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Community Collaborates to Keep Outdoors Safe

The outdoors provides many people a breath of fresh air and a place to clear their mind and get some exercise during state’s stay at home orders and reopening plans. Getting out to enjoy the local bike trail or take a local hike is an activity that many have taken up to help provide structure or relaxation. Outdoor recreation has been increasingly sought after giving everyone the ability to exercise, clear their head or just take in some beauty while maintaining proper distancing measures. However, hiking mountains or exploring rivers does come with some risks. 

With access to the outdoors there are many people and puppies (Yes, we said dogs!) behind the scenes that ensure the safety of those venturing to explore their backyards and communities. This past weekend, New England K9 Search and Rescue came to Coniston’s property to practice and train. At Coniston, these air-scent trained rescue dogs are able to practice land and water rescue scenarios to hone their skills and remain trained and ready to execute. This collaboration helps ensure the safety of many people exploring their local areas and allows New England K9 Search and Rescue an ideal free space to constantly train and keep people safe. Even during quarantine these volunteers help keep New Englanders exploring the outdoors safe in case of emergency.

New England K9 Search and Rescue aims to provide, without cost, trained search and rescue personnel and K9s to the law enforcement agencies of Vermont and New Hampshire to assist in their efforts to locate lost and missing persons. They offer assistance to the Upper Valley Wilderness Response team and have been helping the local area since its founding in 1981.

From Coniston, we would like to say thank you to the New England K9 Search and Rescue for volunteering your time to keep New England safe. We are very thankful we are able to collaborate with New England K9 in order to ensure a safer and better community.

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Career Counseling for 2020 Staff

Coniston staff make connections and are naturally skilled at adapting to a situation and solving problems effectively. In the summers, it is what they are asked to do on a daily basis, executing at a high level. With Camp unable to occur to ensure the safety of our campers and staff, it left our staff with the prospects of finding a new job or internship for the summer. With summer approaching many staff may be feeling overwhelmed with navigating the job and internship search in the current COVID-19 climate. However, we are privileged to experience the support from the Coniston community.

Patricia Hunt Sinacole, founder of the human resources consulting firm First Beacon Group and mother of one of our Counselor In Training directors, volunteered to sit down with the Coniston staff via Zoom to help them navigate finding summer employment and continue to professionally develop. Pattie covered many topics from immediate plans such as improving resumes and LinkedIn profiles to reaching out to employers and providing valuable skill sets to gain experience. Pattie sat down with every attendee and helped tailor a plan to their specific needs for summer internships or employment.  Each plan depended on the attendees interests and motivations for summer employment, such as gaining industry specific experience or financial compensation. At the root of the conversation was the opportunity to pivot the skills utilized at camp to lead staff to a summer that helps them gain valuable experiences.

Among the many ideas and pieces of advice offered was the idea of pivoting the skills our staff excel at during the summer and utilizing the connections they make. Whether it is embracing entrepreneurship and helping a restaurant or retail company adapt to new guidelines through remote internship or utilizing the childcare and lifeguarding skills learned at camp and offering childcare, staff were encouraged to look at their own skills and recognize creative ways towards a summer that fulfills their professional needs.

Coniston staff was also encouraged to utilize and recognize their networks including family, friends, their schools resources and of course the Coniston Community. Conistonians were also sitting in on the call as prospective recruiters and looking to gain information on the current needs of staff, while offering their advice for career exploration and experience. Coniston staff member Michael Hawley, found an internship in wealth management through the Career Counseling meeting with Pattie showing the power of Coniston connections at work. If you have any opportunities or are willing to offer guidance for staff or recent alumni please post in the YMCA Camp Coniston Career Development Group on LinkedIn or contact nicole@coniston.org.

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Thank You to our Coniston Nurses!

Doctors, nurses, and public health officials are an essential pillar in providing our society with comfort and safety. In many cities in lockdown, healthcare workers are thanked every night for their work. A chorus of applause and cheers echo through the city from the apartments and balconies along the empty streets. A daily act of gratitude to the people who are working above and beyond. Coniston would like to extend an enormous thank you and encourage others to display their gratitude to healthcare workers in our local community and nation.

We also extend a resounding thank you and Class A Clap to our camp nurses who provide safety and comfort to thousands of kids every summer at camp. They are a driving force in making Coniston a welcoming and comfortable place. However, it’s not just Coniston that they impact. When they are not supporting our campers and staff many of them are school nurses and help keep children stay healthy and safe all year.

Our nurses are so important to us. While they are keeping camp and their local communities healthy and strong they are also helping our communities stay connected. Many of our nurses have taken on the role of helping send hundreds of kids to camp on camperships from their local districts. By doing this, many children who may not have had the chance, have had the opportunity to enjoy a summer (or many) by the lake as campers then as counselors, Program Directors, Boys’ and Girls’ Camp Directors and leaders in the Coniston Community. Beyond the Coniston Community, our nurses are also dedicated to send members of the Concord Refugee Community to Camp, giving more people summers at Coniston. Their work cannot be quantified as they are a cornerstone to the camp and local community. Words could never explain our gratitude for your efforts and selflessness.

To our camp nurses and all healthcare workers, who tirelessly work behind the scenes we say thank you for taking time away from your jobs and lives. You truly are the best.

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Coniston Says Goodbye to Sanders’ Era Nurse, Patricia Ford (Reny)

It is with heavy hearts we announce the passing on Patricia Ford (Reny) on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 after a lengthy battle with metastatic lung cancer. Pat was Camp Nurse from 1972 – 1978 and was joined each summer by her son Michael Reny and husband D. Reny. Additionally, D. Reny worked on photography and riflery staff.

Michael Reny shared the following memories… Camp Coniston holds a profound place in my heart and my mother’s passing brings back all the joy that I experienced there. I was 7 yrs old and had no idea where we were going one summer day when Pat & Don brought me to the camp. She was one of the summer nurses along with my dad who had a variety of roles. I had the privilege of being an out of cabin camper and got to see behind the scenes of camp life and experience being a camper. I would stay in one of the infirmary back rooms for a session then the next session join the regular boys camp in an appropriate cabin…all 8 weeks each summer for 5-6 yrs. I’d help in the infirmary during sick calls-handing out cough drops for soar throats after campfire battles. I participated and excelled in all the programs and got to make many friends and see them return each summer. I wish I had kept in closer touch. I tried to return every couple years for reunion and always wanted to take a week at the end of summer…but life was busy. I so wanted my kids to go to camp…but that didn’t happen either. I took Pat back once in the 90’s. I know she thoroughly enjoyed her time at camp as did I.

Blondie who worked with Patricia for 5 years as camp nurses shared the following with us… Pat was very knowledgeable and pleasant to work with. She and husband stopped in Hershey to see me a few months before she died and although she knew her time was short her sense of humor came through. Great person. 

During the year Pat was part of a small coalition of sister Nurse Practitioners who successfully lobbied the New Hampshire Legislature to provide rights of independent practice and additionally the rights of prescriptive practice to help New Hampshire patients attain the quality and affordable healthcare that has become the standard for healthcare in New Hampshire. Pat was the first Nurse Practitioner in New Hampshire to serve as an independent practitioner. She owned and operated her own practice named Healthy Generations in Franklin, N.H. and built the practice to nearly 4000 patients over 20 years. Pat earned the Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award in 1991 due to her accomplishments in providing leadership in the New Hampshire Nurse Practitioner Association. Pat was also presented the Lifetime Achievement Award by the New Hampshire Nurse Practitioner Association. Pat concluded her illustrious Nurse Practitioner career while practicing at Whole Life Healthcare in Newington, N.H., while simultaneously modernizing and managing the first aid station and sick call hours on Star Island for the Star Island Corp she said it was just like Camp!

Pat will be greatly missed by the entire Coniston Community.

 

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Looking Back at Summer 2019

What an amazing summer! Camp sure seems quiet without the joyful noise of the Coniston beat at every meal, the cheers from a cabin winning an evening program, or the applause of campers watching their friends in the talent show.

Magical moments and memories were made everywhere throughout the summer months at Coniston. We had five wonderful sessions, six thrilling adventure trips, two impactful service trips and four extraordinary CIT cohorts. Let’s take a look back at some of the amazing moments that made Summer 2019 one to remember.

The middle of June saw our wonderful summer staff arrive ready for a summer of directing program area activities, living in cabin, leading trips, serving up delicious meals for the kids, and positively impacting campers’ lives. We had many returning staff members who come back to Coniston summer after summer, showing their passion for Camp.

We also had fresh faces inour great new group of leaders in training, as well as new staffmembers from overseas. This summer our international staff was comprised of people from all over the globe, including: England, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Mexico, Germany, Hungaryand Colombia!