ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – Melanie Hatzfeld got a voicemail Wednesday night that no parent wants to get: The Health Department warned her that her 6-year-old son might have been exposed to a life-threatening bacterial infection.
Her son, Stone, is among more than 200 children attending a summer camp at the Life Time Fitness gym in Rochester Hills, where a camp counselor was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.
Hatzfeld, a working mom, said her son goes every day to the camp.
When her husband picked him up at 6 p.m. Wednesday, no one at the gym said anything. She got the call from the Health Department an hour later.
“I’m just upset that Life Time is taking a hands-off approach. I did not receive an e-mail. I had to fill out emergency paperwork when I signed him up for camp. They have my email address, they have my phone number," Hatzfeld said.
When Hatzfeld called the Health Department back, it was closed.
“I appreciate the Health Department calling me. But getting an urgent voicemail that says, 'Call me back,' and when I call back there’s no one there answering all these phone calls of all 200 or something people who maybe got the voicemail, I’m disappointed," she said.
The family was able to get enough information from the gym to make a decision to immediately go to a hospital.
“The best-case scenario was to get the antibiotic as soon as possible. So, we got the antibiotic as soon as possible," Hatzfeld said.
She was told to keep an eye on her son for symptoms through the incubation period, which is through July 21.
Hatzfeld said she has reservations about sending her son back to the camp, but she dropped him off Thursday morning because enjoys it. Hatzfeld said she was told that the bacteria is fragile and would not survive long on surfaces.
Meningitis is a infection of the fluid that surrounds a person's spinal cord and the brain. While contagious, it is spread only through close contact, such as saliva or respiratory secretions.