Camp Blue Skies names Health Services Director
Please welcome our new Health Services Director, Shira Charpentier!
Shira is an experienced nurse, who lives in Georgia, with several years of camp work on her resume.
Besides various nursing positions (in-home care, assisted living, pediatrics, etc.), she has worked at camps for seven years, including YMCA camps, a Jewish day camp, and an overnight camp for kids and adults with disabilities (physical, mental, and developmental). Shira has been a counselor, lifeguard, assistant nurse, and head nurse/health director. She loves camps and thought it was too good to be true to be able to work with a camp year-round.
Shira is stepping into the role previously filled by Kit Sluder, who helped start our camps, and left earlier this year to devote more time to caring for her family. "Kit's expertise, dedication, and enthusiasm were critical to making Camp Blue Skies so very successful," said founder Dick Sesler. "We are grateful for all her incredible work and invaluable contributions.”
Weekend Camp Head Nurse April Bradley served as Interim Health Services Director during the search and transition.
After an extensive search, Shira emerged as the top candidate. Dick says: “We were impressed and reassured when she shared her first-hand experience of working at camps with our population, and how important and challenging it can be to screen campers carefully and get meds ready for the first med pass on opening day!”
When Shira was asked what she is most excited about, she stated: “Everything! I love all aspects of camp, from watching the campers' independence and adventurous spirits to giving the caregivers a much-needed and deserved respite.”
“We think Shira is well prepared for the scale of our camps and our plans to expand,” stated Dick.
Shira is overseeing camper enrollment and health services, starting with our October camps.
