ROCKBRIDGE
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL HANDBOOK
THANK YOU
Dear Friend, Thank you for partnering with us as we serve campers and leaders this week. Our prayer is that lives would be eternally changed and that kids and adults alike would see the love of God as a result of their time at Rockbridge. This handbook will help you prepare for your week at Rockbridge. If you have any questions after you read this handbook, please don't hesitate to call the camp office at (540) 997-9276. We can’t wait for you to be here!
Sincerely, Jimmy Hagenbuch Camp Manager
Young Life Rockbridge 170 Spring House Road Goshen, VA 24439
540-997-9276 rockbridge.younglife.org jhagenbuch@rockbridge.younglife.org
MEDICAL PROGRAM PURPOSE AND OVERVIEW Young Life camping is recognized internationally as one of the most effective ways to reach middle school and high school kids with the message of God’s love. Young Life camps carry out the mission’s more than 75-year tradition of communicating to adolescents in a natural setting, away from everyday distractions. Young Life incorporates a medical team in the Adult Guest Program at Rockbridge to add a safety factor and an additional degree of professionalism to the medical services provided for the campers and guests.
The camp medical professional's primary role is to provide timely triage assessment of guests who require medical care for an injury or an illness during their stay at camp. The camp staff includes two all-summer EMTs who are the first responders for most emergencies. The camp medical professional is on-call for major injuries and will direct the course of action in the event of an emergency deciding which patients need to be transferred to the local hospital. The medical professional and EMT also provide consultation during regularly scheduled infirmary hours (generally scheduled for one hour before or after breakfast, lunch and dinner). The infirmary is well-stocked to treat basic injuries and illnesses. Young Life policy does not permit our infirmary to stock prescription medicines. You may bring prescription samples to be dispensed under your supervision, but we ask that you do not leave the samples at camp.
CAMP MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES ARRIVAL Please plan to arrive between 1:00 and 3:00 PM on the first day of your stay.
INFIRMARY HOURS Infirmary hours will be given to you upon arrival at Rockbridge. Generally, they are before or after breakfast and lunch and before dinner, and last for at least an hour.
AVAILABILITY The medical team members should notify the office staff when planning to be away from camp or in a hard-to-find spot. We ask that you be present at all camp events. You will be asked to carry a radio during part of each day so that there is adequate medical coverage.
USE OF OFF-SITE MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILITIES Acute injuries or illnesses needing further examination will be referred to the Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital in Lexington, which is about 25 minutes from camp.
MEDICATIONS The Rockbridge infirmary maintains an inventory of OTC medications and is well-stocked to treat basic injuries and illnesses. Young Life policy does not permit our infirmary to stock prescription medicines; however, our office staff will assist you with obtaining prescriptions for campers/leaders. The patient’s parent/guardian must be notified whenever a prescription is written for a camper.
IMPORTANT DETAILS THE DOCTOR'S COTTAGE You and your family will stay in the doctor's cottage, which is centrally located in camp and convenient to the infirmary. The cottage is divided into two halves, with an adjoining door that can be opened to accommodate families. Each half of the cottage has one bedroom with a queen size bed, a living area with a queen-size sleeper sofa and a private bath. There is a small kitchenette on the left side of the building, equipped with a mini-fridge and a microwave. Linens and towels are provided. Let us know in advance if you need additional mattresses or linens.
CAMP ACTIVITIES You and your family may participate as much or as little as you would like in the camp activities. Free time activities include the zip line, water slides, volleyball, basketball, fishing, the game room and the swimming pool. If you would like to go on a horseback bike ride or try the ropes course please let the office know. We will try to work you in with the campers' scheduled rides.
MEALS Adult guests and the camp medical professional and family will have reserved seats at all indoor meals. There is no reserved seating for outdoor meals. Five minutes prior to each meal, a bugle is sounded throughout camp. The medical volunteer and family may enter the dining hall after the five minute bell through the back door of the dining hall. Please do not enter through the kitchen. The Rockbridge kitchen is happy to accommodate guests with special dietary needs.
IMPORTANT DETAILS WHAT TO BRING You will want to bring casual, comfortable clothing (shorts, jeans, tennis shoes, etc.), a swimsuit, and a light jacket and/or sweatshirt. Summer days can be warm, but the evenings are often a bit cooler. Afternoon thunderstorms are not uncommon. We encourage campers to bring one nice outfit for the last night of camp. There are a couple “themed� events during Senior High camp that you may want to dress up for: an outdoor barbecue in the evening, where folks will dress up in rodeo/western duds, and an 80's-themed dinner.
HOUSEKEEPING The housekeeping staff will service the Doctor's Cottage daily. They will clean the public areas and guest rooms and exchange guest towels. A supply of fresh towels and linens is also available in the linen closet. The washer and dryer in the Adult Guest Lodge laundry room are available for your use. Feel free to use the laundry supplies that are provided.
TELEPHONES There is a telephone with unlimited long-distance calling located in the Doctor's Cottage. There is limited cell phone reception at Rockbridge, but wireless internet access is available. Please keep in mind that cell phones are collected from campers upon their arrival at camp. We ask that Adult Guests limit their cell phone usage to the Alum Lodge or office area so as not to distract campers and leaders.
VEHICLES There is reserved parking for the Doctor's Cottage located near North Mountain. Please limit the use of personal vehicles around camp.
SAMPLE SCHEDULE - SENIOR HIGH DAY 1 10:00 Brunch/Admin Meeting 10:45 All Camp Meeting 11:30 Camp Sweep 1:00-4:00 Welcome/All Camp Open 4:30 Club Practice 5:30 Leaders Meeting 6:15 All Camp Closed 6:40 Appetizers 7:00 Dinner 8:15 Club 9:15 Obstacle Course 10:00 Free Time 11:15 Cabin Bell DAY 2 9:00 9:30 10:00 12:30 1:00 5:30 6:30 8:00 9:15 10:15 11:30
Breakfast Admin Meeting Volleyball Tournament Lunch @ Pool Free Time/All Camp Open Leaders Meeting Dinner Club Entertainment Night Pool Party Cabin Bell
DAY 3 9:00 9:30 10:00 11:00 11:20 12:15 12:45 6:30 8:30 11:15
Breakfast Admin Meeting Leaders Meeting Role Play Rockbridge Challenge Lunch Free Time/All Camp Open Dinner at Rodeo Club/County Fair/Hoe Down Cabin Bell
DAY 4 9:00 Breakfast 9:30 Admin/Leaders Meeting 10:30 Role Play 11:00 Water Regatta 1:00 Lunch 1:30 Free Time/All Camp Open 6:00 Club #4 7:45 Dinner 8:30 Opera 9:30 Sock Hop 11:30 Cabin Bell DAY 5 9:00 9:30 10:00 11:00 12:30-2:00 6:30 8:30 11:00
Breakfast in Bed Admin Meeting Leaders Meeting Role Play Rolling Lunch Dinner Club Cabin Bell
DAY 6 9:00 10:15 11:15 12:30-4:30 5:30 8:30 9:30
Leaders Meeting Brunch/Admin Meeting Role Play #3 Free Time Banquet Dinner Club #6 Departure
SAMPLE SCHEDULE - CAPERNAUM DAY 1 10:00 10:45 11:30 1:00 5:00 5:15 6:30 7:30 8:45
Brunch/Admin Meeting All Camp Meeting Camp Sweep Welcome/All Camp Open All Camp Closed Leaders' Meeting Dinner Club Cabin Time/Cabin Bell
DAY 2 8:30 9:30 10:45 11:30 12:30 1:15 6:00 6:45 8:00 9:00
Breakfast Club Cabin Time Disney Challenge Lunch Free Time Dinner Leaders' Meeting Rockbridge Shines Cabin Bell
DAY 3 8:30 9:30 10:45 11:45 12:30 1:15 6:00 7:00 8:00 9:15
Breakfast Club Cabin Time Pool Party Lunch Free Time Dinner Leaders' Meeting County Fair/Square Dance Cabin Bell
DAY 4 9:00 10:00 11:15 12:30 1:15 6:00 7:00 8:00 8:15 9:30
Breakfast Club Cabin Time Lunch Free Time Dinner Leaders' Meeting Real Life Opera Cabin Bell
DAY 5 8:30 9:45 11:00 12:00 12:45
Breakfast Camp Video Club Lunch Departure
YOUNG LIFE HISTORY
In 1938, Jim Rayburn, a young Presbyterian youth leader in Gainesville, Texas, was given a challenge. A local minister invited him to consider the neighborhood high school as his parish and develop ways of contacting kids who had no interest in church. Rayburn started a weekly club for kids. There was singing, a skit or two and a message about Jesus Christ. Club attendance increased dramatically when they started meeting in the homes of the young people. After graduating from Dallas Seminary, Rayburn and four other seminarians collaborated, and Young Life was officially born on October 16, 1941, with its own Board of Trustees. They developed the club idea throughout Texas, with an emphasis on showing kids that faith in God can be fun. By 1946, Young Life had moved to a new headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the staff had grown to 20 men and women across several states. Volunteer leadership began at Wheaton College, Illinois, in the late 1940s. This was a significant move because today we depend heavily on our 26,000 volunteers. Prior to the 1960s, Young Life had directed its ministry almost completely to suburban high school students. By 1972 it had begun ministries in approximately 25 multiethnic and urban areas. Today, Young Life is in more than 175 urban communities meeting the unique needs of inner-city young people. Young Life's main goal remains the same -- to reach young people across the globe with the message of Jesus Christ through establishing close friendships and winning the right to be heard.
For more than six decades, God has blessed the Young Life staff, increasing its numbers from five to 3,000 -- from one club in Texas to clubs in every corner of the world. Young Life has grown from a ministry with suburban senior high school kids to a ministry to middle school kids, as well as kids in rural, multiethnic/urban and international areas, kids with disabilities and teenage mothers.
ROCKBRIDGE HISTORY Rockbridge Alum Springs has had a long and storied history dating back to the 18th century. In 1799 the county surveyor, Alexander Campbell, discovered what he described as a “well patronized spot where deer came to lick a salty deposit off the rocks.” After tasting the water near this salt lick Campbell decided that this odd tasting water might have some medicinal value, so he convinced his friend John Dunlap to purchase the surrounding 2008 acres of land. When Campbell and Dunlap passed away the land was given to their heirs. In 1830 Campbell’s son, James, began to develop a resort in response to a growing public interest in the natural springs on the property. The water from Rockbridge Alum Springs was touted as a cure for many internal ailments and external skin diseases. Travelers came for weeks at a time to “take the waters” and enjoy the cool mountain climate. Many slave owners sent their ailing slaves to work at the resort in the summer in hopes that the exchange of their labor for the “cure” would make them healthy for the fall harvest season. By 1850, Campbell had acquired a tavern license and built a three-story hotel on the property. The central green was surrounded by the Gothic Hotel, Vale House, Montgomery Hall, several boarding houses, cottages, and bath houses as well as a bowling alley and billiards room. The 1850’s were considered the peak years for the Alum Springs resort which sometimes accommodated up to 800 guests at one time. Prominent visitors to the springs included Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Cyrus McCormick. The architectural gem of the resort was the oval pavilion over the alum springs that issued from the base of a shale cliff. The gleaming statue of Hygieia, the goddess of health, still stands atop this pavilion. Rockbridge Alum Springs was used as a hospital during the Civil War. A small Civil War cemetery still exists adjacent to the Jordan House. In 1873, John Jordan developed a rival resort on a 500-acre parcel adjacent to Rockbridge Alum Springs. A bitter rivalry ensued between Jordan and Jim Frazier who had purchased Rockbridge Alum Springs for $236,000 in 1859. A high board fence was constructed to separate the two properties until the feud ended with a merger in 1880. Changing social conditions after the war had created a new lifestyle and vacation habits for many of the regular patrons, and improved sanitation methods in the cities had lessened the threat of disease and the desire to escape to the mountains in the summer.
In 1909, Rockbridge Alum Springs was sold at auction for only $18,000 to a group of local investors. The Virginia Military Institute held summer school on the property until 1919 when the resort was finally closed. A Lexington building contractor, W.W. Coffey, eventually bought the property and demolished the Grand Hotel for the materials. The resort lay in disrepair until 1942 when Mr. & Mrs. Harold Bailey of Coral Gables, Florida purchased the property to establish a biological laboratory dedicated to research in the natural sciences. After the Baileys passed away the property and collections were donated to Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1975. In 1986, the U.S. Forest Service purchased all but 273 acres of the remaining tract to establish the Rich Hole Wilderness Area. The remaining land, including the resort buildings, was sold to Holland General Contractors of Rockbridge County who then sold the property to the Rockbridge Alum Springs Association, a non-profit organization that hoped to make the old resort the headquarters of the American Tapestry Alliance. In 1991, they failed to make a large mortgage payment and the property reverted to the Holland brothers. In the 1980’s, Young Life began looking for property to develop a camp in the Shenandoah Valley along the Interstate 81 corridor. When a deal fell through to purchase nearby Jump Mountain a neighbor of the Rockbridge Alum Springs, Albert Nicely, approached Young Life about the Alum Springs property. In November 1992, Young Life purchased the Rockbridge Alum Springs for $475,000. Young Life work crews began working on the property the following summer, and the first outreach camps were held in the summer of 1996. Last summer Rockbridge hosted more than 5,000 campers and leaders from as far away as Germany. The “healing waters” of the alum springs have long since dried up. But, the living water of Jesus Christ is transforming lives year after year at Rockbridge Alum Springs.