Two Special Nurses "On the Move"

In July, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital nurse practitioners Veronica Bastian and Shannon Laursen took a week's vacation and shared it with nine children diagnosed with heart disease. They served as cabin counselors at Victory Junction in North Carolina through North Star Reach's "Camp on the Move" program, which takes local children with serious health challenges to camp, until our new facility is built. Both Veronica and Shannon also helped recruit campers from the patients they see in their cardiology clinic.    

Veronica and Shannon: As pediatric nurse practitioners, we have had the opportunity to care for critically ill children that will have lifelong health problems; however we have never had the chance to spend time outside of the hospital with the children while they are feeling their best. Witnessing all of the children having 'firsts' in their lives such as riding a horse, kayaking, archery and zip lining was so incredible; to see the joy in their faces after they conquered their fears or to do something their parents would normally not have let them do. It is a feeling that is not easily put into words.

 On the way home from camp, we asked the kids "what does camp mean to you?"

- 'it let me be a kid without being a sick kid"

-"it has changed my life forever, this is my home, camp is where I belong, everyone there is family to me and I can't wait to come back to be a counselor"

- "camp made me realize that I don't need to worry about what others think of me, I can be myself and be ok with that" and

-"it's a place where people don't judge you; you can act yourself and not have to worry about what people say or what they think of you."

To hear these children speak so highly of their experience and to know the effect on their lives, their self-confidence and their self-esteem was very inspiring and powerful. We would encourage any parent of a child with a chronic health illness to consider camp for their child; it will be a life-changing event for them.