Children with severe disabilities or illnesses are often unable to participate in summer activities many others take for granted. MedCamps allows these special needs children to participate in activities such as canoeing, archery, and horseback riding in its summer camp programs.
"What we do is try and remove as many barriers that stand in the way of an activity, and then we encourage them to reach their full potential," says Executive Director Caleb Seney.
Offering an authentic summer camp experience, the camps are held at Camp Alabama, just outside of Choudrant. There is a complete medical team on staff, who are able to attend to the specific needs of each camper. The camp began as a one week retreat for children with asthma.
"The really cool thing about it is that the promise was made when we got started in 1987 that we would never charge any dues or fees for the children to attend camp. That was easy when it was just 13 kids attending a one week camp. Its still true today. We don't charge any fees anybody to attend camp, and kids travel from across the state, the numbers are much higher, and the weeks are 8-10 sessions a summer," explains Seney.
Each week long camp is related to a specific disease or disability, including spina bifida, cerebral palsy, sickle cell anemia, and many more. Each campers parents must fill out an application, and receive a physician's signature in order to attend, but there is never any charge to family.
To find out more information about MedCamps, visit the website, or call 877-282-0802.
