ACA, CDC and ACN Town Hall for Camps and Out of School Time Professionals (June 10, 2021)

June 10 Town Hall Recording

Handouts from June 10 Town Hall

This Town Hall is brought to you by the American Camp Association (ACA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Association of Camp Nursing (ACN).

We welcome camp directors and out-of-school time professionals to attend a free 90-min Town Hall style webinar to ask questions about the updated guidance from CDC for camp operations and the latest updates to the Field Guide. Participants are encouraged to review the following documents: CDC 2021 Guidance for Operating Youth and Summer Camps, the CDC Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People, the ACA Field Guide for Camps, and their state and local camp guidance.

Additionally, the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are eager to partner with camps around the country to improve vaccination rates among staff and campers this summer.  HHS recently released an “On Site Vaccination Toolkit,” to support community organizations and employers working directly with vaccine providers to set up vaccination clinics. Learn about the White House and HHS’s campaign for setting up vaccine clinics on site to help staff and eligible campers (ages 12+) get access to the vaccine.  

Moderator: Henry DeHart, COO, ACA

Panelists:

• Tom Rosenberg, President and CEO, ACA
• Neha Kanade-Cramer, MPH COVID-19 Response Lead, Schools Unit | Community Guidance Team Community Intervention & Critical Populations Task Force (CICPTF), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• Jonathan Warsh, PhD, Senior Policy Advisor, HHS COVID-19 Response Team (HHS) 
• Mary C. Wall, EdLD, Senior Policy Advisor, White House COVID-19 Response Team (WH)
• Matt Fragala, MS, CIH, CSP, Environmental Health and Engineering, Inc. (EH&E)
• Laura Blaisdell, MD, MPH, FAAP, MaineHealth  
• Tracey Gaslin, PhD, CPNP, FNP-BC, CRNI, RN-BC, Executive Director, Association of Camp Nursing

Panelist Bios

Tom Rosenberg is the President and CEO of the American Camp Association (ACA). He is a leading voice for young people today, advancing the public’s understanding of the value of camp for everyone as an essential developmental and educational experience. Through Tom’s leadership, ACA has adopted a bold and ambitious strategic plan to accelerate ACA’s organizational growth and sustainability.

Neha Kanade-Cramer, MPH is a Health Scientist, leading the Schools Unit within the Community Intervention and Critical Populations Task Force for CDC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response. She started at the CDC in 2012 primarily to develop and update technical guidance and to create communication, education, and training resources for pandemic flu community mitigation and nonpharmaceutical interventions. Neha co-led the development of the Community Mitigation Guidelines to Prevent Pandemic Influenza – United States, 2017 published as an MMWR-RR in April 2017, which was used as the foundation for the COVID-19 response. She holds a Master of Public Health degree in Health Policy and Management from Emory University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Health Planning and Administration from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 

Jonathan Warsh, PhD, Senior Policy Advisor, HHS COVID-19 Response Team  is a Senior Policy Advisor on the Health and Human Services COVID-19 Response Team, where he works on a range of issues, including testing, the public health workforce, and public health outreach and education.  Prior to his work with HHS, he served as Chief of Staff of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and as Michigan’s Deputy Medicaid Director.

Mary C. Wall, EdLD is a Senior Policy Advisor on the White House COVID-19 Response Team, leading the team’s work on school reopening and a safe return to in-person instruction in K-12 and higher ed.  Prior to her work at WH, she served as Chief of Staff for the New York City Department of Education, leading school reopening efforts across the City’s 1,600 public schools. She has also worked as director of instructional strategy for Boston Public Schools, and at the White House Domestic Policy Council and the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama Administration.

Matt Fragala, MS, CIH, CSP, Managing Principal Consultant, Education and Commercial Environmental Health and Engineering, Inc. Matt is dedicated to protecting and enhancing the health and safety of people both in their workplaces and in their communities. As practice director, Matt directs a multi-disciplinary team of industrial hygienists, safety professionals, hazardous material managers, and compliance and air quality experts to help higher education and commercial institutions achieve this same goal.

Laura Blaisdell, MD/MPH, FAAP, Dr. Blaisdell, MD/MPH, FAAP is a pediatrician, researcher and advocate.  For 20 years, she has consulted in camp medicine, while serving as Medical Director at Camp Winnebago. She currently is Vice President of Maine AAP and a founding member of Maine Families for Vaccines. Dr. Blaisdell researches parental vaccine hesitation with Maine Medical Center. Additionally, she served site director for the National Children’s Study, as Chair of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at MMC, as Chief of Pediatrics at InterMed, and currently is Trustee to Mercy Hospital in Portland. She is an Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. She resides in South Portland, ME with her two sons and husband, Andy Lilienthal.

Tracey Gaslin, PhD, CPNP, FNP-BC, CRNI, RN-BC, Executive Director, Association of Camp Nursing, Tracey is a professor and dual-certified nurse practitioner in pediatrics and adults.  She completed her PhD in Educational and Organizational Leadership and taught for 10 years specializing in camp nursing, service leadership, and hematology. Dr. Gaslin periodically works as a camp consultant and legal consultant and publishes the majority of her work in the areas of bleeding disorders, camp nursing, and leadership. Dr. Gaslin served as the medical director at a special needs camp for six years.  She currently serves as a hemophilia nurse practitioner and the executive director for the Association of Camp Nursing where she travels to different areas of the US and Canada educating healthcare providers about camp.

Sponsored by: CIC Health