Medications

Medication Policy

ALL medications (including over-the-counter medications) that are to be given daily or on a regular basis must be prescribed by your provider, filled by a licensed pharmacist, and pre-packaged in a 30 (or 31) day blister pack according to the following policy.

In order to comply with strict state health regulations and take the best possible care of our campers, our nurses are not allowed to administer ANY daily medication that has not been prescribed by a medical professional and filled by a pharmacist into camp specific blister packs (see below for more info). This includes over-the-counter (OTC) medicine such as Zyrtec as well as all vitamins and supplements. If these are necessary for your camper to take daily or on a regular basis, they must be prescribed by your physician and filled by a licensed pharmacist according to the specific guidelines below.

We cannot dispense ANY daily medications, prescription or over-the-counter, that have not been packaged as required in our medication policy. There are a few medications that are exceptions, and these can be found below.

You have two options for having your daily medications packaged to meet these requirements. Please indicate your preference on the Medication Verification Form (available in the spring) through the Campanion app or through your Online Greystone Account.

Option 1: Whitley Drugs: Recommended

Use our local pharmacy Whitley Drugs (www.whitleydrugs.com, 828-692-4236). This option works best for camp as it allows our nurses to have the medication ready for dispensing before your daughter arrives.

To use Whitley Drugs:

• Choose this option on the Medication Verification Form (available in the spring) through the Campanion app or through your Online Greystone Account.
• You can then find detailed instructions on the Pharmacy Form, including how to register with Whitley Drugs online.
• Plan ahead! Ask your healthcare provider to send your daughter’s prescriptions electronically (e-scribe) or by fax to Whitley’s 30 days prior to the start of your daughter’s session.
• Keep in mind that you will need a prescription for any over-the-counter medications if your daughter needs to take them daily.
• All prescriptions will be filled by Whitley’s in the required blister packs and delivered to camp prior to Opening Day.

Whitley’s will process your insurance and bill you for any co-pay. They also charge a fee for packaging and delivering these medications (a maximum of $30 for Junior and August Camps and $60 for June and Main Camps). This charge is per camper, not per prescription.

Option 2: Use your local pharmacy

Use your local pharmacy and bring daily medications to camp in approved blister packs.

To use your local pharmacy:

• Choose this option on the Medication Verification Form (available in the spring) through the Campanion app or through your Online Greystone Account.
• On the Pharmacy Form (and below), you can then find detailed instructions, including photos of approved packaging, as well as a list of pharmacies across the southeast that will blister pack medications.
• Ask your local pharmacist to package all daily medication in 30 (or 31) day unit dose blister packs as required.
• Keep in mind that you will also need a prescription for the pharmacist to package any daily over-the-counter medication.
• Download and complete the Bring-From-Home Medication Form (available in the spring) through the Campanion app or through your Online Greystone Account. Send it with your packaged medications on Opening Day.

Blister Packing Information for your Local Pharmacy

All daily medications (prescription as well as over-the-counter) must be filled and packaged by a licensed pharmacist and cannot be accepted if not properly labeled. You will then bring these properly packaged medications to camp with you along with the Bring-From-Home Medication Form (available in the spring) through the Campanion app or through your Online Greystone Account.

• We use 30 (or 31) day unit-dose packaging at camp. A separate blister pack is used for each time of day that medication is dispensed (breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime). Multiple medications taken at the SAME time of day may be blister packed together or separately, but any medication taken at a different time of the day must be in separate blister packs. (For example, if a medication is taken at breakfast and dinner, we need 2 separate blister packs for that medication. One for breakfast and one for dinner.)
• All blister packs must include: camper’s name, medication name, dose, strength, and instructions for administering. Medication labels must match the information provided in the Medication section of the camper’s online Health History.
• Please leave ample time to check with your pharmacist to find out if they can accommodate our packaging requirements. You may need to allow 3-5 days for this service, as it is not typically a same-day service. Keep in mind that even over-the-counter medications will need a prescription from your provider in order to be filled as required.
• If your pharmacist does not have the unit-dose blister packs but is agreeable to packaging as required, please and we can mail you the packaging materials to take to your pharmacy.
• Non-pill medications, such as inhalers, liquids, injections, and creams may be brought to camp in their original packaging with a pharmacy label attached.

If a prescription needs to be filled for camp before the next refill is available insurance-wise, your pharmacy may have to do a “vacation override” to satisfy the insurance company.

ADD/ADHD and other controlled medications are usually 30-day prescriptions and a pharmacy may not be able to refill these early. Please plan ahead and talk with your pharmacist if your daughter will need controlled medications at camp.

Questions about your medications

If you have questions about how the system will work with your daughter’s specific medication, insurance, or situation, please reach out to your pharmacist or to the pharmacist at Whitley Drugs (828-692-4236, Camps@whitleydrugs.com). Please contact us with any issues that cannot be resolved by the pharmacies.

Also, read our Medication FAQ which will help answer many of your medication questions.

Prescription medications that are exceptions to the blister pack requirement

If your daughter has PRESCRIPTION medication that she only takes as needed or in an emergency (i.e., migraine medication or an EpiPen that she has to have WITH her at all times), or if she needs injections such as allergy shots or growth hormone, is on birth control pills, or uses a daily inhaler that has recently been filled, you should follow the directions below:

• Enter these medications and details on her Health History Form (available in the spring) through the Campanion app or through your Online Greystone Account. Please make sure all of the details are accurate and up to date.
• Download and complete the Bring-from-Home Medication Form (also available in the spring) through the Campanion app or through your Online Greystone Account.
• Place this form and any other notes or special instructions with the medicine in a Ziploc bag for your daughter to hand to the nurses on Opening Day. The medication needs to be in its original packaging with labels. You will be contacted if we have any questions.

EpiPens: We have both adult and Jr. EpiPens available and strategically placed throughout camp. We also have EpiPens available for any off-site trips (i.e., Thunderhead Riding, Tubing, and Hiking). Our staff are aware of any camper allergies and are trained to recognize symptoms. Please do not send your daughter’s EpiPen to camp unless she must keep it with her at all times. If this is the case, check the expiration date and follow the instructions above for prescription medications that are exceptions to our blister packing policy.

Inhalers: We have rescue inhalers for asthma at our Health Hut and available for any off-site trips. Please only send your daughter’s rescue inhaler to camp if you feel it is likely she will need to use it or she needs to keep it with her at all times. Please check the expiration date and follow the instructions above for prescription medications that are exceptions to packaging.

Please reach out to us prior to the summer if your daughter will need any type of injection or other medical treatments not mentioned above.

Over-the-Counter Medicines

Please do not send OTC medications to camp unless your daughter needs to take them daily and you have followed the instructions above for prescribed and packaged medications.
Our Heath Hut is well stocked with medications such as Tylenol, Ibuprofen, Zyrtec, Tums, Miralax, and melatonin. These can be administered to your daughter any time she needs them at no charge to you. Please let your daughter know that she can come to the Health Hut and ask a nurse for these at any time. If your daughter or our Health Staff feel she should be taking them daily, you will receive a call, and a plan will be made for having these prescribed and packaged for your daughter for daily dispensing.

Vitamins and supplements: Please do not send vitamins and supplements to camp unless absolutely necessary. If these are necessary, they must be prescribed by your healthcare provider and blister packed by a licensed pharmacist just like other prescribed medications. Add these to your daughter’s Health History Form and follow the instructions for prescription medications.

Medication Policy Summary

Medications that must be blister packaged by Whitley’s or your pharmacist:

• Prescription medications taken daily or on a regular basis
• Over the counter medications, vitamins, or supplements taken daily or on a regular basis

Medications that do not need to be blister packed but should be brought to camp in their original packaging and with the completed Bring-From-Home Medication Form:

• Prescription medicine taken only as needed (i.e., migraine medication)
• Emergency medication that must be kept WITH the camper at all times (i.e., EpiPens or inhalers)
• Injections such as allergy shots and growth hormone
• Birth control pills
• Inhalers used daily and recently filled
• An antibiotic or other medication started in the week before camp (Please speak with a nurse before camp or on Opening Day.)

Medications you may not bring to camp and that we cannot accept:

• DAILY medications, either prescription or OTC, that have not been packaged by a licensed pharmacist in specific 30 day blister packs
• Vitamins, supplements, melatonin, and other medicines that are given daily and have not been prescribed by a provider and packaged by a pharmacist as required

Talk with your daughter before camp and discuss the plan for her medications, especially if the schedule or specific medications will be different than what she is used to taking at home.