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Equipped with medications, water and a first-aid kit,
Michele Prater, RN, a certified pediatric nurse practitioner,
drives a golf cart to see her next patient. It isn't
the latest way for the pediatric pulmonary nurse to
make rounds at Scott & White Memorial Hospital in
Temple, Texas. For one week every summer, Prater is
a camp nurse at an asthma camp, and the golf cart is
a practical way to care for 20 children spread across
125 country acres.
Prater's is just one of many camps for children with
a variety of illnesses, their siblings and families
at the Peaceable Kingdom Retreat for Children. The retreats
are staffed by hospitals such as Scott & White and
hosted by Peaceable Kingdom, a nonprofit organization
established by Daurice and Jim Bowmer on their Texas
ranch.
All camps are free of charge, one of the Bowmers' stipulations
(the organization raises funds year-round to support
the camp).
The concept was to create a place where children could
have a good time and forget about being sick, Peaceable
Kingdom director Scott Fineske said. The founders wanted
Peaceable Kingdom to look like a home away from home,
and it does, only better.
Limestone buildings, log-cabin bunkhouses, a playscape
and pool, campfire grounds, a movie theater, nature
trails and a famous Lampasas River fishing hole are
placed so that one facility is rarely visible from another.
"It's a very incredible place for the kids,"
Prater said. "It is an escape from reality. There
are kids who come out here who have never even seen
a horse, who don't have access to any other opportunity
like this."
The benefit to children is clear to the nurses involved
with the camps. "The kids get to see other children
who have the same type of problems they have,"
Prater said. "It gives them someone to bond with,
someone who has had the same experience."
In addition, it gives the medical staff the opportunity
to provide some education-for example, to check a youngster's
technique with an inhaler.
That education extends to the family, too. Parents
get to know other parents in similar situations, said
Jan Upchurch, director of Scott & White's Child
Life program.
"Support and education come more naturally in
this kind of setting," Upchurch said.
"The parents learn from each other and staff learns
from them, too. Nurses see how the parents deal with
the illness and how they integrate it into the family,
with both the ill child and siblings."
For that reason, some camps include families. "We
realized that the siblings of these children need attention,
too," she said.
Siblings are included in a weeklong day camp for children
with diabetes, organized by Children's Hospital of Austin.
They participate in activities such as pony rides, movies,
swimming and rope courses, as well as in medical education
sessions. Siblings also are encouraged to test their
own blood sugar with their brothers or sisters.
"It gives them a clearer perspective on the testing
and shots and all the anxiety," said Elizabeth
Williams, RN, a certified diabetes educator who organizes
the sessions. "Diabetes has an effect on the whole
family.
"Camp is also a great place for parents to meet
other parents who have to deal with this." Williams,
a former neonatal ICU nurse, attended the camp when
her son was diagnosed with diabetes at age 7. "For
the first time, I met other people who had to deal with
a young child with this disease. It was an eye-opener
to see these parents relax a bit and let their kids
just be kids."
She is now a certified diabetes nurse educator with
the specialty care center at Children's Hospital.
A common family issue, Williams said, is jealousy.
Brothers and sisters see the extra attention given to
their chronically ill sibling, and family schedules
and plans seem to revolve around that child. Nurses
address this issue at daily parent conferences during
camp, and often learn new things about dealing with
it, too.
Jan Tyroch, RN, a clinical nurse specialist in Scott
& White's neurology department, has been involved
with camps at Peaceable Kingdom since it began nearly
20 years ago.
She recalls that early neurology camps included siblings,
but said that now there are so many patients that there
simply isn't room. So, at the weeklong camp for pediatric
neurology patients, families are invited to join campers
for the last day.
Nurses who have participated in the camps say they
look at their patients a little differently afterward.
"You have more insight with the children, get to
know them a bit better," Prater said. "You
see if they are really doing their medications. It's
a chance to do some one-on-one with a child."
"Camp helps nurses see children with chronic illnesses
in a personal way," Williams said. Nurses who participate
in the diabetes camp also learn at lot about the disease.
"You find out so much more about the kids at camp,"
Tyroch said. "You establish a good rapport with
the kids and their families, and they are so much easier
to treat after that. As a nurse, the neatest thing is
seeing them out of the medical environment."
Nurses receive other benefits from the camp experience,
too.
"Everybody needs a break from the routine, and
this is a nice one," Prater said. "It challenges
you to be organized in a different way, to make do with
what you have. It is a great change of pace."
"This is camp-the shorts, the sunscreen, the ice
cream, the fun stuff," Williams said. "I know
the nurses enjoy it, because they come back every year."
Nurses volunteer to attend the Children's Hospital
diabetes camp and are not paid, although they do receive
CEUs.
The biggest challenge for nurses at the overnight camps
is the lack of rest. It is round-the-clock duty.
But nurses said it is worth it to be around the children.
"Seeing them have new experiences, especially
those who get no other opportunity to go to camp, that
is the best," Prater said.
Contact
Melissa Gaskill at gaskill@dbcity.com.
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