We've found lice on 2 different campers this summer. The second time, the mom had driven 3 hours to camp to drop her off, 3 hours home. Around the time she was pulling into her driveway, we discovered lice. Our policy is that we don't treat it- they have to pick the child up, treat lice and once they are clear for 24 hours, can return. So the mom drove back to camp and back home- around 12 hours straight in the car. I felt terrible.
So we changed our procedure from lice checking during the after-dinner health check to when parents are signing in (both at camp and at the bus stop).
We discovered lice for a third time yesterday. It's the same counselor who has found it all three times. So we jokingly said we probably need to check her. And then we found lice in her hair. Which made all of the other counselors FREAK OUT and demand to be checked too. Which I thought was crazy until I found lice on a second counselor. And then 5 more after that. And then M found it on me.
The nurse this week is a school nurse and sees lice a lot. And I've seen live enough times that I feel pretty confident when I've seen it.
So after dinner, instead of my typical bath/jammie/pepfest routine with my small children, M and I googled, called some lice removal specialists and FREAKED out while Nanny walked my overly tired children around waiting for me.
I was ready to book one company for the next day, despite the fact that it was going to end up being about $1500.
And then I spent some time facebook messaging with another camp director I know who talked me off the edge. He managed to calm me down and also empower me to feel ready to tackle lice removal on my own. I woke up mentally, emotionally ready for hours and hours of picking nits out of each head.
I spent some more time on the phone with a different lice removal company, learning a LOT of good information about lice. And the woman I spoke to was VERY helpful, but also VERY skeptical that it was lice. I didn't know how common it was for product build up in people's hair, but apparently it's really difficult to get thick conditioner out of your hair.
So after re-checking everyone, as in, looking at every square inch of their heads and combing through their hair with my fingers, the nurse and I determined that our lice outbreak was a false alarm.
I was a bit annoyed that we'd all spent 12 hours freaking out, but also VERY relieved that we didn't have lice. And now I know a lot more than ever before about lice, so that's probably a good skill to add to my resume!
