Camp Caribou – Care at Camp & COVID-19

Camp Caribou will always put your son’s health first

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:

Promoting behaviors that prevent the spread of COVID-19

• 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

Maintaining a healthy environment

• 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

Managing health & wellness

• 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!!

Warmest Regards,

Lori, Alex, Bobby, Jerry, Martha & Bill

We also thought you might like to see our newest video – “Meet Our Family of Directors”