New Life Ranch had a confirmed case of “swine flu” last week during week #5 (July 12-18). In keeping with our desire to partner with families, we wanted all of the NLR community to know that we were prepared and have taken action. Between camping sessions, NLR’s cabins and public areas are routinely cleaned and disinfected to get ready for incoming campers. We provide alcohol based hand sanitizers at all meals. We constantly encourage hand washing for campers and staff. This week we went to more extreme measures and thoroughly went through each cabin making sure all areas, especially areas like doorknobs, faucets, and handrails were disinfected. Also, NLR staff are cleaning and disinfecting areas twice daily to make sure we are covering them well. We have no cases of the flu at this week’s camp.

NLR is also working very closely with our camp medical doctor and have determined that, to further protect our campers, that from now until the end of the camping season any camper with flu symptoms will be isolated immediately, and parents will be called to come pick them up. We never like for campers to have to go home early, but in order to protect other campers, we feel this is necessary.

We desire to partner with families in all that we do at NLR and want everyone to know the facts and the precautions that we are implementing. If you have any questions, contact Scott Shaw (scott@newliferanch.com) or David Jaquess (david@newliferanch.com) or call the office at 918-422-5506.

Here is some information about swine flu.

Symptoms:

The symptoms of Novel H1N1 flu virus (swine flu) in people are similar to the symptoms of seasonal flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. (www.cdc.gov)

How is it spread?

This virus spreads from person-to-person, probably in much the same way that regular seasonal influenza viruses spread.

Persons at High Risk of Complications from Influenza Infection:

Persons at increased risk of severe illness from influenza include: people older than 65 years, children younger than five years, pregnant women, and people of any age with certain chronic medical conditions, like diabetes, asthma, immune-suppression, or chronic lung disease

We remain committed to provide as safe a place as possible for campers to experience the love of God in their lives. Thanks again for sharing a summer at NLR with us.

Scott Shaw

Director of Ministries