The family story is that when I was six weeks old, our family attended a week of church camp in the mountains. My mother occasionally served as a nurse at the camp, providing general first aid. The camp is over 40 miles from the nearest clinic or hospital, and more than half of that is on gravel and dirt roads that are rocky, washboarded, and winding. The trip takes approximately an hour and a half. The way the story of my first trip to church camp has been reported to me is that my parents emptied the wood box in the cabin where we stayed, lined it with blankets, and used it for my crib. It is just one of the stories of our family that reminds me of how courageous and capable my mother was. She dispensed bandages, pulled slivers, treated insect bites, and was prepared to deal with more challenging medical emergencies while caring for her own four children, one of whom was an infant. The camp was not modern, with pit toilets and a single shower house. There was running water in the kitchen, but all of the water in the small medical treatment area had to be carried in.

I attended camp at that facility every summer for the next 25 years. The year I turned 20, I opened the camp, activated the water system, made plumbing repairs, and cleaned the facility so that it could host a visiting youth group from out of state. I hosted the group and led them on an overnight backpacking trip higher into the mountains. It was at the height of tick season, and the ticks were heavy that year. I removed a large number of ticks from campers and administered a significant amount of first aid. Two years later, I was the manager of the camp for the summer, a job I repeated the following summer. I purchased and hauled all of the groceries. I maintained the buildings, which by then included a larger shower house and a modern bathroom facility. I cut, hauled, and split firewood for fireplaces and an outdoor campfire circle. My wife served as head cook and managed the kitchen.

These days, there is telephone service at the camp. When we were manager and cook, it was a 20-mile drive to the nearest phone. Our emergency plan was to provide emergency care and stabilization in the event of an injury. We would transport the patient to the phone, where the ambulance would be called. We could make it to within eight miles of town before we met the ambulance. Fortunately, we never had to use that plan during the two summers I served as manager.

I do remember a slightly frightening trip to the hospital with a camper who was experiencing an allergic reaction to a bee sting. The camp nurse administered an antihistamine, and we put the camper between us in the cab of our old pickup truck. I drove as quickly as safety allowed, and we got to the local hospital, where they administered an adrenaline shot. The trip back to camp was as challenging as the trip to town had been because the camper, now high from the shot, talked constantly.

I have served at church camps throughout my life and have reviewed various emergency plans and scenarios over the years. As I gained experience, I became more aware of potential dangers. Early in my career, I served as a member of a volunteer ambulance squad, where I received advanced first aid and emergency care training. I became certified as an Emergency Care Technician, but I never completed the national EMT certification. Later, I served on a volunteer search and rescue squad, where I learned more about emergency stabilization and the transportation of injured persons.

Some of the camps where I served were difficult to access, with only one road in and out of the camp. In one camp, we reviewed an emergency evacuation plan with our staff before each group of campers arrived. We planned to walk the campers down the creek if a wildfire cut off evacuation by the road.

Fortunately, I never faced a crisis that required the evacuation of the camp. The worst medical crises we faced over the years were all handled with trips to the emergency room and the release of the injured person to return to camp, sometimes with crutches or stitches. I did, however, worry and plan about potential dangers.

All of that experience makes my heart go out to those involved in the search and rescue operations currently underway in Texas, where flash floods have devastated homes and washed people away. At least 51 people have died, including 15 children. Among the missing are children from a church camp. Twenty-seven children from that camp are still missing. Photos posted on Internet news sites show a dormitory area of Camp Mystic filled with mud, bunk beds in disarray, and clothing and personal items scattered around. The children, many of whom were under the age of 12, were sleeping when the river rose more than 26 feet in less than an hour. Children aged eight and nine are among the victims. At a second camp, Heart O’ the Hills, one of the camp's co-directors is among the victims.

When I was directing a camp, I insisted that each camper who required medical treatment speak directly to their parents as soon as possible. I would make the phone call and hand the phone to the camper so they could tell the story and their parents could hear what happened from their child. Sometimes campers didn’t want to interrupt their summer fun, but I understood how parents might worry and felt that direct communication between parent and child was the best way to address that worry. I repeatedly advised campers to share the stories of camp with their parents and friends. Of course, I wanted them to report the fun and good experiences they had. However, I also felt that one way to protect the youth and ensure the integrity of our programming was to maintain as many open lines of communication with family members as possible.

I am a long way from Texas. I have never visited the camps that were devastated by floods. I know nothing of their programs or plans. I am not in a position to help. But I hope that after the searches have been completed, victims found, families notified, care given, and grief supported, there will be a careful examination of what happened so that we can learn as much as possible about preventing such a tragedy in the future. Every camp in the world should consider the possibility of floods, fires, and other threats. Some facilities need to be upgraded. Some buildings need to be relocated or replaced. Emergency plans need to be made and tested. Evacuation plans need to be realistic and workable.

Our prayers are critical at this time, and in the days and weeks to come, prayers must be turned into actions.