Volunteering at summer camp for kids with chronic illness

[DrHoosier]

I am working as a youth camp counselor for kids with a chronic illness this summer. I already searched and found a few threads like this, but most of them are asking if it is clinical or non clinical volunteering.

I don't so much care what kind it is, but I was wondering how good this experience will be for me. I am not doing it just to put it on my resume, and I am actually very excited that I have the opportunity to do something like this. But I also have talked to friends and doctors I work with and they say that this is great experience that medical schools love to see. Is this experience what medical schools are looking for when they say they want to see volunteer experience, or do I need to find something else?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[ThaliaNox]

It sounds like a great experience. Whether it is clinical will depend on your own role. Do you help with the children's health needs, such as a nurse aide would? (Toileting, bathing, dressing, feeding, etc) Or are you more of a social guide like at a traditional summer camp?

Anyway, I'm sure this experience will give you a lot to talk about. However, if you're thinking it alone will be sufficient volunteering to please a med school, you're mistaken. A long term experience trumps any summer commitment, and is the expected norm, these days. Intense summer experiences are the frosting one puts on the cake of long term commitments.

 

[Seven of Nine]

It sounds like a great experience. Whether it is clinical will depend on your own role. Do you help with the children's health needs, such as a nurse aide would? (Toileting, bathing, dressing, feeding, etc) Or are you more of a social guide like at a traditional summer camp?

Anyway, I'm sure this experience will give you a lot to talk about. However, if you're thinking it alone will be sufficient volunteering to please a med school, you're mistaken. A long term experience trumps any summer commitment, and is the expected norm, these days. Intense summer experiences are the frosting one puts on the cake of long term commitments.

+1

Even if you have a non-clinical role, I feel like adcoms may recognize it as clinical by association... interacting with these kids and understanding what they are going through and how they are affected

 

[JoshuaGuit]

Do you mind saying what disease the camp is for? I'm also going to be volunteering at a camp for kids with GI problems, I can't wait 🙂

 

[DrHoosier]

It sounds like a great experience. Whether it is clinical will depend on your own role. Do you help with the children's health needs, such as a nurse aide would? (Toileting, bathing, dressing, feeding, etc) Or are you more of a social guide like at a traditional summer camp?

Anyway, I'm sure this experience will give you a lot to talk about. However, if you're thinking it alone will be sufficient volunteering to please a med school, you're mistaken. A long term experience trumps any summer commitment, and is the expected norm, these days. Intense summer experiences are the frosting one puts on the cake of long term commitments.

They told me at the interview that we will actually be taking part in their health needs like you mentioned, so I guess it would be clinical. I do agree that I need some long term volunteer work, which I need to find soon. Anyone have any suggestions on what type of volunteer positions are easy to find for more of a long term commitment?

Oh and the camp I am going to is for muscular dystrophy, but I'm sure it will be the same kind of camp that you are going to for GI.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Hey I just finished a volunteer week at one of these camps and it by far was one of the most rewarding weeks of my life. Loved working with the kids and listening to their experiences. The kids I worked with had cancer, GI disorders, or rheumatologic disorders. I'm interested in primary care and maybe specifically pediatrics, so it was really impactful. I will be working another week this summer set aside for neurologic or genetic disorders. If you get the chance, participate in one of theses camps, specifically the "Hole in the Wall Gang" camps all over the U.S. You get to know the doctors and nurses that volunteer at these camps too.

 

[DaisyBuchanan]

I'm leaving for Camp Ronald McDonald to be a counselor for children with cancer, and I'm so excited. I'm honestly not doing this just to put it on my app, I pretty much just love camp and kids and I'm interested to see how the docs up there take care of the kids in the middle of nowhere 🙂

 

[SweetRain]

I also asked my advisor about it. She told me that since all of your entries go into the same place as a whole packet, there is some room for flexibility.

If you have strong clinical experience, you can put that in the non-clinical section. (Although that does sound like clinical experience with lots of patient contact)

The schools will look more at the content of your activity, rather than how you categorized it.

 

[kdavis14]

I am really interested in volunteering at a summer camp like those mentioned. Are there any other camps you all know of? I've done some searching and am having trouble finding many camps like this close to wear I live (Colorado - which would be ideal for traveling purposes).

 

[JoshuaGuit]

I am really interested in volunteering at a summer camp like those mentioned. Are there any other camps you all know of? I've done some searching and am having trouble finding many camps like this close to wear I live (Colorado - which would be ideal for traveling purposes).

Most of them you actually have to have one of the diseases to participate.

I was a camper for 6 or 7 years at the one that I'll now be a volunteer at. I have no clue how you could even start to relate to these kids if you haven't gone through what they have.

 

[ThaliaNox]

Most of them you actually have to have one of the diseases to participate.

I was a camper for 6 or 7 years at the one that I'll now be a volunteer at. I have no clue how you could even start to relate to these kids if you haven't gone through what they have.

This is a pretty shallow statement. Empathy is possible for everyone, not just people who have the condition the camp is for.

It is also not true that you always have to have the camp's "condition" to work at one. There are many camps where adults without any disabilities can be counselors. Simply goodle "special needs camps" and tons will come up. I worked at one myself.

As far as logistics goes, healthy counselors are often a must. Think of trying to help a wheelchair bound five year old kid with cerebral palsy go to the bathroom if you had cerebral palsy yourself.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

That statement is not true at all. Believe me, I probably received more from this camp than I was able to give as a volunteer counselor. I have been on mission trips, etc. but this was the most rewarding thing I have done so far. They especially need male volunteers to help with the lifting, etc. of disabled children. I believe there is also a new "Hole in the Wall" camp opening in Colorado next summer 2011...Roundup River Ranch. Application is a little lengthy with references, physical, and immunization requirements but if you plan ahead it isn't too bad but it certainly is needed in order to be around kids that have chronic illnesses, cancer, etc. Don't hesitate if you like being around kids because it does provide alot of contact with kids with health issues and you do learn a lot about the human side of illness, if you know what I mean. Also it provides this amazing feeling of being around alot of people (counselors, staff, doctors, nurses, cafeteria workers, volunteers that are lifeguards, etc., etc. that give their free time) with the same goal...making that week the most amazing week for those kids. Some volunteers are parents that may have lost a child that loved these camps during their illness. They just keep coming back.

 

[kdavis14]

Wow, Sunny side up thank you so much for the information! I searched Roundup River Ranch and it looks like a great opportunity, especially because I love children AND the outdoors! Yay! Thanks again for the tip

 

[jkm111]

@SweetRain: what did you mean by "all of your entries go into the same place as a whole packet, there is some room for flexibility. "

(i'm not up to the application process yet)

thanks

I also asked my advisor about it. She told me that since all of your entries go into the same place as a whole packet, there is some room for flexibility.

If you have strong clinical experience, you can put that in the non-clinical section. (Although that does sound like clinical experience with lots of patient contact)

The schools will look more at the content of your activity, rather than how you categorized it.

 

[jkm111]

I also wanted to participate in one but most of them aren't accepting anymore apps. does anyone happen to know of any that are still accepting volutneers in the New England/eastern US area in August?

 

[JoshuaGuit]

This is a pretty shallow statement. Empathy is possible for everyone, not just people who have the condition the camp is for.

It is also not true that you always have to have the camp's "condition" to work at one. There are many camps where adults without any disabilities can be counselors. Simply goodle "special needs camps" and tons will come up. I worked at one myself.

As far as logistics goes, healthy counselors are often a must. Think of trying to help a wheelchair bound five year old kid with cerebral palsy go to the bathroom if you had cerebral palsy yourself.

While I understand your point, I believe mine is quite valid from a different viewpoint.

Perhaps we are thinking of different types of camps. While I can understand a nurse at the camp probably doesn't need to have the disease (they most likely have specialized training in that area), I can not see how sheer empathy is enough to relate to campers and offer legitimate advice in how they can live their lives.

I am coming from the view of an educational camp for young teens to learn more about their disease, get together with other kids that have what they have, learn that they are not alone, and different ways to cope from older campers or counselors. There is absolutely no way a counselor who has not suffered themselves and gone through middle school, high school, and college can be of personal support in this setting besides general encouragement. There is no type of orientation that would teach them what they need to know to relate.

This is vastly different from camps that focus on physical challenges which have been mentioned in this thread. I used the word "disease" because it is the correct term in my intended context. There is a difference between a disease and a condition.

Bear with me, no offense is intended 😳

 

[Sunny Side Up]

The camps for "Hole in the Wall" are set up for many different diseases. Some kids even receive chemo treatments while at camp. Kids come to camp during the week for their specific illness though which allows them to get to know other kids dealing with the same issues.

 

[JoshuaGuit]

The camps for "Hole in the Wall" are set up for many different diseases. Some kids even receive chemo treatments while at camp. Kids come to camp during the week for their specific illness though which allows them to get to know other kids dealing with the same issues.

Right... but how can counselors relate to the campers or offer advice they learned themselves?

By no means am I trying to belittle the effect that counselors who do not have whatever disease may have on their campers, I just don't see how it is entirely useful beyond the physical aspect that was mentioned earlier (which applies perhaps in certain diseases while not in others).