Over the weekend there was a story in Newsday about us. (See below.) Well, I learned this morning from our amazing marketing director, Karen Rauter, that Newsday put up on its web site a little video that goes along with the story. Here is Ynez, a camper last session, just after she's arrived home on the bus, met by her happy dad. Turn your volume up and listen to what Ynez says. She'll be back next summer.
Ynez has a kidney transplant. Thus she's obviously not on hemodialysis. So what's the big deal about sending her to camp? Well (this will be old news to many reading this entry), she needs to take scads of meds and these have to be monitored and occasionally adjusted. She might need some light (or intense) supervision on her diet. And, having been understandably and perhaps necessarily sheltered--a kid who's spent more time with nurses, doctors, social workers, parents and adult family members than with people her own age--she might need special attention in her effort to be just one of the kids in her cabin. So while Frost Valley may be one of the only camps where a young patient on dialysis can attend "regular" summer camp (be mainstreamed), it's probably also true that this is one of the few places where a young transplant patient can attend safely and confidently and have the normal camp experience while renal experts are in the background, making sure that on the medical side everything is hunky dory.
Here's the link to the video.
