Health and Safety

At Chestnut Ridge, the safety of the campers is our primary concern. All of our senior camp counselors are Red Cross certified in Basic First Aid and CPR. Many of our team are further certified in Wilderness First Aid (WFA) and Lifeguard. In addition, we maintain a communications system that enables effective communication amongst staff and quick access to EMS.

Each week Chestnut Ridge has a Camp Nurse that resides at the camp. These individuals are registered nurses, nurse practictioners, and doctors who attend to the health requirements of the camp community and are available to respond to any medical emergencies. The Camp Nurse provides first aid, dispenses medications, and makes referrals when outside medical help is needed. Let us know if you would like to volunteer to be a Camp Nurse.

We keep in touch with the Rescue Squad in Efland which is less than 3 miles from camp. The local squads are very familiar with the property, making their response time quick. Duke and UNC are both state of the art hospitals within 15 miles of Chestnut Ridge.

All campers must complete an Online Health form. This can be found through the Online camp registration process. In addition, all prescriptions must be checked-in at registration and left with our Camp Nurse. Medications are dispensed from the Health Care Center and a log kept of the time, dosage and administrator.

Chestnut Ridge is accredited by the American Camp Association, meaning we comply with up to 300 health, safety, and program quality industry-accepted and government-recognized standards. These standards are developed in conjunction with national experts from The American Academy of Pediatrics, American Red Cross, and more. The ACA conducts a regular, independent health and safety audit of our camp, assuring that we maintain our commitment to excellence in safety. We maintain our ACA accreditation as part of our on-going commitment to putting the safety of our campers first, and maintaining the very best safety practices of the camping industry.

Before summer campers ever arrive, our summer staff attends an intensive two week training period. During this time they attend certification courses in first aid, CPR, and lifeguarding. They also receive training on such topics as leadership, positive reinforcement, abuse awareness, homesickness, program implementation, bullying, emergency procedures, appropriate supervision, as well as the rest of the ACA health and safety standards. A lot of information is packed into the two week training, but when it's over, the staff is ready to take on the challenges of welcoming hundreds of campers into our community each week and ensuring that they have a safe and wonderful experience at Chestnut Ridge.