[philmont] get all medical OK's before you go

We had 2 smaller scouts I called to get approval for before we left (underweight on the Philmont chart)
 
I had also asked lots of questions about our diabetic scout before, His mother even called and talked to med staff --- but I never called "officially" about him, stating name, our trek etc.
 
The med staff was a little concerned, upset when we got there. All turned out ok, just had to make a couple extra trips to medical check in. Luckly we had time to get it all taken care of. I thought I had taken care of it before we got to Philmont by asking lots of questions, getting great answers, but I never made that "OFFICIAL" call.
 
lesson learned...........................
Kim Pigorsch Philmont '99, '03, '07, '09Northern Tier '04Troop 681 Outdoor Chairmun (sic) www.troop681.com - troop website www.sdicbsa.org - Council Website San Diego, CA

Date: Tue, 22 Apr 2008 07:51:25 -0700From: philmontjohn@yahoo.comSubject: [philmont] Food AllergiesTo: philmont@troop47.com
There wa a day when parents accepted their role responsibly. Today...........well, let me be nice and just say parents are different than they used to be.
 
Inconceivable as it sounds, parents have ignored serious health issues in the past and will in the future. The food ingredients, all of them on an exhaustive list, are available from Philmont.
 
But some parents seemingly would put their children at high rish to "not make it". They don't even think of the risk to the staff and the measures it takes to get their children down off the trail.
 
Clare Grasson makes an excellent point below. AS he posts, the parents not only used bad judgement, they wilfully violated Philmont medical policy. The old saying goes "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink".
 
If it's was an unknown medical problem that's one thing, but when it's like the one below, I somethings think it might just be in the best interest of the youth to have a zero tolerance policy on issues like this. If parents fail to report know medical problems, then they are outta here.
 
Having severe alergic reactions after one bite of an energy bar from a KNOWn alergy. Well, parent, there is just no excuse in that neglegence.
 
But then you cry out "but what about the kids? What's best for them?" Maybe that would be the "best for them".
 
No, I'm not proposing that, I'm just trying to stimulate thinking a little.
 
And that's why we as leaders need to leave no stone unturned in our prepreation for a trek at Philmont.
 
John LeBlanc
 
 
*******************************************************************************
 
I wanted to re-iterate the need to make sure that parents / scouts REALLY make sure that if they have ANY food allergies, they handle it appropriately.
 
Last year at Philmont we had a scout who was allergic to cashews. He knew it, his parents knew it, his doctor knew it - but it did not get written down on his physical form. They did not check the menu ingredient list even though it was publicized. He did not bring an Epipen.
 
One day he bit into one of those energy bars. Within seconds he knew that it had cashews in it because he started have a severe allergic reaction. The good news was that he was at a staff camp and they were able to get him back down to base camp to treat him.
 
This is one of those things that can prove disastrous in the back country. Fortunately, it is fully preventable if it is handled correctly BEFORE you get on the trail.
 
Clare Grasso
ASM T602
Laurel, MD

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Received on Tue Apr 22 13:22:27 2008