Each summer, several camps across the country offer ventilator-assisted children a unique opportunity for fun and growth. These camps offer a wide variety of activities including swimming, sports, talent shows, arts and crafts and special events to entertain and educate campers. More importantly, these camps build confidence, foster independence and offer exciting, new experiences in a safe environment for children requiring ventilatory support. More at the link.
The camps are often staffed by a volunteer force of professionals that include physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, physical and occupational therapists, and educators. They also provide extensive medical and pulmonary care. Some camps also draw their volunteers from among university students majoring in various health care fields. Camps often require physician clearance before a child can attend.
Many of the camps are free for attendees, while others offer assistance for those unable to afford them. Often the camps rely on grants and donations for funding. Nearly all of the camps’ websites offer a way to donate online if you wish to support them.
Besides giving kids the opportunity to experience new and exciting activities, these camps also help foster a sense of independence. For many first-time campers, it is their first experience away from home without their parents alongside.
Also available from PPHI is a directory of funding resources for medical and adaptive equipment.
"This resource guide has been assembled to assist Americans with disabilities, particularly polio survivors with significant motor and breathing impairments, to find financial assistance for the costs of obtaining desired medical equipment and/or environmental adaptive modifications that are otherwise not affordable to them."The directory lists national resources and (scroll down) state-by-state local resources.
This is SO awesome!! How great for those who might otherwise feel so isolated ~
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a commercial for a portable oxygen tank, that shows an elderly woman pulling her tank up next to a campfire, leaving my wife and I left wanting the explosion our Michael Bay infected brains expect. :)
ReplyDeleteOxygen is of course not an explosive gas. But any cylinder of compressed gas should not be exposed to high external heat, They should be robust enough to tolerate a campfire nearby, but it obviously was not a well-thought-out commercial.
Delete