Top-Notch Medical Team Makes Camp Safer Than Ever

By Kier Malloy

Kooch-i-ching and its sister camp, Ogichi Daa Kwe, benefit from the expertise of a world-class team of medical advisors: doctors and educators spanning specialties from hematology and oncology to cardiology and pediatric virology. Based in Cincinnati, Minneapolis and Duluth, these individuals have helped us develop protocols to keep our staff and campers healthy amid ever-changing research, regulations and best practices.

This team has given us the confidence necessary to make informed decisions about how to operate Kooch-i-ching safely in 2021, and we will continue to rely on their wisdom and experience throughout the summer. As a bonus, each of these doctors has a direct connection to camp and believes in our mission; they understand the vital importance of getting kids outside—this summer, perhaps, more than any other.

Charlie Hattemer

Charlie Hattemer, MD, is the chief of cardiology and a professor of medicine at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Medical Center. Charlie has been Kooch-i-ching’s medical director for more than 20 years and currently serves in the same role for the Camping & Education Foundation.

Charlie was a camper and staff member for five years in the late 1970s. “My first year, I went up two weeks early just so I could catch a ride with someone, and then I ended up doing manual labor until camp started,” he recalls. “I kept thinking, what have I gotten myself into?”

Charlie and his wife, Ellen, have eight children, six of whom attended Kooch-i-ching or Ogichi. When it comes to operating camp safely this summer, he says, “It’s all about risk management, and if you manage the risk appropriately, you’re looking at a huge potential benefit.”

Liz Schlaudecker

Liz Schlaudecker, MD, MPH, specializes in pediatric viral respiratory infections at Cincinnati Children’s. Her work has centered around influenza vaccines and respiratory and syncytial virus (RSV) research.

Liz also serves on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention vaccine safety panel, and for the past 12 months has focused on how to best diagnose pediatric patients with Covid-19 and mitigate transmission among children.

Liz is the mother of two Kooch-i-ching campers, Noah and Ben, having learned about camp from a family friend. “Canoeing is one of my favorite outdoor activities, so when I learned that there was a canoeing camp based out of Cincinnati and the camp director lived only a few blocks from me, it seemed like it was meant to be,” she says.

Liz has been instrumental in helping the Foundation establish protocols to make camp safe in 2021 and will be on call this summer in the event that a camper or staff member does become sick.

Dan Nikcevich

Dan Nikcevich, MD, PhD, is no stranger to the Northwoods that Kooch-i-ching calls home. “I have spent summers on Rainy Lake for the last 30 years,” Dan says. “From the end of my cabin’s dock, I can actually see Deer Island.” 

Since 2014, Dan has served as president of the Essentia Health’s Duluth Clinic, where he also works as a physician of hematology and oncology. Dan serves on the Camping & Education, LLC Board of Trustees, and his son, Chris, will be a Senior at Kooch-i-ching this year. His daughter, Kate, previously attended Ogichi.

Dan has helped the Foundation build a strong connection with medical professionals in Duluth and International Falls. 

Jeff Schlaudecker

Jeff Schlaudecker, MD, is the chair of geriatric education at the University of Cincinnati, overseeing all medical students and those pursuing a residency at the school. He is also an associate professor of family medicine, and sees patients regularly.

Additionally, Jeff serves as the medical director at the Marjorie P. Lee retirement community. For the past 11 months, he has been developing and improving Covid-19 protocols for the facility and others like it. Jeff’s first time at Kooch-i-ching was in 2016, when he went on a Father-Son Trip with his son Noah, who was 8 years old at the time.

“I just instantly fell in love with the Kooch philosophy and the camaraderie that was formed among the staff,” he says. Jeff has been on staff at Kooch-i-ching since 2018, serving as the on-island doctor and training a series of UC medical students as camp medics.

Meghan Walsh

Meghan Walsh, MD, MPH, is an internal medicine physician at Hennepin Healthcare in Minneapolis, primarily working in the in-patient cardiac unit, which has doubled as a Covid-19 unit for the past year. She also oversees the residency program at Hennepin as chief academic officer.

In her youth, Meghan worked as a counselor at Camp Manito-wish in northern Wisconsin. “I have a real heart for camps like this,” she says of Kooch-i-ching. “Ones that really get kids outside and on trail.” Meghan learned about Kooch-i-ching from her longtime friend Alice Peacock-Haller, an Ogichi staff member and the wife of Foundation President Hugh Haller.

Because Hennepin is the largest public hospital in Minnesota, they’ve been at the forefront of Covid-19 testing and procedures. This summer, Meghan will advise the Foundation on testing and safety protocols at camp.

“I think there’s a real need for kids to be together this summer, now more than ever,” she says, “to lessen the social anxiety that has built up over this last year. I think camp is going to serve as a huge mental relief for these kids.”

This article was originally published in the Spring 2021 issue of the Kooch-i-ching Tumpline.