coronavirus update
Camp Kindle is now open, fully operational and booking rentals. Please contact us for more information.
COVID-19 Update: February 24, 2022
The Restriction Exception Program has been suspended as of February 2022. Protecting the health and safety of our campers, families, rental groups, staff and volunteers is of utmost importance to Kids Cancer Care and Camp Kindle. We continue to follow provincial guidelines for infection prevention and control and we actively monitor and update our policies and procedures as provincial guidelines evolve. Heightened cleaning practices remain in place and our team will work with your group to provide the quality food service and program delivery Camp Kindle is known for based on your group’s level of comfort.
Previous Updates:
We are taking Camp Kindle bookings for the fall of 2021 – COVID-19 update: June 21, 2021
On June 10, the Province of Alberta entered Stage 2 of its re-opening plan and has met the threshold to enter Stage 3 on July 1.
The health and safety of our community are our first priority. As you can imagine, it takes months of planning and lead time to recruit, hire and train the right staff to run a safe and successful camp operation.
While there isn’t enough time to safely re-open this summer, we are working on a plan to re-open Camp Kindle effective September 1 and invite you to book your stay. We have applied for funding to contract a health care professional with expertise in public health and communicable disease management to review our current COVID-19 infection prevention and control measures. This will help to guide potential re-opening strategies for our fall programming and rental operations.
We thank you for your patience and understanding as we prepare to safely re-open Camp Kindle. We appreciate your business and look forward to seeing you at Camp Kindle this fall and every season thereafter. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions at all.
To contact our director of camp operations Leighana Shockey, click here.
We are temporarily closed but taking bookings – COVID-19 update: March 15, 2021
For the health and safety of our community, Camp Kindle remains closed due to COVID-19 restrictions. Staff at Camp Kindle continue to monitor the situation and wait for direction from the government on guidelines and restrictions for a possible reopening. At this point, overnight camps are listed in STEP 4 of Alberta’s path forward. We will continue to update you as things change and will continue to follow all government-mandated guidelines and restrictions.
As vaccines become increasingly available, we are hopeful that Camp Kindle will be operating again in the fall of 2021. We are currently booking rental groups and encourage you to reach out to Leighana, our director of camp operations, to arrange your booking today. Please note that any and all bookings will depend on the current situation of the pandemic and government restrictions.
To contact our director of camp operations Leighana Shockey, click here.
Our response to the coronavirus – Update: March 11, 2020
As the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation continues to evolve, we want you to know that Camp Kindle is regularly monitoring the situation as it develops and is ready to take appropriate action. Camp Kindle is owned and operated by the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta, whose mission is to serve Alberta children and families affected by cancer. While the risk of COVID-19 in Canada and Alberta remains low at this time, given the uncertainty of the situation and the vulnerable health of the children we serve, we are taking proactive steps to operate safely and mitigate risk at Camp Kindle.
As a Camp Kindle rental group, you can rest assure that the established protocols, practices and policies we follow to prevent the spread of infection to children with cancer, will also help to keep you and your group safe while enjoying our facilities.
Although a small number of confirmed or presumptive cases of the virus have been identified in Canada and Alberta, Health Canada, Alberta Health Services and other Canadian agencies state that the risk to Canadians is low. Our hospitals have strong systems in place to prevent and control infections and the outbreak is being closely monitored by all relevant agencies in our province and across Canada.
Should this issue escalate in Alberta, Kids Cancer Care and Camp Kindle are ready to respond in accordance with information and guidance from Alberta Health Services and its supporting agencies. Please know that we have plans in place, outlining the necessary steps to prevent the spread of infection and to respond quickly in the event of an outbreak.
Here at Camp Kindle we continue to
- Monitor provincial reports on communicable disease outbreaks in the region.
- Circulate information on our infection prevention practices to families, volunteers, staff and visitors.
- Conduct health screening prior to the arrival of all staff, volunteers, rental groups, campers and visitors at Camp Kindle.
- Ensure stringent cleaning practices, adapted from the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America guidelines, are routinely followed by our professional cleaning contractor (e.g., disinfecting high-touch surfaces in common areas and especially those frequented by on-treatment children and youth).
- Regularly apply a hospital-grade disinfectant, EnviroShield, to all public areas at Camp Kindle. EnviroShield is an electrostatic disinfectant spray that surrounds and clings to the surfaces it touches, killing harmful bacteria and viruses such as MRSA, swine flu, avian flu, legionella, norovirus, salmonella, E.coli, listeria, tuberculosis and more. It meets Environmental Protection Agency standards and is registered with Health Canada. It has no harmful effects on the environment or people.
- Provide additional customized cleaning for groups wishing to book this service before their visits. We have secured a preferred rate with our professional cleaning contractor. Please email us for our preferred rate and to book this service.
- Encourage frequent and proper hand washing (with soap and water or a 70% to 90% alcohol-based hand sanotizer) among staff, campers, rental groups and other visitors. There are hand-sanitizing stations in every building and throughout Camp Kindle.
- Encourage proper cough and sneeze etiquette (e.g., coughing into a tissue or your the crook of your arm, rather than into the palm of your hand) among staff, rental groups and other visitors.
In response to COVID-19, we are
- Restricting access of staff, volunteers, families, rental groups and/or visitors, who have within the last 14 days travelled to, or through, any of the countries or regions with a risk rating of 3 or 4 on the Government of Canada list of countries with COVID-19 active travel health notices. Medical clearance will be required before returning to work or participating in one of our programs.
- Requiring staff and volunteers to regularly wipe down high-touch common areas frequented by on-treatment children and youth.
- Implementing additional cleaning and disinfectant measures by our professional cleaning contractor, especially in high-touch areas frequented by on-treatment children and youth. Should there be a confirmed or presumptive case of COVID-19, or any other communicable disease, at Camp Kindle we are ready to implement our established protocol, which includes employing our professional cleaning contractor to conduct a deep and thorough, four-stage cleaning and disinfectant process. The final stage of the four-stage process involves the application of EnviroShield.
You can help by
- Notifying Health Link 811 if you or a family member develops symptoms such as fever, cough and/or difficulty breathing or if you have concerns about the possibility of recent travel exposure or close contact with individuals who may have been exposed.
- Staying home if you or your family members are experiencing cold- or flu-like symptoms such as fever, cough or difficulty breathing. Please click here for more details.
- Washing your hands with soap and water or a 70% to 90% alcohol-based hand sanitizer prior to entering our facilities and repeating this practice after you use common areas.
- Covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue or the crook of your arm and disposing of tissues immediately.
- Familiarizing yourself with the symptoms of COVID-19 and monitoring developments related to the coronavirus by visiting the following websites:
Camp Kindle is a place where children with compromised immunity frequently gather and we strive to ensure that it is a safe, hygienic and welcoming community. At Kids Cancer Care and Camp Kindle, we are guided by the core values of respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and care. It is through this lens that we are approaching this situation. Thank you for your understanding and support as we work to keep our community, and the families we serve, safe.