After Texas floods that killed campers, here’s what to consider when sending your kids to camp
Death and destruction in a respectable Texas summer camp may have parents who are curious about the risk of sending their children to any camp, even if they are less vulnerable to a very different environment and a natural disaster.
Stunning flood He killed more than two dozens of camps And along a river in Camp Mystic in Texas Hill, counselors were the result of extraordinary rain and water walls. However, experts agree that the information about how a camp is planned for emergencies is as important as the lunch menu and swimming times.
Many summer camps are of course located around forest and water. Children usually stay in bunk beds and rustic cabins without electricity, all of them are part of the charm of being away from home, perhaps for the first time.
American Camp Association, Predaging the camps He has thousands of members, he said parents might want to ask how a camp is in contact with local emergency service teams. Two people who have been connected to the camps for a long time also made suggestions about what families should think.
What should parents ask about camping safety?
In Michigan, 69-year-old Jim Austin said that he saw his grandchildren again in Torch Lake, founded in 1904 as a campman, staff and grandfather, and said that parents should ask any emergency, even an active shooter.
“Is there a friend control in the field of swimming? Is there a procedures when someone is missing? Is there anything for severe weather?” Austin said. “If you are in Florida, you look at the hurricanes. Anywhere in the Middle West, you look at hurricane, even storms.
“If they have to compensate,” he added, “This is a big red flag.”
Mike Deen, who operated Camp Ao-Wa-Kiya in Oceana district of Michigan, faced a crisis a year ago. The tree fell and destroyed a cabin More than a dozen in the middle of the night, mostly with girls. An adult was stuck in his bed for 90 minutes. Any injury was small.
“Our policies worked. The staff was very quickly ready,” he said. “Parents should ask a camp: What is your relationship with local emergency services? How long does it come here? Parents should be able to enter the camps and ask smart questions, but the camps should trust a good job.”
Austin hopes that the rare activity in Texas does not determine families to send children to a camp.
“Your child will return with more independence, more responsibilities, and always with the ability to make conversations with the texting with the thumbs,” he said. “They will make life -long friends and develop bonds.”
Camps lie to appease any concern
The headlines and camps in Texas have led to some camps to reach the camp families, even if the camps were not close to danger. Henry Dehart, the temporary president of the American Camp Association, said that “tragedies can be felt everywhere” was a good idea.
The Adirondack Camp in New York expressed sorrow about the Four July Tragedy in Camp Mystic and stressed that the security in the camp was our “greatest priority” along the George Lake.
Vice President of Camp Operations Rikki Galusha, “Our camp is not in a flood area. … We are getting real-time warnings for storms, high winds or other threats,” he said.
Camp Balcones Springs in Texas is located on a hill to avoid the risk of floods from 100 miles (160.9 kilometers) from Camp Mystic. The staff sent at least five e -mail to families at the weekend to say that the campers were safe.
Staff, the nearest water mass Travis Lake will be impossible under the current conditions to affect the camp, he said. The mobile phone number of the camp director was shared due to problems with the phone lines.
“We want you to avoid the last tragedy for your children or the challenges related to the air. Our goal is to provide a positive, safe and revitalizing environment for everyone.
Professor Jim Sibthorp, who examined the effect of camps on children at Utah University, said that parents cannot foresee every disaster.
“To ensure that children dive into nature have many benefits, and nature cannot be foreseen. … However, it is difficult to swallow when it results in the tragedy of unpredictability,” he said.
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Safiyah Riddle, Associated Press writer in Alabama Montgomery, contributed to this story.
