In Camp Kysoc you can be lifeguard or zip line counselor without being certified or having the three years orientation required in countries like France, Spain or England where you have to pass a long and hard orientation of 2 years minimum ( In France ). The orientation is changed by a 1 week orientation in Kysoc... It might not be a standard in America and maybe Camp Kysoc never had any trouble in the past which I deeply think but still.
My co worker from France was a French certified lifeguard that is to say he had a military training with theory and practical exercises, perfect knowledge of the water and had been through a 2 years orientation. The lifeguard orientation process in France is known in the whole world to be the hardest one, about 15% of the applicants succeed in having the certificate.
When he saw how lifeguards were working on camp Kysoc he couldn’t believe his own eyes… None of the Lifeguard standards were respected. Our lifeguard was playing soccer with us instead of seating in a chair and supervising; campers were drowning themselves in the pool and playing dangerous game while the lifeguard was playing soccer around the pool. And this happened four times and the first time it was with special need kids in the pool.
Does that sound safe to you?
The boat in Camp Kysoc called the SS Mathilda is not a powerfull one but still the maximum speed was quite fast. When I was in New York or counseling in French Camps the boat could be driven only by certified lifeguard having boat driving license.
Once again this is not the case in Kysoc The boat was driven by a 17 years old high school student unskilled lifeguard who was going as fast as he could on the boat to satisfy the campers…
Did he have (as the rest of the lifeguard) a boat driving license? Did he realize that at full speed the direction of the boat was compromised? That the directions could be blocked? That he was putting the life of the campers in the canoes endanger? Does he have any knowledge of how much deep was the lake for his speed? The answer to all these questions is no….
You can call Camp Kysoc and ask them to see the certificate of their lifeguards and their boat driving license, the answer will still be no.
Lacks of security stroke my eyes, concerning the Zip Line. Jim Ebert the Camp Director is one of the world biggest climbers which is good to know when you send your children to climb trees etc… Unfortunately I saw Jim supervising probably twice or three time in two weeks. The rest of the activity was run by counselors who had maybe one or two weeks of orientation….
Being a climbing instructor even for the basic things requires a certificate in all the other countries in Europe, even in America and still accident occurs.
Following the studies the percentage of risk of accident with someone not certificate is multiplied by 250% per staff, they were 6 or 7 counselors supervising the activity… I let you do the math…
Does that sound safe to you?
Ce commentaire a été supprimé par un administrateur du blog.
RépondreSupprimerI am really curious to know what the outcome of all this has been? You said you have lawyers who were preparing some trial? So, what happened then? The camp got shut down?
RépondreSupprimerthe reality of this situation was that our friend Ghislain was fired from Camp Kysoc as he caused alarm and distress to a number of campers and members of staff. he wanted his revenge but did not get it. for many months he sent threats via email to me, but i did not respond. the oweners of kysoc referred his complaints to their lawyers in anticipation of a lawsuit, but none was filed against them.
RépondreSupprimerall of this took place more than four years ago now... i hope Ghislain has found peace and a better way to treat people. it was evident to all who met him that he was a troubled young man.