a long story about a night of a million stars

Last night. One of the most beautiful nights I can ever recall here. Ever. Ever. It got very cool and very clear, and the stars were completely brilliant and there were millions of them, and there was a breeze, and when I did a devotion for a Tacoma cabin, them and I sitting around the campfire in the middle of the village, we could hear - when we went silent - the sound of the wind in the leaves of the beech trees above us and actually the sound of the river well down the valley below us. It was that clear and that silent. This was at 11:30 PM or so (yes, devotions for Tacoma can go late).

The evening had started with a special combo Challenge Night (a first, in my memory): Outpost and Pac. They worked and played really well together. I assembled a terrific roster of guest judges and that added to the creative flavor of the evening. In one of the two photos below you can see all of them, from left to right: Shawn Blagmon, Katie Kelly, Matt Buzcek, Doug Kallin, Peter Owen, and Sandy Shapiro Bohn.

I have to say something about Katie Kelly here, because I don't think I've mentioned her yet in my posts. She was a camper in Susky in 1985, my last summer as director. She grew up through the ranks and became a VC of Tacoma and then for several summers an assistant Hird director, and later she worked full-time for Frost Valley as our alumni

affairs coordinator, but now, this summer, she's back, here and there. She spent a good part of session 1 with us and found a way to be back for a week this session too. She's such a good presence. This time she brought with her a stack of mint-condition Tacoma weekly schedules from the mid-1990s. And modestly asked Lesley, the Tacoma VC for 2012, if she might want to look them over. And did she! She also taught them an old Tacoma song that they'll sing together at Closing Campfire.

After Challenge Night Matt and I chatted about his time here (1996-2005, I think) and the changes and not-changes. And then we went over to the Wellness Center to find Dan Weir. I was astonished and in a weird way delighted by how busy the Wellness Center was. It was already around 10:15 PM. The game "French Revolution" or "French Rev," played at night in the dark, will cause a sprained ankle or wrist, and there were a few of those. Another little guy had twisted a knee. My favorite medical thingy of the

evening was the bite suffered by a counselor possibly from a "yellow-sac spider" (so the EMT on duty speculated - he'd done some research). This thing was amazing. On its own the dime-sized fluid-filled spot on her ankle has burst and she was being cleaned and bandaged and she and we were happily ready to put the spider encounter behind her. The EMT was fascinated and on his iPad showed me photos of it earlier in the day. Some people react strongly to the bite of this particular spider and that's why there had been so much attention paid to it through the day. But this spider-bitten person was going to be completely fine, and quickly. [Today, the next day, Dr. Rick Kaskel was checking in with some kind of federal toxic spider center in Arizona to see if this incidence is something we need to report.]

Vince O'Donnell, a talented Pac counselor who had led his village at Challenge Night in the absence of his VC (VC night out), had been so ill during the evening program that he kept taking breaks. When we got to the Wellness Center later, there was Vince, waiting to talk to one of the six or seven medical staff there about what might be done to get him ready for Olympics the next morning. (Five minutes before I sat down to write this entry, the next morning, I saw Vince, a head coach of South Africa, out there in the sunny field, banging a drum and leading a brilliant S.A. cheer that required tremendous feats of dancing and drumming. I asked him how he felt, and he looked at me with a funny ironic smile and shouted not to me but to the blue sky above: "I feel GREEEEEAAATTT!" Ah, camp.)

It was so busy that Tammey McCloud, our amazing Wellness Center director, came in just to keep the traffic moving along. What amazed me was that no one was complaining about the quality of attention they were receiving and - this really makes me happy - the medical people completely accepted the presence and talky help of various staff including directors and one bearded trustee and one very happy-to-be-back former Director of Camping. At one point I sat with Aidyn Gold as he was treated for a sprained wrist (which was eventually splinted and off he went into the night back to the cabin). Aidyn was a little upset about his injury and I reminded him of all the times his father, Adam, then a young camper, was injured and how much he complained at such moments. Aidyn thought that was great and smiled a big smile at participating in the family tradition.

I looked at my watch and, as much as I was enjoying this extra evening program being played by a village-sized gathering of slightly injured and ill people, I realized it was time to walk up to Tacoma for the devotion. I joined them at the fire-ring. Claire and Shannon were the counselors (I've known them both - and Shannon is in fact the daughter of my neighbors at home in Philadelphia) and the kids were really ready for a sentimental story. And I surely did give them that. I told them about the most important summer of my life - Lenape, 1968. I won't tell that story here, but suffice to say: it really did change me. I met someone that summer who made me realize I should take none of this - these stars, this breeze, the sound of this river heard far off in the silent dark night - for granted. And then the counselors and girls spoke and we held hands (really! - twice!) and said goodnight and promised we'd all really try to experience this fully.

Then Matt and I began walking around. It was 11:45 PM. We walked and talked along the paths between and among the villages under the stars. Matt, who had lived here year-round for several years, talked about the brilliance of the stars as if seeing them for the first time - in awe. I was in awe of his being in awe. We joined the Outpost CQ fire. They were going to grill some burgers on a make-shift grill (an aluminum pan that had carried some chocolate brownies) but we left before it was time to eat. Then we went back to Tacoma, and by now the same fire that had lit my emotional conversation with that Tacoma cabin was now fueling the conversation and late-night snack of the Tacoma staff. They were grilling flat pita-like rounds of bread and melting spicy jack cheese on them. They offered Matt and me one of these grilled-cheesy confections each, and though I wasn't hungry I had one and loved it. The bread was crunchy and one could taste the taste of firewood and hot stone. As I munched, I took in the conversation and I overheard them talking about how much fun it was learning about old Tacoma from Katie Kelly and much they were getting from seeing her old weekly schedules. Naturally they wanted to know more about the previous generations and Matt and I were happy to oblige. At a few minutes after 1 am I drove home slowly and kept looking out and up through my front windshield. All the stars were up there, leading me in a certain direction.

wellness center thrives (& not for bad reasons)

I stop by the Wellness Center pretty much every day. I like it there. Of course there's always some slightly wounded child to whom I can offer a smile and a hopeful note, a little TLC for those with scrapes and bumps. The place has a good feel. The waiting room is typically full of a few kids waiting for a little medical attention and a lot of kids and counselors keeping them company.

From left to right above: cough and sniffles; two tiny spider bites on hand; keeping them company.

On the coach, three Tacoma people, but after talking with them I'm still not sure who needs help. They were happy enough to wait in that nice spot - reading, working on a lanyard, and supervising. Another counselor tells a girl it's going to be all right. In the Joy White Nurse's Station (behind the counter) is Deb Creedon-Cunningham, RN on call and one of the best (so good with the kids). At the end of the hallway, you see a guy brought here for a few days by Rick Kaskel, who is here for a week helping with the dialysis unit. The guy in the black hat: a student in Einstein's MD-PhD program, getting far away from theory and experiencing the bites-and-bruises everyday of a child's life running around the rocky hills and creeks all day.

Now back outside, I chat with a staff member who's possibly got a hairline fracture, will probably visit an orthopedist at home and come back (because she can't keep away) and get around as best she can. When you love what you're doing - be it baseball or summer camp counseling - you play with pain if you can.

we'll be on The Today Show

NBC Today Show producer Kim Cornett visited today for much of the day. She interviewed our fabulous CEO Jerry Huncosky (see photo).

She and her colleagues had seen other coverage (e.g. NY Times) of the remarkably effective measures we've taken here to prevent the spread of illness among campers and staff. Not surprisingly, once she got here and got a sense of the people and the program, she took in the whole scene and seemed to love every minute. At lunch she filmed Wawayanda's hoopla and I'll be very surprised if some of that footage didn't make it into the piece she's producing.

The piece should be about 2.5 minutes long and will air on Saturday morning between 7 AM and 9 AM; it will be followed by a live interview with “a health official.”

the Times again

We've made the New York Times again. Here is the full text of the article, along with the photo they ran. The response from parents of children to this article has been terrific, and there are already new enrollments (for session 4) as a result of the impression--an accurate one--given in the article that we are remarkably diligent about preventing infectious illnesses.

- - -

Before Summer Camps Throw Open Doors, Girding for Swine Flu

CLARYVILLE, N.Y. — At the Frost Valley Y.M.C.A. camp last week, counselors and staff were laying out swim lines, whitewashing a fence around the horse paddock and mowing the meadow in the shadow of Wild Cat Mountain.

But there were a few more things on the checklist before this year’s campers arrived.

Housekeepers were wiping down doorknobs with bleach solution. The medical staff was adding new questions about fevers and coughs to the opening-day health screenings, which traditionally target head lice. Three negative-pressure isolation rooms were ready to accommodate sick campers. Hand sanitizer was everywhere.

Here and across the country, summer camps have been busy trying to erect a firewall against swine flu.

“We think we’re ahead of the curve, but who knows?” said Jerry Huncosky, chief executive officer of Frost Valley, a 6,000-acre camp in the Catskill Mountains. “I think it’s the ‘who knows?’ that we’re preparing for.”

Sleep-away camp, of course, is a time of rustic simplicity and extremely close contact: 8 to 10 campers in a snug cabin is the norm. With swine flu’s potential for rapid transmission, camp poses unusual challenges for the adults charged with the campers’ care. It is perhaps no wonder that camp directors have been deluged in recent weeks with e-mail messages about swine flu protocols from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Camp Association and local health departments.

Swine flu has already surfaced at summer camps in the South and the West, where the camp season begins early, closing camps in Missouri and California and prompting the Muscular Dystrophy Association to cancel the rest of its annual summer camp program.

Outbreaks of swine flu have also been reported at camps in Georgia and North Carolina, but campers there were being treated on site.

The first task is simply to keep out the H1N1 virus, as swine flu is formally known. Like many camps, Frost Valley recently sent a letter to parents telling them not to send their children to camp if they have flulike symptoms: “fever over 100 degrees and cough, sore throat, runny nose or stuffy nose.” The letter added, “If you suspect your child is getting the flu, it is important that he or she does not attend camp or go anywhere else.”

Mr. Huncosky acknowledged that the rule could challenge some parents, especially those whose own vacations coincide with their children’s camp sessions. “It’s hard when you spend a lot of money to send your child to camp and then the Friday before, they have a little fever,” he said. “Parents might say, ‘We’ve got too much invested.’ ”

Of the 500 campers who arrived on Sunday at Frost Valley, two were found to have a fever as well as other flu symptoms and were sent home.

Frost Valley and other camps said they would try to work with families, either allowing a child to make up lost time in a later session or prorating the fees.

At Buck’s Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp in New Milford, Conn., opening day was on Wednesday, and the medical staff members took the temperatures of all 260 arriving campers.

There was one case of nits (lice eggs), but no fever, said Mickey Morris, who directs the camp with his wife, Laura. Two families heeded the warnings in three “swine flu updates” the camp had e-mailed, keeping their feverish children home. According to standard protocol, that would be for seven days after the onset of symptoms or until the camper has been symptom-free for 24 hours, whichever is longer.

“At this point, we’re like a sealed community,” Mr. Morris said, adding that the staff lived on site, too.

At the welcome meeting at Buck’s Rock, campers were asked to practice good hygiene, like coughing into their arms and generously applying hand sanitizer before every meal. “We had the Purell stations in the past, but now it’s mandatory, at least until this thing dies down,” he said. “Nobody gets in the dining room without it.”

At Frost Valley, it is hard to escape the hand sanitizer. There are large dispensers on waist-high stands outside the dining halls, and there are more inside. In addition, because of an outbreak of gastrointestinal virus last summer, the camp installed trough-style sinks inside the entrances of the dining hall so that campers would not need to enter the bathrooms to wash up.

“It almost creates a social awkwardness if you’re not washing your hands,” said Tom Holsapple, the director of operations at the camp.

In a nod to swine flu fears, individual campers will no longer retrieve their own utensils. Instead, head counselors will load up trays for their cabins “so we avoid having a bunch of hands going into the pots” of forks and knives, Mr. Holsapple said. The dining hall, which briefly considered banishing the salad bar this summer to prevent unnecessary contact with food, decided instead to order 600 pairs of salad tongs so that campers could avoid sharing at each meal.

At the new wellness center, built to accommodate a total of 60 campers who require dialysis, Patty Conklin, the camp’s health care administrator and a registered nurse, has trained groups of staff members on a range of health issues, including swine flu. On Wednesday, it was the equestrian staff members’ turn. She told them that a staff member or camper who felt sick must report to the wellness center immediately.

“Last year, we had scheduled times to come in, like 10 to 12 and 2 to 4, but I want them here as soon as they feel ill,” Ms. Conklin said.

Campers who display flu symptoms will go into isolation in the negative-pressure rooms, which are designed to let air blow into the rooms when the doors open so that germs do not escape. Their parents will be called, and nurses and others who have contact with sick children will have to wear masks and gloves.

Some camps, like Frost Valley, are prepared to have a child in isolation for a week, but others are not. Mr. Huncosky said his staff would have a “discussion with the parent” to determine the best course.

Adam N. Weinstein, executive director of the American Camp Association’s New York section, which represents about 300 camps, said that camp staffs should plan for ways to engage children who are sequestered, something Frost Valley has already done.

“It’s not ideal, but if you’re at a seven-week camp and you have to miss a week of it in the health center, then the camps should think about the kinds of things you can do in isolation,” he said. “Good seven- or eight-week camps will be thinking about that now and not on the fly.”

At Campus Kids Minisink near Port Jervis, N.Y., where children sleep over Monday through Friday and return home on weekends, Jani Brokaw, the director, said campers were never in isolation for more than 24 hours. “Because we have such regular contact with the parents,” she said, “we would definitely ask the parent to take the child home.”

Some camp directors can envision the worst. “If we had multiple cases, it could easily shut down the camp,” said Philip Connor, chief executive officer of Becket-Chimney Corners Y.M.C.A., adjacent boys’ and girls’ camps in Massachusetts. “You just hope that Mom and Dad aren’t at the bottom of the Grand Canyon when you need to close the camp.”

finally, a real theater

Readers of this blog - even those who have not seen Frost Valley in several or more years - will already know plenty about the new Guenther Family Wellness Center. Remember that the upper floor is for the medical facilities. We took advantage of the building's site (on the edge of the second flat up from the valley bottom): architects and builder created a large lower floor the front of which looks out across the valley toward Wildcat. Okay. Inside that lower floor is the new Arts & Crafts room, which yesterday I saw in its current state - about 20% of the way toward being the new A&C it will be. But working and terrific.

Elsewhere on the lower floor is a toddler room/day care room. Other meeting rooms. A Life Sciences classroom/lab. We met Houdini the snake in there. A plenty of FV's old stuffed beavers. A few objects of old taxidermist's talents--including some figures, surely, that date back to the Forstmann era--are here.

For me the most exciting and beautiful space on the lower floor of the new building is...the theater. As of this weekend (photos taken last night - Saturday) it looks to be 97% finished. Take a look and imagine what great events and performances can be staged here.