Sally Redux

The word 'allergic' seems to be used very freely nowadays, eg someone we know is allergic to smoked haddock. Have to admit I'm unsure whether such things are true allergies or someone eating something which didn't agree with them once.

dlake02

You said 2/3. That vastly exceeds the average for serious medical conditions which is around 1% for life-threatening allergies and about 10% for topical (mild food, hayfever, etc).

At 66%, your troop is either very unlucky, or needs to question their medical advice.

I am not doubting that medical conditions exist, but something doesn't add-up here as everyone is off to the docs or popping pills.

And as average life expectancy, surely the best clinical outcome measure, is decreasing in the US as opposed to increasing in the rest of the Westwrn world, rather than blindly complying with pointless requirements, why not ask the medical profession to justify their diagnoses on outcomes ?

SarahG

The Girl Scouts don't have a medical for camp. The form I mentioned was a consent form with contact name/numbers etc for emergencies and a release for pictures. There was a small box to fill out that said 'Other information. Allergies etc" and I mentioned it there. Luckily my 7yo is smart enough to know not to have gummies or anything similar.

SarahG

I didn't say 2/3. That was someone else.

JRG67

That sounds reasonable.

Giantaxe

I agree. Many men are reticent about going to have a prostate exam, for example. Or having testes checked for tumours. Studies I've seen suggest that men are significantly less likely to go for these kind of screenings than women are for pap smears etc. So if I had had a son, I don't think I would have had an issue with them having a standard medical.

kodokan

But that's absurd. There were 200 kids at the camp my kids attended, and I'm guessing the camp director would have the odd bit of time off too. It would be ridiculously irresponsible to have a medical system based 'having a quiet word' with one member of staff.

For my kids, it was a basic medical - height, weight, blood pressure, listen to heart, check eye sight and hearing, and, for my nearing puberty son, a check to make sure his genitals were all as they should be - plus a part of the form that I filled in about any allergies. (They don't have any, but I explained we're new to the US and they might be allergic to some of the forest flora they'd not previously been exposed to and that it was ok to give them OTC anti-histamines as they'd both had these before with no problems.)

I would be greatly more worried at the notion that there would be 200 kids who, for a fortnight, would be being cared for by people who had no clue about any diagnosed medical issues they might have, no clue about any issues that might have escaped diagnosis due to that child never having seen a doctor, and no idea what, if any allergies, any given child has to anything.

And to my mind, avoiding a medical because a child has a deathly fear of doctors is a FAR bigger problem longterm for both parents and child than the minor inconvenience of a 5 minute check-up.

JRG67

I think it is OK for parents to fill in a form, such as Sarah G mentioned.

Sure, parents have the right to visit a doctor for medical check-ups as often as they want.
The point is DLake should not be MADE to have his child checked up by a doctor for a boy scout/cub summer camp FFS.

Addendum. There is nothing worse than an "amateur" doctor, fulfilling out some childhood fantasy, on a poor child in their care at a summer camp.

dlake02

I drank 1/2 bottle of Cab Sauv last night and seem to have developed an allergy. Symptoms are blinding headache, cold sweat, grumpiness and a throat like the bottom of a parrot's cage.

Should I go and see if Dr Quack has a miracle cure for me ? Only $200 per visit at the local surgery....

GeoffM

Agreed, not to mention how the staff would keep record of a conversation. From what I remember, the nurse would flick through the reports for anything really serious like a severe nut allergy, others would have their medication noted*, but the rest would go into the filing system to be pulled out if something happened.

* And yes there were lines of kids out the door every morning, waiting for their medications.

JRG67

That's terrible! You most definitely cannot go to summer camp next year, unless you let me fondle your balls whilst you cough, young man.
BTW would you like to lick my special lollipop after surgery hours?

SarahG

Not too bad then. My husband mentions something about a donkey's nether regions when he has too much of a particular drink. I think his Dr would charge loads more than $200 to deal with that.

kodokan

I'm assuming then that DLake (and apologies to you, DL, I know this isn't your quote but I'm using you to make the point ) is homeschooling his son. Because otherwise DL is happily and unquestioningly having his kid's academics examined annually in a process which is almost exclusively to the benefit of the school rather than the individual child (because it will be a total surprise to the teacher who's had him all year that Little Johnny doesn't know how to do subtraction with regrouping. Not.).

Yet he doesn't want to have his kid's body examined, which could possibly reveal something underlying that the individual child would hugely benefit by knowing, and will definitely be a good step on the path to his kid developing a healthy doctor-patient relationship as he goes into adulthood.

All the ones I looked at had a qualified nurse in residence the whole time, who therefore had full access to that child's completed medical form and insurance details should a referral to the local doctor prove necessary. Like I said, a proper medical system in place, not quiet words with untrained adults. I'm guessing you don't have kids..? I can't otherwise see why you'd think any of this was a bad thing.

kodokan

This is very true. Every time we go to the docs (so far, for well person checks and vaccinations for our Green Cards), we get asked what medications we're currently taking - not whether we're taking any, but which ones - and the nurse taking the notes is visibly surprised that two people in their 40s aren't taking anything.

(The other odd doctor question that threw me at first was 'Do you use alcohol?' I genuinely misunderstood and wondered briefly what they thought I was using it FOR - some kind of wound disinfectant, perhaps..? - and was just about to ask for clarification when I suddenly twigged they were asking it in the same way that they'd ask 'Do you use heroin?')

Sally Redux

They'll certainly do their level best to find something wrong.