Camp Mystic Chief health officer’s license suspended

The former chief health officer at Camp Mystic has had her nursing license suspended, according to records released Wednesday by the Texas Board of Nursing.  State regulators said Mary Elizabeth Eastland failed to establish adequate emergency preparedness measures for campers and staff, including evacuation procedures and emergency training protocols for camp nurses.

Camp Mystic is the Texas summer camp where 27 girls died in last year’s catastrophic flood. Eastland’s father-in-law, Richard Eastland, also died in the flooding.

In its findings, the board stated that Eastland should have recognized the risks posed by severe flooding based on Camp Mystic’s history with past flood disasters.  Regulators concluded that she failed to create and implement sufficient shelter and evacuation plans ahead of the deadly July 4 flooding along the Guadalupe River.  The board wrote that Eastland’s “lack of emergency preparedness” contributed to unsafe conditions that “likely resulted in physical harm, and loss of life” for campers and staff during the disaster.

The Texas Board of Nursing ultimately determined that Eastland’s continued ability to practice nursing posed a “continuing and imminent threat to public welfare,” justifying the emergency suspension of her license.

The nursing board’s order also said Eastland evacuated her family during the flood “without providing any assistance or direction to all of the other campers and staff” or contacting emergency services.

Joshua Fiverson, an attorney for Camp Mystic, said Eastland rejects the allegations, adding that she received notice of the nursing board’s proceeding less than 24 hours before it took place.  The temporary suspension was handed down without “the benefit of testimony, evidence or a complete investigation,” he said.  “This was an exercise in premature judgement.  But judgment should not precede process in an ordered system of justice.”

Camp Mystic, which initially sought to reopen portions of the camp this summer, ultimately cancelled its bid for an operating license.