Nurse Vickie! Nurse Vickie!
Well I survived 5 weeks of program camp, including two weeks as the camp nurse. I’m not sure that survived is really the right word though, because I absolutely loved every minute of it.
The first week of high school camp was pretty low key, which was a good way to ease into the idea of being the camp nurse. I actually got pretty bored that week since high schoolers don’t like to get injured during convenient times for me (ie the five hours of free time they have every day) and instead like to wait until it’s better for their schedule (ie 11pm when I’m trying to go to bed) It was fun to get to serve the kids in a new way, and to put into practice many of the skills I’ve learned over the last few years. I was glad I was working with high schoolers because being the nurse wasn’t as much about parenting as it was about first aid, medications and reassurance. When little kids get hurt, there’s a lot more patience required, and since I’m still learning how to be patient, I appreciated getting to work with kids who were more preoccupied with whether or not they would be able to get back to what they were doing. It was kind of a lonely week for me, since everyone I knew was out working when I had down time, and I was busy when they were done. Luckily, the next week I knew a lot of the kids and leaders too.
Middle school camp was absolutely crazy. We had about 350 campers, which is almost 100 more than we have during a normal week. It was a great week because about 125 of my old Rolling Hills students were campers, and I got to serve alongside my former bosses and co-leaders again too. I was really busy that week doing somewhat double duty as low ropes guide and nurse’s helper, but it was easy to stay motivated when I got the chance to see how much my kids loved this new camp. I think it was originally a bit of a shock to them, but they ended up loving it and were all really glad they came. (sound familiar?)
Our second week of high school proved to be my favorite week as Nurse Vickie- hands down. We were back down to about 250 campers, which seemed much calmer after the craziness of middle school camp. The Rolling Hills high schoolers joined us this week, and it was fun to see how my previous students were “growing up” and out of the awkward middle school phase. I felt much more comfortable as the nurse this week, which was good since they seemed to be a bit more needy. I even managed to get my own fan club, complete with theme song. One of the RHCC junior boys groups found themselves at my first aid station a lot thanks to their camp adventures, especially on our big slide. I also got to know a few girls who really did hurt themselves, which meant that their week of camp looked different than they had originally planned. After three weeks of little sleep, I learned a lesson Nate’s been trying to teach me for years (that sleep isn’t a necessity) and relearned one that I seem to never stop learning (complete dependence on God is the best way to live)
Normally I dislike having two of my worlds collide- school and church, valpo and Oregon, etc… but this time around things went really smoothly. It was fun to watch my bosses swap Sassy Vickie stories, and I enjoyed the opportunity to work with people I’ve been building relationships for weeks, months and years all at the same time. Overall, I’d say it was a very successful summer of program camps, and I’ve been really privileged to serve alongside so many great people.
The first week of high school camp was pretty low key, which was a good way to ease into the idea of being the camp nurse. I actually got pretty bored that week since high schoolers don’t like to get injured during convenient times for me (ie the five hours of free time they have every day) and instead like to wait until it’s better for their schedule (ie 11pm when I’m trying to go to bed) It was fun to get to serve the kids in a new way, and to put into practice many of the skills I’ve learned over the last few years. I was glad I was working with high schoolers because being the nurse wasn’t as much about parenting as it was about first aid, medications and reassurance. When little kids get hurt, there’s a lot more patience required, and since I’m still learning how to be patient, I appreciated getting to work with kids who were more preoccupied with whether or not they would be able to get back to what they were doing. It was kind of a lonely week for me, since everyone I knew was out working when I had down time, and I was busy when they were done. Luckily, the next week I knew a lot of the kids and leaders too.
Middle school camp was absolutely crazy. We had about 350 campers, which is almost 100 more than we have during a normal week. It was a great week because about 125 of my old Rolling Hills students were campers, and I got to serve alongside my former bosses and co-leaders again too. I was really busy that week doing somewhat double duty as low ropes guide and nurse’s helper, but it was easy to stay motivated when I got the chance to see how much my kids loved this new camp. I think it was originally a bit of a shock to them, but they ended up loving it and were all really glad they came. (sound familiar?)
Our second week of high school proved to be my favorite week as Nurse Vickie- hands down. We were back down to about 250 campers, which seemed much calmer after the craziness of middle school camp. The Rolling Hills high schoolers joined us this week, and it was fun to see how my previous students were “growing up” and out of the awkward middle school phase. I felt much more comfortable as the nurse this week, which was good since they seemed to be a bit more needy. I even managed to get my own fan club, complete with theme song. One of the RHCC junior boys groups found themselves at my first aid station a lot thanks to their camp adventures, especially on our big slide. I also got to know a few girls who really did hurt themselves, which meant that their week of camp looked different than they had originally planned. After three weeks of little sleep, I learned a lesson Nate’s been trying to teach me for years (that sleep isn’t a necessity) and relearned one that I seem to never stop learning (complete dependence on God is the best way to live)
Normally I dislike having two of my worlds collide- school and church, valpo and Oregon, etc… but this time around things went really smoothly. It was fun to watch my bosses swap Sassy Vickie stories, and I enjoyed the opportunity to work with people I’ve been building relationships for weeks, months and years all at the same time. Overall, I’d say it was a very successful summer of program camps, and I’ve been really privileged to serve alongside so many great people.
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