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Updated: 3:57 PM Aug 5, 2008
Camp Shenandoah Reinforces Policies
Swoope, Va. One camp already being effected by the situation at one in Goshen is Camp Shenandoah in Augusta County. Posted: 11:29 PM Aug 4, 2008Reporter: Keith Jones Email Address: kjones@whsv.com |
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One camp already being effected by the situation at one in Goshen is Camp Shenandoah in Augusta County.
Officials there hope to ensure that a similar problem won't happen to their campers, so, after camp officials received word about the E. coli outbreak in Goshen, they reviewed their own policies.
At Camp Shenandoah, they hope to reinforce what they say is already going right. It's a rugged and somewhat dangerous experience that is valuable to young scouts. However, after an E. coli outbreak miles away, the challenge is cleaning up while retaining that experience.
Eric Jones, Camp Director, says, "We think of campers as family, and that makes it much easier to do all the things you need to do."
Jones says it's about identifying what they're doing right and reinforcing it. Still in every facet of the camp, there lies concern about contamination.
Jones says, "A food poisoning incident is either a slip up with the supplier or a slip up in the food delivery system."
Head Cook Annette Bess says, "I teach them that when they thaw meat out, it's under running cold water, and when they store it in the walk-in that it's on the bottom shelf."
This advice is among many other policies by which Bess insists her kitchen staff abides, but it's not just food that can cause concern.
A giant lake is used almost every day and it's chlorinated and treated. Jones says they also have their own sewage treatment plant that discharges well below the lake.
However, Jones says, "We'll have to put in a whole new treatment system, which will be many, many thousands of dollars worth of cost."
All of these measures are being scrutinized after a slip up in Goshen. Jones says a mistake could be easily made if a scout brought his own food to camp, so there's always room for reinforcement.
He explains, "What they're going to have to do is to redevelop a faith in their campers that they are taking adequate precautions."
Jones says smaller camps, like Shenandoah, are easier to manage. While Goshen Scout Reservation has at least 8,000 campers each summer, Camp Shenandoah has just 2,000.
