Burn Camp Brings Emotional, Spiritual Healing
By Charlie Waller, LPN
The cabins are decorated and the buses will soon arrive with the campers for Missouri Children’s Burn Camp. The excitement, joy and anticipation of summer camp is electrifying for campers, counselors and staff. There is no better place for these campers to be “normal” kids for a week. It’s a chance to heal, grow and accept themselves and others who have had similar experiences.
About 70 children a year attend the burn camp, held each summer at Lake of the Ozarks. For the last seven years, I have volunteered as a counselor and nurse at the camp. I am a burn survivor and an LPN in the Ambulatory Procedure Center. My connection began with these campers while working in the hospital’s Pediatric Acute Wound Service. Physical healing that began for the patient at the hospital needed continued emotional and spiritual healing. Burn camp addressed that need, and that’s why I felt drawn to participate.
Some consider nursing at camp a vacation, with its free room and board and leisure activities. Others say it resembles work with the long hours, constant worry and emotional roller coaster ride. No matter how you view it, the experience is priceless.
How could this adventure make me a better nurse for the campers and the patients at the hospital? The campers reminded me to be attentive to their non-verbal communication, follow their lead, open my heart and give more of myself. I showed them that burn survivors do grow up, move on and have a normal life.
For example, Henry, burned over 70 percent of his body when he was 5 years old, once required dressing changes that were physically and emotionally draining. He would never complain but sat quietly crying. We sang songs and talked. Now Henry is 15, and we reminisce about how he has grown and his plans for the future.
Sharing success stories with other patients gives them a glimpse of what can be, and that they are not in this alone. Discussing camp experiences with coworkers encourages us to care for the whole child, not just the injury. In doing so, the kids aren’t the only ones who heal emotionally and spiritually—we do as well.
The author, Charlie Waller, LPN, received the annual St. Louis Children’s Hospital Community Nurse Award in May. She can be reached at cmw0680@bjc.org.