Having kidney disease can be a lonely existence for a kid. The continuous demands of medications and procedures make things hard, but the Harriet Lane Kidney Center, part of the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, has devised a clever and fun way to help those kids feel not-so on their own for at least a little while. It’s called Camp All Stars.
First started in 2003, Camp All Stars is a two-day overnight camp specifically designed for children and young adults ages 10 to 21 who have chronic kidney disease, are on dialysis, or have had kidney transplants. The older campers, ages 18-21, serve as leaders and mentors to the younger campers. Activities at the camp, held at the YMCA’s Camp Letts near Annapolis, include archery, arts and crafts, canoeing, horseback riding and scavenger hunts. The real purpose behind Camp All Stars, however, is to just let kids be kids and get their minds off their worries and commune with friends.
“We want the kids to have fun and meet others like themselves,” says Shirl Wood, camp director. “It’s about coming together to be together and not thinking about their disease.”
The camp is funded in large part by the board of the Harriett Lane Home Foundation, whose support over the years has been extraordinary, Woods says. The camp is also supported by the Joy in Childhood Foundation.
“Without the philanthropic support of donors, such as the Harriet Lane Home Foundation and the Joy in Childhood Foundation, we simply would not be able to provide this meaningful program to our patients,” says Wood. “We are extremely grateful.”
The Harriet Lane Home Foundation also supports the Children’s Center’s palliative care program and other initiatives in the Division of Pediatric Nephrology, including a transplant reunion, the RENEW Clinic for patients with obesity related hypertension, and research by pediatric nephrologists Cozumel Pruette, Olga Charnaya and Meredith Atkinson, among others.
The camp is staffed by a fully trained medical team to help the kids with anything they might need medically speaking, from hooking up dialysis to dispensing medications. “Nurse Barbara” is a favorite to thirteen-year-old Kaylee Townsley, who just completed her third (or fourth, she can’t remember) camp last summer. She brags of all the fun times she has had at Camp All Stars.
“I just really, really love it,” Kaylee says in a happy, rapid-fire voice only a teen could muster. “There’s all these fun things to do and the food delicious and healthy. And then, at the end, you get a medal and a t-shirt!”
Camp All Stars has proven so successful that many campers return after they are too old to attend to serve as counselors to new generations of All Stars.