I decided to spend my summer at a sumemr camp in New Jersey where I was to work with special needs children for nine weeks along with a friend. I recommended Camp America to my friend as I had done camp two years previously having spent two wonderful summers at another special needs camp.
My friend and I are both training to be occupational therapists and have been studying for two years having built up an extensive knowledge of various disabilities. I have worked as a carer for fours years with both children and adults. Such experience and relevant knowledge made us apt candidates for the camp America programme in our opinion.
When we arrived at the camp the food was appalling but we had arrived expecting that, however the cold coffee was inexcusable. There was not really enough food to go around all the counsellors and vegetarians were forced to eat cold leftovers even though they had been promised proper vegetarian food. I dared not ask if they had any wheat free meals for me although I had e mailed on numerous occasions before I arrived at camp and the camp director had promised me that they would cater for my dietary needs. So meals were often limited to salad and cold coffee as the other food would cause me intense stomach cramping. This added to my overall dissatisfaction with the camp and caused me to gradually feel ill and unhappy.
The camp director and his staff demonstrated how to restrain the children by holding them up against the wall, then 'straddling' them and holding them down whilst the other counsellor held their legs down. We were instructed to hold the children in such positions until they stopped kicking and screaming. No mention was made as to why such children may need to be restrained and what to do if we felt uncomfortable carrying out such manoeuvres. We were not told of any alternative methods of behavioural control other than restraint that we could implement and were not told which children may need to be restrained according to their disabilities.
The director described one form of behavioural management, which had apparently been New Jersey State approved. This involved attempting to control a child with challenging behaviour by using force such as pinching his ear. The director said we were not to use this on the children and that he did not care if we did not agree with it as it was going to be used anyway by some staff. I find it hard to believe that such a technique would be approved by human rights in the UK however effective it may be and felt very comfortable at the prospect of having to witness such a technique.
I left before the children arrived at the end of the week but as far as I was aware the children mainly had cerebral palsy and autism which is a physical disability and which I have never heard of any need for restraint. The restraint class lasted only a few minutes and I personally would not feel happy restraining a young child however badly they were behaving, as I have not been trained adequately to do so and it goes against my principles of effective behavioural management. Many counsellors appeared reluctant to restrain the children and some counsellors admitted to me that they were looking forward to restraining the children, which was equally as alarming. I wish I had been warned that I was going to be involved in such techniques, as I cannot imagine that many young adults would feel comfortable with such procedures.
It alarmed me that some counsellors did not discuss their reservations with the staff as they should not have been lifting or restraining if they felt the slightest bit of doubt. Some counsellors were also training to be health professionals and whilst they admitted that the manual handling was incorrect they agreed to handle incorrectly through fear of not wanting to cause any problems. This reconfirmed to me that a lot of the counsellors were poorly trained and were prepared to jeopardise their careers as well as their health and safety. Upon reflection the staff at camp seemed quite inapproachable and as they had been incorrectly handling for years it seemed they had convinced themselves that what they were doing was right and safe, as no one had ever questioned them before. Ironically the camp director even said they were a 'hands off camp' of which I saw absolutely no evidence.
The training week proceeded to get far worse as we were told we would have a brief moving and lifting class, which would last about 15 minutes. This alarmed my friend and I as on our course our manual-handling module lasted at least a month and as a carer I have had to update my manual handling skills every year to ensure I am competent and safe. Todd demonstrated how to roll the children onto their fronts in order to dress them in the morning. The technique he showed us was completely incorrect and resulted in the child lying flat on his front with his face in the pillow. This would have been extremely dangerous if any of the children had breathing difficulties or could not communicate their discomfort adequately.
We were then told to simply lift the children straight off the ground and then put them onto a bed or chair. It is unthinkable in the UK to ever lift a patient straight off the floor onto a bed or chair as this could cause a serious injury. The company who allows you to manual handle incorrectly could be sued if a patient is injured or the employee can sue the company that allowed them to manual handle incorrectly if they have received inadequate training. I am very familiar with the UK manual handling policies as ironically I have just written a 3000 word essay on the legal, moral and ethical implications of incorrectly manual handling patients. I understand that the US must have different policies and procedures but that does not mean that I must abide by them if I feel they are unsafe and incorrect. I was not aware that children were so poorly handled at camp despite the fact that they are profoundly disabled and their parents are putting their trust into the counsellors to keep them safe.
When a counsellor asked if any equipment was supplied Todd looked puzzled and said "no". Whilst Todd was demonstrating these horrific movements his bent was continuously bent and arched over the child, which would have resulted in extreme backache after some time and even the possibility of injury to both the campers and counsellors.
The director even said, " last year a couple of the counsellors injured their backs and could not work for a couple of days but then they were fine." The director even mentioned that some children had simply "slipped out of" their wheelchairs but that we should "scoop them up and put them back in." It appeared that what the parents did not see they would not worry about and the same goes for all staff. As long as the job was completed that was the main thing.
I found the directors general manner extremely unprofessional and inappropriate as he would joke about the kids disabilities saying how would we feel if we "**** ourselves" with reference to the children's lack of bowel control. The director even admitted that he did not know what some of the children's disabilities were and that he would look them up on the internet. In general the directors behaviour seemed quite inappropriate and made me feel uncomfortable, as he would wrestle with his staff and play fight with them. I find it shocking to believe that parents would trust this man to look after their little disabled child for the summer.
I find this totally unacceptable practise for many reasons, which I hope you will agree with. At no point did I agree to manual handle children without the use of equipment, as this is illegal in the UK. What upsets me more is that I have worked very hard to train to become a health professional and I do not feel anything is worth jeopardising my future career as I take my job very seriously. I have every right to refuse to work if I feel what I have been shown to do could in any way risk the safety of the child or myself. I only have one back and it is not worth injuring just because camp will not supply any equipment or train their staff adequately.
Thankfully due to my training I now know what is right and what is wrong in terms of handling vulnerable disabled people correctly and safely. Off all the techniques that were demonstrated not one single manoeuvre was correct. Throughout my training I have seen ways in which not to lift patients such as using the Australian lift (which the director renamed the bear hug) where you drag patients up beds and lift them straight off the ground. I actually saw such techniques being practised at camp, which I hoped I would never see during my career.
Occupational therapy has a huge emphasis on independence and fostering independence for each patient whilst respecting that patient as an individual. camp taught counsellor to handle all children regardless of whether they were able to independently get themselves on and off the bed. Camp made no mention as to the children's individual height, weight and age and why this was important to consider when handling them. With regards to dignity and respect the director demonstrated straddling the children and standing over them which was a complete invasion of their personal space and in my opinion would serve to agitate the children further.
My friend and I made the difficult decision to leave camp the very day we witnessed such bad practise. I asked both the assistant director and the director if they could tell me if such manual handling was approved but they could not tell me, all they said was that the techniques had been used for years. The director called us inflexible when we detailed how we could not agree to carry out such unsafe manual handling as we had been taught the correct way of handling within our training. My friend and I were deeply upset by what we had seen and by the reaction that we received in response to our concerns. We were told that we could have a non-disabled child but we agreed that it would also be too upsetting to see other counsellors handling the children inefficiently and that we would rather not work in such an environment alongside such incompetent counsellors.
Apart from this the director did not ask us if we were unhappy with any other aspects of camp and if he could persuade us to stay if he changed anything. At no point did we receive any comfort or support from the staff and we were simply asked to leave the camp as soon as we could. I feel that the director did not recognise how much courage and confidence it took for us both to tell him we were not happy with they way he was running the camp. The director did not recognise our level of training and to this day I still believe that I have more special needs experience and knowledge than him and all of his staff put together but that this was not recognised.
I was looking forward to being a special needs camp counsellor for my fourth summer and gave the first week all I had in terms of effort and motivation. I feel that I had a lot to offer camp but by standing up for what I believed in and have been taught I lost respect from the camp staff as they did not recognise why I wanted to leave and my reasons for disagreeing with their practise. I am also now having to face a large debt due to one mistake; choosing to participate in the camp America scheme for which I truly regret wasting two weeks. We were made to feel that we were the ones in the wrong and that we had done something awful to warrant such a bad response from the staff. We had to practically beg the staff to give us a lift to the bottom of the mountain with all our heavy rucksacks to the bus stop otherwise we would have had to walk about five miles, which I think is highly unprofessional. I am glad I saw the staff for who they truly were. How can you care for children all summer if you dont not care for your own counsellors?
Least of all we expected some support from camp America when we called to say that we wished to leave. However the discussion was very formal and quite overwhelming and camp America did not wish to know the reasons for our departure. This experience had taught me a lot as I have learnt that in not standing up for what I believe in and agreeing to carry out bad practise would only have served to perpetuate such abuse, cruelty and neglect. In choosing to stay at the camp my friend and I would have shown that we agreed with such maltreatment and I did not want to be part of an organisation that had such poor standards.
I worked incredibly hard to get onto my course and already feel like a health professional. This is something that I am proud to say my university lecturers have installed in me and I already try to act like a responsible professional in whatever line of work I am in. In whatever I do I always try to work to the best of my ability but feel that the work I was asked to do this summer was morally, ethically wrong and goes against everything I stand for and value as a professional. I feel that how disabled children are treated across the world should be of a similar practise, everybody handling a disabled child should ensure that both them and the child are safe and that they use equipment. I realise that camp is government funded and that it relies on donations but I feel if the parents knew how their children were being treated then they would surely raise enough funds to buy some simple, cost effective pieces of equipment. Equipment such as handling belts and sliding sheets are so cheap and easy to use I fail to see any reason why New Jersey State would not implement such equipment and teach counsellors to use them.
I am hoping that by writing to as many people as possible about my experience I will be able to ensure the children at camp are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve and that the staff are adequately trained and provided with equipment because such practise is inexcusable. I was in shock as soon as I left camp and whilst I was very relieved to be out of such an environment even now I think about all those children being poorly handled. I was so shocked to have to pay for my return flight, which cost me a fortune. My parents and boyfriend had to pay to get me back to England as there was no way on a student budget that I could afford the penalty fine. I was so desperately unhappy that I could not stay in the US any longer and could not contemplate moving to another camp. I do not see why the £500 I already paid camp America would not cover the return flight, although I understand that I broke a contract it was totally unacceptable to ask anyone to work under such circumstances.
Surely camp america should be apologising to me for sending me to camp with such poor standards and bad practise? This type of work would not be approved of in the UK and is not an acceptable job to ask a young person to do. I think this serves to highlight faults on camp americas behalf in not checking this camp for its standards of practise before sending young British people to work there.
I hope that counsellors are warned about this camp before camp america sends them there for the summer and that all parents are warned not to send their children to such a camp. Not only have I had to return after only two weeks in America but also I am now £1200 in debt thanks to my disastrous camp America experience and have to face the prospect of finding a job this summer to pay off this debt rather than travelling in the US after camp as I had hoped to. This has been one of the most disappointing summers of my life.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
I enjoyed your review!
If anyone is looking for great jobs like this you should check out:
http://www.oneworld365.org
MarcoG 31.10.2006 22:24
Wow! What an eye opener - I've just posted my review of Camp America, and thankfuly I had an awesome experience...there are good camps, promise. However, you're review was alarming, and I really hope Camp America can wake up and practice some sort of assessment of all of it's camps. This sort of attitude towards the children, by your director is absolutely appauling. Good for you for speaking up, and good luck on getting your money back etc x
NH Hotels, the hotel chain leader in Europe, with more than 300 hotels in 20 countries in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Enter into our web site and find the best available tariff at all times
Splendia, a unique selection of luxury and design hotels with character in the most beautiful locations: Marrakesh, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Dubai.... Book directly online or contact our customer service available any day of the week.
Record Rent a Car is present in the main spanish airports and has a very wide fleet. We offer: exceptional discounts, free additional drivers,
unlimited mileage... subscribe to our Club Record and take advantage of special offers.
Advantages: Potentially life changing. Potentially meet friends for life. Reputable agency. Disadvantages: Bit of a gamble as to whether you find a camp where you are happy.
MarcoG 31.10.2006 (22.06.2007)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Camp America
Jul 17th, 2006
exceptional by (16%):
very helpful by (74%):
helpful by (11%):
