The International Pathfinder Camporee is an exciting event for everyone involved. Pathfinders and leaders from around the world will gather in one location to learn, grow, and praise together. It is an experience that will be remembered forever for each camporee attendee.
Your campers should spend every moment creating positive, memorable experiences–not visiting the Nurses Station or getting lost. As a Pathfinder leader, training and making a plan for emergencies will help you and your staff know what to do when the unexpected occurs. Having a plan will also help ensure that your campers have a positive and uplifting international camporee experience.It Starts Before Departure
Your planning should start well before your Pathfinder club boards the bus (or plane) to Oshkosh. Make a plan that begins several months in advance of your travel day and decide what kind of training and orientation needs to take place, and which days will be set aside for those sessions to occur. If your Pathfinder club or staff group is large, consider extending the training and orientation over several days to ensure every participant has a chance to learn procedures adequately and ask questions.Here are a few essential items to cover in orientation and training with your Pathfinder staff.
1. Supervision
Providing sufficient and quality supervision onsite is a crucial part of ensuring the safety of campers. Make sure there are enough staff members to provide quality supervision for all campers, and that they are knowledgeable about the types of activities that may occur during your camporee experience. Adventist Risk Management, Inc. (ARM) recommends hazardous risk activities require one supervising adult for every four children. High-risk activities should require one supervising adult for every eight children. Low-risk activities should require one adult for every 12 children. However, these ratios may vary depending on the age group of those involved. Remember safety is more than ratios. All supervisors must be qualified as well. Read more about supervision in ARM’s Supervision guidelines info sheet.
2.Skills Training
Every leader hopes to have an incident-free activity, meeting or club event. But the truth is that we cannot predict what will occur and accidents, unfortunately, do happen. The best way to navigate this is to ensure your staff is trained in specific skills that can help prevent further injury or even save a life. Set aside a few dates in your calendar to train your staff in basic first aid, CPR, and in recognizing concussions and head injuries. The American Heart Association reported that performing CPR in the first few minutes of cardiac arrest can double or triple chances of survival. Knowledge of basic first aid can help make sure that injuries do not worsen while the injured is waiting or being transported to medical professionals. Recognizing a concussion or head injury can save the injured from experiencing more severe symptoms and begin the process of recovery more quickly. These three skills can go a long way in minimizing and preventing further injury.
3. Crisis Response
When a crisis occurs, the natural reaction of many could be to panic. Panicking, however, does not help resolve the crisis and could alarm your campers and other staff members as well. An orientation with your staff members on how to respond when an emergency occurs will help keep all those around you calm and focused on resolving the issue quickly and safely. Review with both your staff and campers what to do in various crisis situations. What should you do if you get lost on site? What if you are injured? What are the steps to follow if a storm occurs? Providing your club members with this information will help them remain calm during a crisis and feel comfortable knowing what to do to stay safe.Onsite Safety
With training and orientation days complete, your staff and campers are now ready for an exciting international camporee. The task now is to make sure the guidelines discussed are followed throughout your time at the camporee. There are a couple ways you can make sure this occurs.Check in with your staff members throughout your time on site. Consider setting time aside for a 10-minute meeting each night with staff members after campers have gone to bed. This will be the time to remind staff of the guidelines and review any details that may be necessary for the next day’s activities.
Stay in contact with your staff members each day. Before your departure, make sure staff members have contact information for each other and can communicate any issues quickly. Consider using a group chat mobile app to communicate rapidly with the group at once if needed. The camporee site is quite large, so this will be essential if you need to locate or determine a meeting place before meal times or worship.
Accident Insurance
Procure Accident Insurance for all those attending the camporee. Beginning early 2019, ARM will again offer a comprehensive coverage plan available for purchase through the ARM website. For U.S.–based clubs, the cost is USD$4.71 per individual plus a $20 application fee. Multiple individuals can be included on one application. For clubs coming from outside the United States, it is recommended to purchase ARM’s Short-Term Travel policy.
