Lurking in the background during her days at camp in 1945, Carol Requadt recalled the silent fear about water and polio, despite the fact that it was not certain how it was contracted. “Since I was at camp during the days of polio, there was a generalized fear and slight paranoia about catching it. I knew a few who got it, but it was not talked about too much and I was never afraid of catching it as a young girl.”

“There was a girl who did not feel well for three days, and no one knew she was in the early states of polio,” said Carol Sue Abendroth (1953-54). “I heard later in high school that it was what she had, but she survived with only a limp.”

The camp personnel committee was responsible for hiring in 1958 and met on February 27, 1958. Their notes indicated Elizabeth Loessel was hired as the nurse with a salary of $270, plus room and board with a room for Margo and a period of camping for Sandra. (Were they daughters?) Nancy Griebel was hired for the final period.

In 1960 the nurse was a retired public health nurse by the name of Margaret Conley, followed by Janet Gehres in 1961. She was recruited for the camp nurse position by director Alice Bishop, who was taking anatomy classes at Michigan State University with Janet. Although she did not have her Michigan nursing license, the YWCA paid for her to get it, so she could take the position. (She was from Reading. Pa.)

“I went home and got my shorts and stuff ready and headed to camp. I lived in the Infirmary, which was in the middle of camp, and was the only building with a bathroom in it. I was pretty much on duty twenty-four hours a day. There were a lot of girls with allergies that summer and they all brought their bottles along with them, but I don’t recall giving any injections. I think they did that before they got to camp,” said Janet.

Alice Bishop had notes in her director’s report that summer relating to the program presented by the Michigan Tuberculosis Association. They presented a program, complete with songs, about TB for the campers to acquaint them with the disease. Although there was no indication that TB was a scare, public awareness about this disease was important.

Janet Gehres filed her nurse’s report at the end of the first session. She indicated that ninety-one campers came to camp and checked through the Infirmary with pre-camp medical sheets, personal medications collected and all girls weighed in. At the end of the session, they were weighed in again and it was noted; “Many of the girls gained weight, apparently satisfied with the menus offered them.”

“I do remember as a chubby kid, having to be weighed in front of others by the camp nurse at the beginning of camp and at the end. I hated getting weighed,” said Val Van Laan (1965-70). (Who does, we all wonder?)

During nurse Janet’s session, there was a broken arm, two cases of homesickness, nausea, abrasions, colds, bug bites and bruises. Her second session with eighty-nine campers, brought an incident she had not dealt with before.

“There was some excitement in camp when one camper decided it would be fun to see what would happen if her friend drank some “6-12” insect repellent. The camper only drank a small amount and suffered no apparent ill effects except the initial fear. The counselor was rather upset, too. Both recovered,” she wrote.

Her report continued with incidents she dealt with, not only with campers but staff. The business manager was treated for pain in her right shoulder with diathermy, injection and medication from the camp physician. The waterfront director stepped on a tack in the water. One dining room aid caught her finger in the wringer washer when she was washing towels. A camper fell and cut her lip and had to have sutures.

The final period had more counselors being seen than campers! Were you one of them? Were any of you aware of the polio scare of the times?