Quick Summary
Camp insurance is essential to making sure your child will be safe while attending summer camp this year. Camp insurance works to protect your child against injuries and accidents that may occur while he/she is enjoying his/her summer.
Marine Agency’s specialty camp insurance package includes general liability, medical, and accidental death and dismemberment benefits. Camp insurance is a great way to protect children from the risks of attending summer camp and give parents peace of mind while their child is away. If you are considering or planning on sending your kid to summer camp, here is what you should know.
What Are The Benefits of Camp Insurance?
Camp Season Approaches
It’s that time of year again. The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer, bugs and critters are coming out of hibernation, and your child is anxiously looking at the clock, counting the seconds as they tick by. School is almost out and summer is right around the corner, which means that camp season is almost here.
If you’re a parent, you’ve definitely heard of summer camp. You’ve seen the signs for summer camps accepting applications in the springtime, and you’ve been researching all the camps offered in your area – whether they’re outdoors or sports camps – deciding which one will be the best fit for your child’s needs.
As a parent, you know that summer camp is a great way to aid your child’s growth and development, their physical health and creativity, and their socialization. Summer camp is where your child can have fun and make friends, but there are unknowns that come along with sending your child away.
Have you ever heard of camp insurance? As a parent, it is important to know the benefits and advantages of having camp insurance, or the risks and disadvantages if you don’t.
Preparing for Accidents
At Marine Agency, we understand that kids get hurt all the time. That’s just part of growing up. Accidents happen. And, with all of the outdoor activities offered at camp — rock climbing, horseback riding, white-water rafting, hiking through the woods, or playing soccer — kids are more likely to get hurt during summer camp. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t send your kids to summer camp out of fear for their safety, it just means that you should prepare yourself for the worst case scenario.
Your kids deserve the fresh air and sun, the exercise and adventure, and the chance to make new friends and discover new things. As a parent, you deserve some peace, quiet, and time alone with your child out of the house. But, you can’t truly enjoy that peace and quiet and time alone if you’re constantly worrying about your child’s safety and well-being while they’re out having fun in the sun at summer camp.
There are a lot of intense physical activities offered during kids’ summer camps (especially for sports camps) and being outdoors can have its own set risks, whether it involves taking the wrong step during a hike and taking a nasty tumble or being exposed to harmful plants and wildlife.
Camp Activities
According to the American Camp Association, or the ACA, over eleven million children attend summer camp every year in the United States. Forty-seven percent of these camps are resident or overnight camps, while 28 percent are exclusively day camps. As for programs, 87 of camps offer recreational swimming, 67 percent offer camping skills, 48 percent offer climbing or rappelling, 38 percent offer horseback riding, 78 percent offer team-building exercises (which usually involve an outdoor ropes course), 23 percent offer farming, ranching, and gardening, and 28 percent offer wilderness trips.
The ACA also reports that the top activities children participate in while attending these camps are arts and crafts, challenge or ropes courses, archery, recreational swimming, and other aquatic activities like whitewater rafting or canoeing. Camps also adapt to the evolving interests of campers.
Within the last two years, camps have added even more physically rigorous activities like adventure camps and programs (which 40.7 percent of children attend), nature or environmental education programs (which 31 percent of children attend) and gardening programs (which 28.3 percent of children attend). Other new programs could also include health, wellness, and fitness programs.
Some of the more rigorous activities are the ones that may worry you as a parent. Over fifty percent of camps now offer ropes course activities, or have constructed other adventure and challenge-related facilities such as rock-climbing walls. Many of the most popular activities that the majority of these summer camps offer are physical, intense, and outside in the wild.
Chances are very likely your child will participate in one or more of these activities, and while they can help make your child more active, outgoing, and appreciative of nature, there is also a slightly higher risk that your child will end up in the camp’s infirmary sometime during their camp session.
Expecting the Unexpected
Life is unpredictable, and so is the behavior of children (most of the time). Combined this with the great outdoors, or sports equipment, and trouble can make an appearance. Camps are required to have infirmaries as part of their facilities, and most camp counselors and staff have basic emergency medical training and special, portable first-aid kits available on them while they’re with your child. However, that is not always enough.
Sicknesses, falls, cuts, burns, rashes, and harmful encounters with wildlife are just some of the more common ailments your child can endure while participating in summer camp activities. Instead of worrying about receiving a bad call from your child’s camp counselor or the camp nurse, signing up for camp insurance with Marine Agency and covering your child while they’re away from home is a sound investment.
This guide’s purpose is not to scare you but to prepare you for what can happen while your child is away, allowing you to educate your child about the risks and teach him to be more careful. The following are the most common injuries and ailments that plague young campers:
Sickness
According to MFASCO Health and Safety, the most common types of summer camp ailments for children attending outdoor camps are illness, falls and collisions, cuts, rashes and bites, and burns. Kids get sick more easily than adults since their immune systems are still developing, and they are just as likely to develop some sort of sickness during the warm summer months as they are during flu season, in the winter months.
Kids are much more likely to contract sicknesses when they are surrounded by other kids, whether in the classroom or away at camp. There are almost twice as many reported instances of kids contracting infectious diseases while attending summer camp, and while the common cold or a fever aren’t exactly serious and life-threatening injuries, medical treatments like bandages, ointments, and medications still come with a price. As for falls and collisions, children attending outdoor camps or sports camps are most likely going to fall down at least once.
Falls and Collisions
Falls and collisions constitute over 50 percent of nonfatal injuries in children, but they can still be serious – especially if your child is hiking through the woods or mountains, climbing a rock wall or ropes course, or competing with other children in a game of basketball or football.
Trees, pieces of recreational or sports equipment, horses, and rock-climbing walls and ropes courses are going to increase the possibility of your child falling or colliding with something while they’re trying to have fun.
They could also get banged up while just running around and roughhousing. Kids are still learning about safety. They are still exploring their world and testing out their strengths and weaknesses. Even though you can’t be there, at camp, to protect your children, you can be sure that you have the means to take care of them if an accident occurs. You can do this by obtaining camp insurance.
Cuts and Scrapes
MFASCO and the ACA also report that cuts from sharp objects constitute about 15 percent of injuries at summer camp. Knives can be important tools for campground activities, so they are not always prohibited from being in use or on hand by camp staff members.
While camps stress the importance of knife safety, and while kids are heavily supervised by staff in the event that they must learn how to properly handle utility knives for outdoor campground activities, kids can still accidentally cut themselves.
Sometimes cuts are not serious, and sometimes they are. Therefore, it’s good to be prepared and have those possibilities in mind. You take it an extra step further by teaching your child knife safety tips before you drop them off for camp orientation.
Rashes and Bites
Among the most common ailments children obtain while at summer camp are rashes and bites. This is especially true at outdoor or nature camps, where your child will be exposed to some of the not-as-great things that Mother Nature has to offer – such as poison ivy and snakes.
While camp staff and administration make prepare for the possibilities and watch over your children with the utmost care and caution, child campers can still walk through brush and foliage in a forest and be exposed to a plant that irritates the skin or an animal with a dangerous bite or sting.
Children may also pluck and eat the wrong berry from the wrong tree when their counselor is not looking. Your child may not know better, and the berries can expose them to dangerous toxins. Before you child leaves for camp, make sure they know not to ingest any wildlife that is not approved by their counselor.
Burns
Lastly, another very common injury to occur at summer camp is the burn. Where there is a camp, there is going to be a campfire. Bonfires where children can roast marshmallows, eat s’mores and hear spooky ghost stories or sing songs with their counselors and new friends, are the most beloved camp rituals that you would not want your child to miss out on.
Learning how to make, control, and even cook with fires in the great outdoors can also be a useful thing for your child to know for future camping excursions or in the event of an emergency.
Fire safety is also important and is something that camp staff must teach your child and learn themselves. However, accidents happen. As much as you or someone else (like your child’s camp counselor) may try to prevent an accident, there is still a likely risk that your child will get burned from the open flames of one of these campfires. Whether they are minor burns or something more severe, insurance coverage is always a good option for protection and treatment.
Other Possible Injuries
Other injuries and accidents can occur at summer camp. They are not as common as the five listed and explained above, but they are still likely to happen and should be taken into account. They can be anything from minor injuries and accidents, like heat strokes, dehydration, sunburn, and a sprained wrist or ankle just from running around outside, to serious and even life-threatening conditions, like breaking several bones or breaking a neck from a fall down a rock wall, ropes course, or horse. Serious or fatal injuries are extremely unlikely, but are still a possibility that you should be prepared for.
For all of these possibilities, whether small or big, signing up for camp insurance for your child, and ensuring he/she is covered and protected with Marine Agency, is the right choice to make as a parent before camp season begins.
What Are The Benefits of Camp Insurance?
There are many benefits and advantages to having camp insurance with Marine Agency. Our insurance covers both regular summer (outdoor) and sports camps. In the past, camp insurance was almost nonexistent. No insurance companies offered it.
Getting proper insurance coverage for sporting events and other outdoor activities came with a big price, and sports directors, coaches, and schools had to pay high premiums for insurance coverage. Sometimes they even had to operate their camps and clinics without any insurance coverage to protect your kids!
Now, Marine Agency offers specialty insurance packages developed to protect and cover against risks taken by schools, coaches, park districts, directors and attendees of sports camps, clinics, and conferences.
Our specialty insurance packages keep your kids safe and greatly reduce the risk of personal liability and exposure to injury claims and lawsuits, which can cost extra time and money. Our liability and accident insurance coverage comes as a standard product, but optional coverage is also offered for sports equipment, rented or non-owned vehicles, and any other additional insurance liability limits.
What Marine Agency Offers
Our insurance programs can provide over one million dollars in general liability coverage. We also include medical benefits and accidental death and dismemberment benefits. If you or the venue of your child’s camp requires or demands additional higher limits, just let us know!
If eligible expenses are incurred by your child as the direct result of a covered injury that is independent of all other causes, Marine Agency will pay for all of the incurred charges for this expense within 365 days of the date of the accident. However, the initial expenses must be incurred within ninety days of the date of the accident.
Eligible Expenses
What do we mean by “eligible expense”? How do I know if my expenses are eligible? An “eligible expense” includes charges for any of the following necessary services and treatments: radiology, surgical and medical care by a physician, prescription medication and drugs, dental treatment of sound natural teeth, hospital service and care in semi-private accommodations or as an outpatient, ambulance from the site of the injury to the nearest hospital, and orthopedic appliances that are necessary to promote healing such as a cast or a splint.
It is important to note that this plan does not cover service or treatment for which the benefits are payable, or service available under any other insurance or medical plans available to the child.
Accidental Death or Dismemberment
The benefit amount for accidental death and dismemberment is around $2,500. If the covered injury results in any losses within 365 days of the date of the accident, Marine Agency pays the applicable amount.
These include the full Principal Sum for the loss of life, the full Principal Sum for double dismemberment (the loss of both hands or both feet), the full Principal Sum for the loss of sight in both eyes (blindness), 50 percent of the Principal Sum for the loss of one hand or one foot or the loss of sight in one eye, and 25 percent of the Principle Sum for the loss of an index finger and thumb in the same hand.
The word “member” as we use it means hand, foot, or eye. The loss of a hand or a foot means the complete severance or total removal above the ankle or wrist joint, and the loss of an eye means the complete and permanent loss of sight, or total blindness. It is important to note that Marine Agency will not pay any more than the Principal Sum for this benefit for any or all losses due to the same accident.
What Are The Risks?
The risks for not signing up for camp insurance and making sure your child is covered are the same as not signing up for any kind of insurance, whether it’s life, health, or auto. In the event that your child is injured, or worse, while attending summer camp, and you have no insurance to help pay for the accident’s treatment or receive compensation, you may be in financial trouble.
Without camp insurance from Marine Agency, you, as a parent, will be spending more time than usual worrying about whether or not your child will be in an accident. In the event that they are in an accident, fairing it without specialty insurance will cost you more time, money, and pain than it needs to. Save yourself and your child the trouble.
It’s summer after all; the best time of the year for your child to have as much fun as they possibly can before schools reopen in the fall, and for you to relax on your porch with a nice cold drink without a care in the world – knowing that your child is safe, insured, and having fun.
What Should I Do?
If you’re worried about sending your child to summer camp at all this summer, don’t be. According to another ACA report, parents have plenty of good reasons to send their child to camp each summer – which certainly outweigh the bad.
Parents believe that camps help build their child’s self-confidence and self-esteem, that it is a safe and nurturing environment, and that it is a place for their child to build on their social skills and make friends.
The ACA also states that the summer camp experience helps children feel better about themselves, gain more self-confidence and self-esteem, increase their sense of independence, exhibit more leadership skills, increase their friendship-making skills and feel more socially comfortable around children their own age. Most importantly, it helps children develop more in their adventurousness and willingness to be open-minded and try new things (ACA, 2014).
Summer camps are a wonderful way for your child to stay active, fit, healthy, and engaged, instead of sitting on the couch watching cartoons or playing video games all throughout their days off from school.
They are also a wonderful way for your child to continue learning while school is out, and for your child to grow mentally, physically, and socially in a new, engaging, and demanding environment – whether it’s in the great outdoors or a sports arena.
Don’t let the risks of sending your child to a summer camp prevent you from enrolling your child. Again, the positive aspects of camp far outweigh the negative. Instead, protect your child, put your mind at ease, and put your trust in Marine Agency.
We are one of the few New Jersey-based insurance agencies that offer camp insurance, meaning that we are one of the few insurance agencies in the area that has your child’s safety and well-being, and your concerns as a parent, first and foremost in our minds.
Conclusion
Overall, the information is there and the verdict is clear. As a parent, you should definitely get the ball rolling when it comes to obtaining camp insurance for your child this summer. It is the best thing you can do as a parent to make sure that your child is growing, developing, and having fun while being safe, protected, and insured at the same time.
You want to give your child the best summer he/she can possibly have, with many wonderful opportunities for personal growth and development, learning and activity – and for making new lifelong friends with children their own age in their area.
According to Rockbrook Camp, summer camp is a good place to send your kids to. By removing the academic, athletic, and social competition that shapes and dictates their lives at school, summer camp builds self-esteem, confidence, and character in children.
There are many opportunities for your child to succeed with noncompetitive activities, meaning that every day your child can have a new accomplishment to be proud of. Summer camp will also help your child gain resiliency, or develop their abilities to endure setbacks and overcome any obstacle, which will be valuable later in life when they are older.
Whether it’s equestrian camp, tennis camp, basketball camp, or one of the many great and popular outdoor, nature or environmental education camps offered throughout our beautiful and scenic state of New Jersey, Marine Agency can help you guarantee that this summer will be full of new and wonderful experiences for your child to have and remember for the rest of their lives, and for you to enjoy some peace, quiet, and sun while you’re at home or out and about.
Your child wants to have the best summer ever, not the worst summer ever thanks to a nasty fall or terrible accident, and no parent should ever have to worry about their child’s health, safety, and well-being. Leave all that to Marine Agency. We can have you covered, all you have to do is sign up, leave the rest to us, and promise your child the best summer ever at camp.
At Marine Agency, we care about making sure our clients are safe, covered, and get the best treatment possible. Since we were founded in 1922, we have been serving the greater New Jersey area with high quality and specialty insurance packages and deals that our competitors can’t beat. We offer everything from marine to householder’s, business to personal auto insurances, and we are one of the few insurance companies that offer camp insurance.
Unlike our competitors, we have your whole family and life in mind, and we want to, and can, provide you with the best options, deals, and treatment for you and your family. Our two locations are in Maplewood, NJ, and Whitehouse Station, NJ.
If you want to reach out to us for more information, to ask any questions, or to sign up for camp insurance, you may reach us by phone at 800-763-4775, or you may e-mail us at info@marineagency.com.
