Health & Wellness
Camp Caribou will always put your son’s health first
Caribou Cares. Our foundational values are built upon the idea of providing a home away from home for our campers (and staff). We take a proactive approach to community care, meaning that we know each person and their typical presentation. Our counselors know their campers and are trained on their role in advocating and identifying anything that might be developing with one of their “kids”. And our campers know that they should advocate for themselves if they have a question or concern at any point. Our medical team is fully integrated into our camp family and they also know our campers personally. Our level of care and attention to detail with each individual in our community is a point of pride within our family. Everybody needs care from time to time (some more than others) and our medical team goes above and beyond with care and communication. If a camper is feeling unwell, he goes to our Health Center. We always have care available, 24/7. Our Medical Team is an integral part of our camp family and we appreciate their loving approach to every little detail. If your camper is taking daily prescriptions or taking daily medications/vitamins of any kind, we work with Winslow Pharmacy. They’re a great local business right down the road and have been a pleasure to work with. We are always here to answer your questions and to provide care to your camper.
Summer 2021 Overview
For the first time in 98 years, since it was founded in 1922, Camp Caribou did not open in 2020. As a family, and a team of directors, we made the incredibly difficult decision not to bring our community together in-person due to various concerns surrounding the novel coronavirus. As we continue to learn more about COVID-19, we are applying this information into our preparations to open in 2021. We are proactively monitoring public health guidance and will be forthcoming about all relevant updates as it impacts our camp operations. We promise to do everything in our ability to prepare and maintain a healthy environment for our campers and staff. We know that the world is full of uncertainty right now, and it’s hard to know what developments we will see by June of 2021, but we have never felt more strongly about the value of camp for children. Camp is truly the best place for kids! Camp Caribou is a place where they can be outside in the fresh Maine air, be in-person making new friendships, be tech-free, and be active. Next summer will be the most anticipated in the history of Camp Caribou. We cannot wait! Please do not hesitate to contact us; we are available to answer any questions you may have and look forward to providing your son with a fantastic camp experience in 2021!
Health & Safety: Our number one priority is the health and safety of our camp family. Robust planning and extensive community health measures are being implemented, and while there is no way to ensure zero risk, we are fully committed to staying current with all established best practices and recommendations. Our procedures involve an integrated approach using information and guidance from the American Camp Association, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Maine CDC, trusted Epidemiologists, doctors, and friends on the front lines in various arenas. They include prevention, layers of mitigation, active health management strategies and the utilization of the most reliable testing available.
Communication: We value the trust you put in us. Camp Caribou is our family, and we pledge to care for each one of our campers and staff with love and empathy. We are also committed to providing you with transparent and prompt communication should any community member have a confirmed positive COVID-19 test result, understanding that individual privacy will be maintained in accordance with State regulations.
Care At Camp
Our residential medical team is well established at Camp Caribou and has strong relationships with local and regional medical resources. Camp Caribou has partnered with Colby College and Maine Dartmouth Family Medicine to create an experienced COVID support and response team for our community. This will provide us with first-hand medical knowledge, excellent care, and clinical guidance throughout the summer. While we will continue to stay on the side of hopeful optimism that the landscape of COVID-19 will improve, we are committed to being creative and flexible in order to run camp this summer. Keeping our camp healthy within the current climate includes:
- Hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette, and the frequent use of hand sanitizing stations
- Use of face coverings when necessary
- Caribou Commitment – a shared community expectation and responsibility for safeguarding the well-being of all fellow campers and staff
- Preventing infection in all camp operations with intensified cleaning and daily disinfection protocols
- Optimizing ventilation in cabins and indoor facilities
- Creative program design and use of age group cohorts
- Maximizing outdoor areas for dining and programming
- Staggering the use of communal spaces
- Limiting off-site activities and events such as field trips where it may be difficult to maintain social distancing
- Creating an insulated campus bubble
- Camper and staff pre-camp COVID-19 screening & testing in conjunction with possible period of pre-camp quarantine and/or limiting contacts
- Daily health and symptom check for all community members
- Comprehensive staff training on COVID-19 prevention protocols and staff role in monitoring the health of campers
- Updated visitor procedures
- Revised staff travel and time-off policies
- Use of rapid COVID-19 testing
We are so excited to open! Policies, guidelines, and procedures are subject to change based on the latest health information, government guidelines, and best practices. We are passionate about providing the safest path toward opening camp in 2021.
We cannot wait to be together with our camp family!!