Kids find a place with heart at Camp Oki
August 17, 2010
Leslie Ferenc
STAFF REPORTER
LAKE JOSEPH, MUSKOKA—Camp Oki, for kids with heart conditions, turns life-threatening into life-changing.
It’s where ‘can’t, shouldn’t and don’t’ — boundaries often imposed by protective parents and even the children themselves — aren’t part of the vocabulary, because at Oki disabilities become possibilities. And they’re limitless.
Zoe Gingerich and Deirdre McIntosh know all about that. But give them a chance to catch their breath first. The two emerged soaking wet from the water after bouncing around Lake Joe on a tube towed by a powerboat. Their laughter and screams of delight were heard from shore as their blowup craft flipped on a sharp turn, tossing them into the wake.
“That was so much fun,” said Zoe, who has had a pacemaker from the time she was born. The device kicks in when her heart needs help. “Sometimes you can see it working,” said the 12-year-old.
Zoe prefers to ride the waves on the two-person tube. It’s easier than the other water toy, where she has to lie on her chest as it skips the waves behind the boat. “It’s bumpy and could disconnect a wire.”
No worries this time around, she said as she checked her chest where the pacemaker has been surgically implanted. As with the other kids, a scar marks the spot. Zoe also puts on her hearing aid. “The medicine I took as a baby damaged my ear,” she explained.
Good thing she remembered to take it off before going out on the water. Otherwise, she’d have trouble hearing the kudos from her buddies about her escapade on the water. She was especially interested in what a certain 12-year-old Prince Charming had to say. After all, he’s now a BCFF (best camp friend forever).
Deirdre has had a pacemaker “since I was 27 minutes old,” she said. “I don’t remember getting it, but that’s how long I’ve had it.”
Doctors were well aware of her heart condition before she was born and were ready to install the device as she took her first breaths.
In the week she’s been at Oki, the 9-year-old filled her days with her favourite activities, including paddling in the war canoe, tubing, sailing, swimming and playing games. “I can do everything at camp,” Deirdre said proudly.
That’s why Oki is a summer paradise for the children. Open-heart surgery, heart transplants, defibrillators or other hardware are not barriers, said Dr. Joel Kirsh, a pediatric cardiac electrophysiologist at the Hospital for Sick Children. In short, he specializes in heart rhythm abnormalities.
He is also the founder and medical director at Oki, established seven seasons ago on the site of the CNIB Centre near picturesque MacTier.
“Camp is an opportunity for our children to experience what others experience,” said Kirsh, adding it’s also an ideal place for medical staff, including three nurses from the cardiac clinic at Sick Kids, to get to know children outside a busy hospital setting where kids are patients and sometimes “seen through a narrow keyhole.”
This year, 55 children aged 8 to 15 spent a glorious week at Oki. A big kid at heart, Kirsh was right there in the thick of things. He left his white lab coat in his Sick Kids office, replacing it with an Oki t-shirt, camp cap and lifejacket for water sports.
The kids who come to camp represent a fraction of the children who attend the clinic, which records 10,000 visits annually. Kirsh dreams of one day establishing a permanent summer program to accommodate more children who could use a break. He also envisions training programs for older campers who will then take on leadership roles as counsellors.
In the meantime, Oki continues to offer what other camps can’t — the opportunity for children to have fun without worrying about their medical needs. It makes a difference for their parents, too, who are confident medical help is on-site round the clock should their children need it.
For Kirsh, camp gives all his kids an opportunity to lives fuller lives and meet others just like themselves. He’s seen what it’s done for hundreds of kids over the years. They arrive timid and nervous. They leave self-assured and more independent. They return the following year having built on life skills and lessons learned at camp.
“Many can’t imagine life without camp,” added Kirsh. “At Oki, there’s nothing the kids can’t do.”
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