Letter to the Chief Scout Executive from a Volunteer

William A. Sheehan

24 SOUTH BROAD STREET

WOODBURY, NEW JERSEY 08096

(856) 853-8636

FAX NO. (856) 848-2230

March 25, 2009

Robert Mazzuca, Chief Scout Executive

1325 West Walnut Hill Lane

Irving, TX 75038

Re: New Annual Health and Medical Record Form

Dear Mr. Mazzuca:

I have had the opportunity to review the new annual health and medical record form, posted online at http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34605_Letter.pdf As an Assistant Scoutmaster, I am quite concerned about the effect upon my troop and upon the scouting program in general which will be caused by the red highlighted paragraph on page two of the form.

That paragraph states:

“Individuals desiring to participate in any high-adventure activity or events in which emergency evacuation would take longer than 30 minutes by ground transportation will not be permitted to do so if they exceed the weight limit as documented at the bottom of this page. Enforcing the height/weight limit is strongly encouraged for all other events, but it is not mandatory.”

I have two concerns. One is that making this height/weight chart mandatory rather than advisory will have the effect of excluding thousands or tens of thousands of youth already signed up in our program from participating in it, which will lead either to shrinking enrollments or widespread disregard of the “mandatory” language of the form. In this latter event, my second concern is the potential for opening our organization and our volunteers up to liability should they permit a youth to participate who exceeds the weight restrictions, and should an injury occur which could be arguably tied to the participant’s weight.

At the outset, I note that this prohibition is not imposed merely on activities strenuous in themselves. Rather, it extends to all activities taking place at a point more than 30 minutes from medical care by ground transportation. I submit that anywhere worth taking our youth can be more than 30 minutes away by ground transportation. In many parts of our country, a youth would be more than 30 minutes away from medical attention sitting in his living room, as a couch potato. Rather than getting out a map, a stop watch and calipers while planning an outing, I suggest that Unit leaders simply assume that they are more than 30 minutes away from medical attention for any scouting activity.

The cover sheet for the form identifies 11 risk factors which may define participation in various outdoor adventures. These 11 “risk factors” are not listed in alphabetical or any apparent order, with the exception that “excessive body weight” is at the top of the list, beating out such maladies as heart disease, diabetes, seizures, asthma and anaphylaxis.

A scout suffering from heart disease may be cleared by his physician to participate in hiking and camping, sports, cold weather activities (less than 10 degrees F), competitive activities, horseback riding, backpacking, scuba diving, wilderness/ backcountry treks, swimming/water activities, mountain biking, climbing/rappelling and challenge (“ropes”) courses provided that his physician, after physical examination, checks the boxes on page two of the form (the same page that contains the weight prohibition). Further, a scout with uncontrolled heart disease may participate in any of the activities checked off by his physician with any restrictions noted by that physician, also on page two of the form.

For a scout who is one pound over on the height/weight chart, however, it’s “no way, Jose”. The scout who does not make weight “will not be permitted” to participate in any activity whatsoever more than 30 minutes from medical attention.

Similarly, a scout suffering from asthma can participate in any of the above activities, at any distance from medical care, provided his physician, after examination, checks the box for that activity. Even a scout with “uncontrolled” asthma may participate with any restrictions the physician cares to note.

Along the same lines, a scout who has seizures may participate in activity his physician, after examination, checks off and even those with newly diagnosed seizure events (within six months) may participate with any restrictions the physician cares to note.

A Scoutmaster can take a scout with a sleep disorder, whose breathing stops from time to time during the course of a night, on any activity indicated by the physician at any distance from medical care. But don’t let that scout be a pound overweight.

A scout who suffers from allergies to the degree that he may suffer anaphylaxis may participate in any activity his physician checks off, at any distance from medical care.

With excessive body weight, and excessive body weight alone, the decision is removed from the hands of the physician, the boy’s parents and the scout leader. All because the form says, in big red letters, that the scout “will not be permitted” to participate in the activity.

Why is that? We all prefer our scouts to be fit and trim, but why is body weight elevated above all these other maladies in terms of participation in scouting events?

What this form says, in no uncertain terms, is that if a scout does not make weight, he or she (in the Venturing program) cannot participate. That is a heck of a note.

I read with interest the recent article in Newsweek magazine concerning the outreach to Hispanic youth. I also understand that you appeared on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams concerning that initiative. Certainly nothing was mentioned that all of the outdoor activities of the Boy Scouts of America would be closed to such youth if they didn’t make weight. If a boy is a bit on the heavy side, he will have to be satisfied with the good citizenship parts of the BSA. Forget about the outdoor activities.

In my view, we do not need the negative publicity should a “weight ban” become public knowledge.

This is an organization that, quite rightly, promotes vigorous exercise in the out of doors. Are we to tell potential scouts that they cannot even begin this program of health and exercise unless they are already fit and trim?

The entire Venturing program is premised upon high adventure. Are we to have the members of each crew get up on a scale to separate those who can continue in the program from those who must be told to stay home? How about OA service weekends? Will there be a weigh in at the Friday night check-in?

At Blue and Gold dinners, when the Cub Scouts cross over a small bridge to symbolize their crossing over to the Boy Scout program, will there be a bathroom scale waiting for them at the end of the bridge?

Scouting is also a movement in which the youth participants are urged to follow the example set by the adult participants. Scoutmasters and assistants, themselves overweight, will be put in a position of informing overweight youth that the youth are absolutely banned from participating in the outdoor Scouting program. The overweight adult, in contrast, can simply pack up his pack and head off down the more than half hour trail, free as an “adult” to choose to ignore the mandate.

Or should overweight adult volunteers be banned as well? Good luck keeping the program running if that is the outcome.

What of a Unit leader who does not bar participation by youth who are a few pounds over. What if such a youth has a health problem during the activity which arguably bears some connection to his or her weight? Because the BSA erected a policy that did not exist before and put it all in red letters, that could become “the law of the case” and liability could be found. (I am an attorney licensed to practice in the State of New Jersey).

Leaving the legalities aside, assume a Unit leader allows participation when a youth does not meet the guidelines. Is such a youth to be turned away at district or council events, such as camporees or OA service weekends, or turned away at the gate of a council summer camp? Many council camps are remote, as I am sure you are aware.

I have not taken a survey, either in my troop or in my district or council, to determine how many boys are affected by this decree. Has the BSA made any such survey? If so, how many of our youth must be banned from the outdoor program? If you don’t know, don’t you think it is something that should be known before any such prohibition is mandated?

In my own troop, I know of one boy who had to be told that he could not participate in this summer’s council Philmont expedition, because of the weight limitation. He is a husky, healthy high school football player, a Life Scout working on his Eagle. Telling him he cannot make the “Summit of Scouting” is one thing. Must I inform him he cannot go on a weekend, drive-in, camping trip, simply because the troop will be camped more than one half hour from a hospital?

I hasten to add that I am in full agreement with the imposition of weight guidelines for the Philmont Scout Ranch. I am a veteran of two Philmont Expeditions in my youth and five Autumn Adventure Treks. I have made weight. I am also aware that making weight can be very difficult for some participants. However, we are not talking Philmont here, we are talking about a trip that is a half an hour into the woods.

It is fine to identify excessive body weight as a potential risk factor, require that a boy’s height and weight be recorded and compared to a chart, at the time of his physical examination, by his family physician, who may then take that into account in clearing him for the various activities on the form. What I object to is taking the decision out of the hands of the physician, the parent and Scoutmaster and drawing a bright red line which will exclude many of the kids we are trying to help rather than a common-sense approach. It seems like someone thought that excessive body weight could be addressed by simply issuing a decree, with the admonition that we in the field “make it so”.

A final observation is that the language used in the form does not talk about the actual weight of the participant at the moment the activity commences. It speaks of the height and weight “as documented on this form” as being the cutoff. I am not advocating that we weigh the boys before each trip. Weighing them fully clothed would not yield the results on the chart, in any event. But what of the youth who has dieted or exercised since the doctor’s exam or who has grown a few inches?

In short, I strongly recommend removing the red highlighted material at the top of the second page and removing reference to that paragraph on the cover sheet “…the height/weight chart must be strictly adhered to…”. Excessive body weight should be treated as any of the other illnesses or conditions listed on the cover sheet, in a place within the discretion of the physician, the participant’s parents and the Unit leader.

I wish to thank you for taking the time to read this letter and hope that it will have the effect of removing that red highlighted language. Please do not put me and others in a position of denying some youth the benefits of the Scouting program because they are not yet fit and trim. Hopefully, after a few hikes, they will do better with the weight situation.

Thank you for your kind attention to this matter.

Yours in Scouting,

William A. Sheehan

ASM, Troop 55

Pitman, NJ

WAS/kln

cc: Health and Safety Committee

Boy Scouts of America

National Council Health and Safety Committee

1325 West Walnut Hill Lane

Irving, TX 75038