{"id":234003,"date":"2026-07-02T18:53:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/234003\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T18:53:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T18:53:07","slug":"pennsylvania-summer-camp-changing-its-routine-to-keep-children-safe-during-extreme-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/234003\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania summer camp changing its routine to keep children safe during extreme heat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/philadelphia\/news\/extreme-heat-philadelphia-thursday-july-2-heat-wave\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">historic heat wave pushes temperatures into the triple digits,<\/a> one Delaware County summer camp is changing its routine to keep children safe.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of spending much of the day outdoors, campers at the YMCA in Ridley Township traded some of their usual activities for a spirited game of dodgeball inside the air-conditioned gym.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s like a hundred degrees out,&#8221; 6-year-old camper Ava Owens from Ridley Township said.<\/p>\n<p>The YMCA of Eastern Delaware County has switched to what it calls a &#8220;hot schedule&#8221; to reduce campers&#8217; exposure to the blistering sun.<\/p>\n<p>The modified schedule includes more time indoors, shorter trips to the pool and scheduled water breaks throughout the day. A cooler stocked with free cold drinks is also available in the lobby for anyone who walks in.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We take it day by day,&#8221; Michael Ranck, CEO and president of the YMCA of Eastern Delaware County, said. &#8220;Our staff here are trained to look out for the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat-related illnesses.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ranck said the modified schedule is a balancing act between protecting campers and preserving the summer camp experience.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Summer&#8217;s supposed to be a time to be outdoors, having fun with your friends and doing a lot of different activities,&#8221; Ranck said. &#8220;Unfortunately, the heat&#8217;s not helping with that. It&#8217;s just too hot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Nine-year-old Jacob Rose from Glenolden said he understands why the camp has changed its routine.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I know the YMCA is a part of staying outside, but when it&#8217;s a heat wave, we all have to stay inside so we won&#8217;t get sunburned,&#8221; Jacob said.<\/p>\n<p>Even with the heat precautions in place, Ava said she&#8217;s still having plenty of fun.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I love being here, and I love playing dodgeball,&#8221; Ava said. &#8220;It&#8217;s my home.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a historic heat wave pushes temperatures into the triple digits, one Delaware County summer camp is changing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[212,32817,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-234003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-delaware-county","tag-heat","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}