Oki first Canadian camp for kids with pacemakers
June 22, 2010
Leslie Ferenc
STAFF REPORTER
Good morning, Camp Oki. It’s time for breakfast.
It’s the daily wake-up call and you don’t have to ask the kids twice.
After a sound night’s sleep, hungry campers rush to the dining hall for some good grub. Even early in the morning, the walls rattle with the sounds of happy campers ready for whatever the day has to offer.
The sky’s the limit at Oki, the first Canadian camp for kids with pacemakers. It’s where kids can take a break from the trials and tribulations of living with a serious, even life-threatening, medical condition. At Oki, there are no patients.
Third-degree heart blockage, which causes her heart to beat slowly and out of sync, never stopped Harriet Luke from giving her all at camp from the time she was 14. That was her first year at Oki. It was also the year she got her pacemaker.
“I remember being excited to meet other people who were just like me,” said the now 20-year-old journalism student at Ryerson University, adding that before going to camp, she often felt like the only kid with a broken heart. “This is a weird thing to have. It’s most often associated with older people. So it was good to see people my age dealing with the same thing.
Luke knew she was in the right place when the kids all went swimming. “We all have the exact same scar on the left side, under the collar bone,” she said with a chuckle.
She loved the activities including canoeing, sailing, water and land sports, but it was the atmosphere and the people who really made the difference. It gave kids the confidence to push their limits because they could. It’s a safe environment with round-the-clock medical care if needed.
“We have camp fires every night,” said Luke, noting they’re a great opportunity for kids to mingle, get to know each other and sing silly camp songs.
When the kids are tucked in their beds, sometimes they talk about their conditions and how they’re coping. “It’s nice to be able to do that,” said Luke, who added it’s not exactly a topic of conversation with friends outside of camp.
“I decided to become a counsellor because of my great experiences at Oki,” said Luke who returns for her third summer as camp staff. “It’s such a positive environment that I didn’t want to let go of it. This is the only time I get to be around people like me. This is a little community.”
Camp also gives kids a chance to see their doctors in a different light. “The doctors are so much fun at camp,” said Luke. Once kids see them in a more relaxed environment, he said, they’re less likely to feel scared or intimidated at medical appointments back in the city.
Knowing their children are in the best of hands at Oki makes it that much easier for parents to let go as well. And that’s important. If not for Oki, Luke said she may never have gone away to camp. That would have been a real shame because “at Oki, you can be a regular kid.”
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