The campers are almost worth the frustrating environment - Camp Counselor Zajac Ranch for Children Employee Review

- The pay is not enough compensation for the amount of work you do, and staffing shortages create dangerous working conditions. Zajac paid the legal summer camp minimum wage (133.69 per day). You typically receive 3 hours off per day (and sometimes nights), but much of this time was spent prepping for activities, or emotionally debriefing with peers as this is emotionally taxing work. Staff are hired as camp counselors, but the role also includes behaviour support and assisting in campers' activities of daily living (ADL) (feeding, toileting, bathing. etc.). Staff are more than happy to do this work, just the staff to camper ratio makes it nearly impossible to complete any task as safely and with as much care as they should. Oftentimes I'd find myself in situations where we simply could not be both safe and make things enjoyable for the campers, which is the whole point of camp. We spent more time putting out fires than we did preventing them, which could have easily been avoided with more staffing and higher ratios. Though each camper had an assigned ratio (1:1, 3:1 or 5:1) these were often neglected as we were spread too thin. We were always understaffed, which made it challenging to follow the, oftentimes very well crafted and helpful, guidance given by families and caregivers. Personal care and ADL support was sometimes neglected as we'd always be running around trying to hold things together. In the rare event that we'd need to search for a missing camper it was incredibly stressful knowing that we didn't have close to enough people to conduct a proper and timely search. - The Zajac family was always butting heads with anyone who held a different view to them, namely the camp directors. Their priorities often did not revolve around the campers best interests, and their actions and priorities were compounded with ableist views which spread into all aspects of camp. - Accessibility. The ranch is beautiful, but as of the summer of 2022, had 3 functioning automatic doors, the rest were regular doors or were broken. This meant that many campers relied on other people to help them enter and exit almost all buildings, most notably the cabins which have two doors to open to enter. This took away so much autonomy and independence. The kitchen staff (frequently one person) were overworked and thus unable to meet, the sometimes very specific, dietary and sensory requirements of the campers. The menus often lacked awareness of the demographic (overly complex flavours during ASD weeks) and it felt as though sometimes optics were prioritized over feeding the campers. Portion size was also an issue and it wasn't unusual for staff to eat less to ensure that campers weren't hungry. The lake swimming area and skynet did not (as of 2022) have (functioning) lift and transfer systems so the staff would do manual lifts, putting both campers and themselves at risks of harm. - Much of the knowledge past over regarding working with individuals with disabilities came from the summer staff, but the turn over rate year-to-year is massive. Between 2022 and 2023 a couple of staff from the past 3 years returned. Since the Zajacs themselves lack much of the on the ground knowledge of working with the campers it depends on who applies to see how good the quality of care can be.