pandemic.
The more you share, the more we can be prepared to provide the support your child needs to create a successful camp experience.
What happens if my child gets sick or injured?
Health Center
Our Health Center is centrally located on our camps and is staffed by a Registered Nurse and an Athletic Trainer during all camp sessions.
Medical staff is available 24 hours a day and able to handle any and all medical issues. Most medical situations, such as colds, allergies, sprains, and dehydration will be handled on-site. Additionally, all of our staff are also certified in First Aid, CPR, and AED by the American Red Cross.
For more advanced medical care, Maccabi Sports Camp has established a relationship with two local medical providers as well as three more commonly needed medical experts:
Stanford Hospital & Clinics – Emergency Room
(Approx. 3 miles from camp)
300 Pasteur Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94305
Pediatric Urgent Care – Palo Alto
(Approx. 2 miles from camp)
795 El Camino Real
Level 1, Lee Building
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Dr. Avram Greenspan – Pediatrician
(Approx. 1 mile from camp)
609 Price Avenue, #4
Redwood City, CA 94063
Dr. Jan Gabus – Dentist
(Approx. 1 mile from camp)
1300 University Drive, #5
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Dr. Scott Kaloust – Orthodontist
(Approx. 1 mile from camp)
1300 University Drive, #2
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Should your child necessitate a visit to on off-site medical facility, you will receive a phone call from the Camp Director, Nurse, or other member of our Senior Staff. As part of our camp forms, you are asked to give authorization allowing your child to be treated by medical professionals. We have found that the staff at most off-site facilities are is likely to call a parent before providing treatment to a minor. As the camp caring for your child, we prefer to let you know in advance of that call so you can be aware it is coming and tend to all incoming calls from unfamiliar numbers.
Parents are notified if their child has been in the Health Center for more than 24 hours, needs to be placed on prescription medication, or has been taken to an off-site doctor, emergency room, or hospital.
Parents are not generally notified if their child visits the Health Center and receives a routine diagnosis and treatment, which would include cuts, colds, bug bites, stomach aches, sore throats, or headaches.
What if my child takes prescription medication?
Camper Medications
If your child takes prescription medication, you should take several steps to enable us to support your child properly while in our care:
- Fill out the camp medical forms clearly and completely
- Update your camper’s forms should anything change with type or dosage
- Send the correct amount of prescription medication to camp with your child in their original bottles/containers – DO NOT SEGMENT YOUR CHILD’S MEDICATION INTO A DAILY PILL ORGANIZER
Our medical staff will store and be responsible for the administration of your child’s prescribed medication. Under no circumstances should a camper retain and administer his or her own prescription medication. This is considered a violation of our camp policies and is grounds for dismissal from camp.
If you would like to speak directly with the Nurse or Camp Director regarding any special instructions for camper medication or treatment, feel free to call our office at 415-997-8844.
We strongly discourage parents from altering their child’s medication regimen during their time at camp. It is important that any medication your child relies on during the school year is continued while at camp to ensure a successful and comfortable experience. If you are considering altering or taking a break from your child’s medication schedule, please call and discuss with the Camp Director.
What is security like on campus?
General Safety & Supervision
Menlo College is located in Atherton, California, one of the more affluent and safe neighborhoods in America. This insulated, safe aspect of the campus is one of the reasons it was chosen as the location for our camp.
Campers are under adult supervision at all hours of the day, including all programming, meals, and in dorms. Campers are not permitted to travel the campus without a staff member. In addition to these safety measures, we spend considerable time training and preparing staff for a variety of scenarios that might arise during the summer.
For security purposes, we do not specify the security measures in place to protect campers, staff, and our community. That said, security is of utmost importance to us and we have policies and systems in place to prevent and react to a variety of safety and emergency situations. We review our policies each year internally and with the external support of our board, and local and national law enforcement professionals. Safety of every member of our community is a top priority.
If you have any questions about safety and security at camp, please call and speak with Josh Steinharter, Senior Director.
Emotional Safety and Bullying
We take pride in the fact that camp is a welcoming and safe community for all campers and staff members. Safety – both physical and emotional – is our top priority and we do not tolerate bullying, threatening, discrimination, or harassment of any kind. Staff are trained to recognize, take action, and support campers experiencing bullying situations.
Non-Covid Vaccinations
It is Maccabi Sports Camp policy that campers be immunized against the common communicable diseases listed on our Immunization history form. Every child must have current, up-to-date polio series, measles, mumps, rubella, and tetanus toxoid vaccinations to attend Maccabi Sports Camp. A negative TB test within the past 24 months is also strongly recommended.
If your child has not been vaccinated, please contact our office to speak with the Camp Director.
To view all of the topics in the Parent Play-by-Play series, click here.
