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Swine flu fears close youth camp

Illness isn’t confirmed, but Antelope ranch suspends operations

By Lauren Dake / The Bulletin

Published: July 28. 2009 4:00AM PST

After about 30 teens came down with what camp officials suspect is swine flu, a Christian-based summer camp in Antelope suspended activities this week.

Young Life’s Washington Family Ranch, about 40 miles outside of Madras, hosts groups of teens for five days at a time during the summer. About 700 campers and staff, from Oregon, Washington and Colorado, were at the camp last week when some of the teens started to display flu-like symptoms. The campers who were feeling sick, with coughs, headaches and fevers, were isolated. But within 48 hours, there were at least 30 teens that weren’t feeling well. A few campers were sent home early, but the camp ended as scheduled on Saturday.

This week, the camp was closed down so it could be sanitized.

“We are working to investigate a large number of campers showing influenza-like illness,” said Teri Thalhofer, the public health director with North Central Public Health District.

Although camp officials have said they are treating the campers as if they have swine flu, Thalhofer stressed the cases have not been confirmed as H1N1.

“Seasonal flu and H1N1 flu look very much alike,” she said.

Campers come to the camp with their community youth group members by bus. Young Life officials require everyone to be screened for the flu before getting on the bus.

“We’ve had a policy in place that requires campers and leaders to be screened prior to getting on a bus by a doctor or nurse,” said Terry Swenson, spokesman for Young Life.

“There is a doctor, a friend of Young Life, in the parking lot with a digital thermometer and he or she will take temperatures. … If you have symptoms, you can’t go on the trip.”

Young Life has 20 camps in North and Central America. Swenson said the Oregon camp is not the first to deal with swine flu.

“We have had this at about half of our camps; it’s never fun,” he said. “We anticipated it, and we have protocols in place. We lean heavily on the local health department. … We’re seeing it, as are all camps across the country.”

Swenson said camp officials notified the parents of sick campers. Other campers received a letter to give to their parents, explaining the situation. But parents were upset, Swenson said, when sick campers were put back on a bus with all the campers when it was time to head home. By that time, the entire camp was exposed, according to Swenson.

Thalhofer, with the health department, agreed.

“The kids had been housed closely, so it’s not like they had their first exposure on the bus,” she said.

Swenson said in the future, camp officials will try to notify all parents before the end of camp.

“We had a couple of cases where kids got on the bus well and got off sick,” Swenson said. “Those parents weren’t happy, understandably. We realize we’ll be more aggressive in the future communicating with all parents in real time if there’s flu at the camp. … Washington Family Ranch is difficult to communicate from in terms of cell coverage, being in Antelope.”

Thalhofer said the incubation period for swine flu is three to seven days.

“If they got sick, they were already exposed. It wasn’t the bus ride,” she said.

It costs about $450 for a high-school-age teen to attend the camp and canceling it for a week is a big deal, Swenson said.

“Some of these kids have waited for a year or two to go to a Young Life camp,” he said. “And they don’t go to Young Life every summer; most kids will go once in their life. It was a big deal to cancel camp.”

Swenson said they are trying to find an alternative camp for those interested, and they are issuing refunds. They wanted to have a week to sanitize and clean the camp.

Ann Thomas, a physician with the Oregon Department of Health, said the camp did what it was supposed to by isolating the campers and closing down for a week.

There is still no vaccine for H1N1 and Thomas said one isn’t expected until October. That could mean the spread of swine flu through summer camps could be a sign of what is to come this fall, when school starts.

“It’s hard to predict what will happen this fall, but certainly (swine flu) is here this summer, and we expect a greater number to be infected this fall,” she said. “It would not be surprising if a lot of school-aged children were affected.”

A 33-year-old Klamath County man died Monday from complications from the swine flu, according to reports from The Associated Press. More than 530 confirmed cases of swine flu have been reported in Oregon, with seven deaths.

Thalhofer said she expected the test results at the end of this week.

Lauren Dake can be reached at 541-419-8074 or at ldake@bendbulletin.com.

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