Camp Mystic’s chief health officer can’t provide direct patient care

News 📅 May 27, 2026
Camp Mystic’s chief health officer can’t provide direct patient care

Camp Mystic chief health officer Mary Liz Eastland, far left, has reached an agreement with the Texas Board of Nursing that prohibits her from providing any direct patient care after a July 4 flash flood killed 27 guests at the Texas Hill Country retreat. Pictured with her at a civil court hearing in March, left to right, are her husband, Edward Eastland, brother-in-law Britt Eastland and mother-in-law Tweety Eastland.

Camp Mystic chief health officer Mary Liz Eastland, far left, has reached an agreement with the Texas Board of Nursing that prohibits her from providing any direct patient care after a July 4 flash flood killed 27 guests at the Texas Hill Country retreat. Pictured with her at a civil court hearing in March, left to right, are her husband, Edward Eastland, brother-in-law Britt Eastland and mother-in-law Tweety Eastland.

Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman

Camp Mystic chief health officer Mary Liz Eastland has reached an agreement with the Texas Board of Nursing that curtails her nursing privileges and prohibits her from providing any direct patient care.

Court documents filed Wednesday afternoon show that Eastland has received a sanction from the state nursing board referred to as a “limited license with stipulations.”

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According to the findings, Eastland, 42, must complete certain requirements and will have to petition the nursing board seeking approval if she wants her full nursing privileges restored in the future.

Eastland signed the agreement Tuesday.

“We are grateful that the Texas Board of Nursing has allowed Mrs. Eastland to continue practicing under a limited license,” her attorney, Joshua Fiveson, said in a statement Wednesday. “While she has no intention of again serving as a camp nurse, Mrs. Eastland remains committed to her professional calling and thanks the board for that privilege. 

“The families of all those lost to the July 4, 2025 flood will forever remain in Mrs. Eastland’s heart and prayers.” 

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Texas Board of Nursing officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Because Eastland has signed the order, the nursing board will not pursue further disciplinary action against her, records show. The case is considered informally resolved.

The nursing board had temporarily suspended Eastland’s registered nurse license on May 19, after she testified during a recent civil court hearing about how she responded to a catastrophic flash flood that struck Camp Mystic and killed 25 children and two counselors there on July 4.

She also serves as co-director of the Camp Mystic Guadalupe River campus, along with her husband, Edward, where the 27 deaths occurred. 

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Her agreement with the nursing board outlines several “findings of fact” that describe how Eastland failed to comply with state regulations at Camp Mystic.

Eastland failed to ensure the manual for nurses at Camp Mystic’s Heaven Can Wait infirmary contained appropriate planning to protect the safety of campers and staff during an emergency, the nursing board agreement stated.

Eastland also failed to call 911 emergency services at any time during the July 4 disaster after she became aware that campers and staff were missing and unaccounted for, the nursing board agreement stated.

The documents also stipulate that Eastland failed to report the 27 deaths to the Texas Department of State Health Services within 24 hours as required by state law. Eastland still had not reported those deaths to state health officials as of March 31, nursing board records show.

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The board also concluded that Eastland “inappropriately” permitted Camp Mystic staff nurses to give medications based on “inadequate standing orders” that allowed staff to notify the camp’s doctor within 24 hours of starting any of those medications with the understanding that patients would have follow-up appointments with the doctor, the documents show.

Eastland did not admit or deny those allegations when she signed the agreement, records show. She also agreed to waive judicial review of the nursing board’s order, records show.

The agreement mandates that Eastland will not provide any direct patient care. This includes, but is not limited to, assessing a client’s needs and strengths, providing skilled nursing care, teaching and counseling.

Eastland also must notify all current and future employers of the nursing board’s orders.

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She is required to complete a six-hour, board-approved course on Texas nursing jurisprudence and ethics within one year.

Eastland will have to seek the nursing board’s approval before her full nursing privileges can be restored, records show.

“The board may impose reasonable conditions that must be satisfied by (Eastland) before restoration of an unencumbered license, which, at a minimum, shall include the remedial education courses, work restrictions, supervised practice and/or employer reporting, which would have been requirements of this agreed order had the license not be placed in limited status,” the agreement stated.

Eastland may petition the nursing board after one year to seek administrative or judicial review on whether she has “satisfied the requirements for restoration of patient privileges,” the document further stated.

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At the time of the July 4 disaster, Eastland had worked as Camp Mystic’s chief health officer and as a registered nurse there for 16 years, court filings show.

She has also served as a registered nurse for the Hunt Independent School District since 2016 and with Peterson Regional Medical Center in Kerrville since October, state nursing board records show.

Eastland is still listed as the chair of Peterson Health’s board of directors on the institution’s website Wednesday.

Eastland was at her home on Camp Mystic’s grounds when the record-setting flash flood struck in the dark, early morning hours of July 4. She testified at a recent court hearing that she took her four children and went to stay in a cabin on higher ground while her husband was helping his father rescue campers trapped in their cabins by rising floodwaters.

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Her father-in-law, Camp Mystic owner and executive director Richard “Dick” Eastland, 70, also was killed when his vehicle was swept away by high water and crashed into a tree as he tried to evacuate children.

During a court hearing last month, Mary Liz Eastland testified that a creek cutting through Camp Mystic had risen so high that she could not cross it to reach the area where campers and counselors were in the greatest danger.

“I didn’t know the magnitude of what happened,” Eastland said during that hearing.

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