Camp Kno-Koma 2002
by Vince Stricker (1st
Year Volunteer)
Father of Katie Stricker
(Age 9, 3rd Year Camper)
I was invited to and attended the May Board Meeting in Charleston. I gained a real sense of the tremendous effort required to plan, organize, fund, and run a camp of this magnitude. There are numerous committees from Activities to Fundraising to Medical Supplies. Since I coach volleyball at Charleston Catholic High School, I volunteered to do volleyball clinics as one activity.
I woke up and began packing for camp, after working late the night before. It’s hard to get away from work to take a vacation! I wasn’t sure what to bring, so I used Katie’s camper’s list. I brought the essentials – a personal fan and 4 bottles of shaving cream. Both proved to come in handy! I drove up to Wheeling and checked into Camp Russel at Oglebay Park with the other counselors and volunteers at 7:00 pm. I am assigned to “Lucky 13” Cabin, the dreaded 13-year-old boys, along with the cabin nurse, Kevin, Dr. Bill, Phil, and our counselors, Matt and Dan. The cabins are quite nice, except the bunks are way too short for my 6’7’’ frame, and who turned off the A/C! I was really disappointed to find out we didn’t have a Jacuzzi bathtub, but we did have toilets and hot water in the showers. That night, I went out to dinner with some of the Camp Board members. They were very nice to me, and made me feel very welcome. I figure they were buttering me up, so that I would come back next year. Then later that night I got suckered into a card game of Spades. I hadn’t played Spades since my college days at WVU, when we used to play in the Chemical Engineering senior room. We had the self-proclaimed “card shark”, Jay, soundly defeated until my partner, a certain head counselor named Josh, reneged two hands in a row. Oh, well!
We wake up early in the
morning for breakfast, and we begin orientation for the counselors and other
staff volunteers. The staff did a great
job of going over the basics of diabetes, what to look for, when and how to
treat low blood sugars, various ground rules, etc. Clear expectations are given to the counselors and medical
staff. The staff and counselors take
the care of the campers very seriously.
We eat well on Saturday, and I have my last REGULAR Pepsi for the
week. What a sacrifice!!!
The big day has arrived
when the campers begin arriving for registration. I haven’t slept too well the first two nights out of anticipation
and apprehension. It was a little hot,
too! We have our last minute
meetings. I am in charge of putting on
a volleyball clinic on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. I set up the volleyball net, and Phil helps me put down the lines
with lime. Campers begin arriving
early, for the 1:00 registration. The
kids are registered in the main dining hall, but are sent to their respective
cabins to go over their diabetes regiment in detail with the cabin nurse. At 4:00 the bus from Charleston
arrives. My daughter, Katie is the
first one off the bus, and she gives me a big hug. I help her unload her luggage and make her bed. Katie is in with the young girls, 7 –
9. Some of these girls like Emily and
Cynthia, as well as other campers, I know from having visited with them in the
hospital at the time of diagnosis with the JDRF “Bag of Hope” Program. Some of these “first timers” seem pretty
homesick, but the counselors and staff do a great job of comforting them. Kandi does a great job with the young girls
as their cabin nurse, and she has a great group of counselors helping her out,
Krystan, Erin, Janelle, etc, etc. By
the next day, these homesick campers are all smiles, and are having a great
time. (Thank goodness, because I talked
some these Moms and Dads into sending their kids to Camp Kno-Koma!) The little boys are so cute. I dubbed them “RoxAnne’s Rug Rats”. RoxAnne is their nurse, and she gives them
hugs and kisses, and tucks them into bed at night. Jason is one of their counselors, and does a great job with the
little guys. I also learned early on,
not to turn your back on RoxAnne! At
every meal, when I wasn’t looking, she would sneak up on me and pour ice water
down the back of my leg. Now, is that
anyway to treat your volunteers? By now
all of the 13 year boys have arrived, 8 in all. We have about 135 campers altogether. The campers in our cabin
are Randy, Tyler, Mark, Parks, Kurt, Shane, CJ, and Nathaniel. I was a little concerned about dealing with 13-year
boys, but these guys were absolutely great, well behaved and respectful towards
the counselors and staff. The
counselors have the hard job. They are
responsible for keeping track of the campers and discipline. They did a great job, and made our life
easy. The medical staff makes all of
the medical decisions, i.e. blood sugar checks, insulin boluses, etc. It appears that over 50% of the campers are
on the pump. We have a very
entertaining football game outside our cabin.
The first night’s entertainment is a “drive-in” movie.
After breakfast, today,
and each day, we have a flag raising ceremony.
We also have a flag lowering ceremony after each dinner. This is in keeping with our patriotic
theme. The kids are taught how to
properly handle the flag. Each cabin is
assigned a ceremony. We had everything
from military marching to playing Taps on the trumpet. Something the campers learn right away. If you wear a cap or hat into the dining
hall for a meal, you have to do a silly song and dance called “Gray Squirrel”
in order to get your cap or hat back.
Also, another very nice tradition – first time diabetes related events
are announced after every meal, i.e. first finger prick, first shot, first pump
site change, etc., and there were lots of firsts. Katie had 3 firsts – I was so proud! To me, this is what the camp is all about. Next, we start our activities. These are the various activities Monday,
Thursday, and Friday mornings, that the campers get to choose. These activities include volleyball,
archery, biking, par 3 golf, miniature golf, dulcimer, zoo, nature walk,
basketball, soccer, fitness, etc. I conduct
the volleyball clinics. I had some
PLAYERS in my sessions. On Monday and
Thursday, we went swimming in the afternoon.
Lots of dunking kids, and lots of fun!
On Monday and Wednesday nights we had various field games. Next, we had a dance. Jeff did a great job as DJ. Be rest assured Moms and Dads, we keep the
distance between your sons and daughters!
I particularly kept a close eye on Katie!!! Lights out – a big day tomorrow.
Blood sugars are taken and recorded before each meal and at
bedtime. Blood sugars are also taken in
the middle of the night to ensure that no child has hypoglycemia during the
sleeping hours.
We are up at 6:00 am for
an early start to Kennywood. Steve, the
“Bus Nazi”, did a great job to account for every camper and staff, on a total
of 5 buses. Being an engineer, I had an
appreciation for his color coded cards and numbering system. This trip to Kennywood is not an easy
undertaking. Every bus, every activity
and event, are well staffed with counselors and medical staff. Most of the non-medical staff either have diabetes
or are well versed in diabetes care.
The camp is also high tech. We
had a lightning detector and weather service, and we did need it! All of the medical staff had radios. We did have a small storm. It didn’t really affect me, as I was getting
soaked in the Raging Rapids as the storm hit.
My shoes sort of went swoosh the rest of the day. All had a great time. I rode every roller coaster and log ride in
the park. Our cabin lost one radio and
one pair of eyeglasses on the Phantom’s Revenge! We did make everyone take off their insulin pumps. The next day one of the medical staff took
the camper who had lost his eyeglasses into town for an eye appointment and to
be fitted with new glasses. I was
really impressed by the personal touch.
These kids who suffer from diabetes are everything at this camp! On the way home, the buses got lost in
Pittsburgh, we couldn’t make it back without a pit stop, but we all made it
back to camp, all accounted for. Steve,
the “Bus Nazi”, sighed in relief!
Lights out – no problem sleeping out of pure exhaustion.
Rise and shine for an
easier day today with fishing, swimming, and crafts. Our cabin dominated the fishing competition with 3 winners. I had to help a little girl bait her hook
with worms – not my specialty. We did
crafts in the evening. Lots of
different crafts in keeping with the patriotic theme, such as red, white, and
blue tie-dye t-shirts. Also the kids
made arrows in the dining hall. Katie’s
arrow came in 2nd place. I
am really impressed with the archery guys.
They really make it fun for the kids and have a lot of imagination. Some of these activities looked so much fun,
I wish I could have participated.
More activities and the
pool again today. Today is the big day
for the theme dance. The theme this year was patriotic/USO. Corporal Klinger (Jay), complete with dress
and army boots, along with Uncle Sam (Steve) and Betsy Ross (RoxAnne) made
grand appearances. The Andrew Sisters
also made a guest appearance. If only
Dr. Z had seen Kevin in a dress! I was
a little nervous having Kevin as my bunkmate for the rest of the week! The kids were dressed to the hilt. After the dance we were treated to surprise
fireworks. They were very
impressive. I am really impressed by
the level of planning and creativity that goes into putting on Camp
Kno-Koma. Lights out. Flashlights on! A few campers had their fingernails painted tonight!
This morning we had to
have a flag lowering ceremony before we could have a flag raising
ceremony. As it turned out, we had to
lower 4 boys underwear from our cabin that was hoisted during the night by one
of the girls’ cabins. Thank goodness, I
didn’t see my underwear flying at half-mast!
More activities and the Carnegie Science Center today. The kids write thank you letters to sponsors
and volunteers of the camp. Nice
touch. Tonight was the free for all
shaving cream battle. This is one
situation where it is advantageous to be tall, as long as you don’t go
down. This was an unbelievable
sight. The fire department came to hose
us down. They stated that they wouldn’t
miss this event for the world. After
everyone cleaned up, we had a talent show and another dance. Tonight, lights out, but eyes open and
beware. Pranks are happening tonight!
The last day of
camp. The campers pack up, and parents
come to pick up their children. It is
hard to believe camp is over. An
experience of a lifetime! Many kudos to
the Camp Board, Staff, and Volunteers.
These individuals are very dedicated.
They do all the right things to take care of the children. They go to great lengths to make the camp a
truly fun experience. The children are
everything! Camp Kno-Koma is an
excellent opportunity to provide children with diabetes with a very safe
camping experience that they otherwise could not enjoy, a learning experience
of being with other children, whom struggle every day diabetes, and a little
diabetes education thrown in. I can’t
wait until next year!!!
I get a call from Kevin
today, to find out that one of the campers in my cabin, Tyler Butcher, was
killed Friday in an ATV accident in Shady Springs, WV. My heartfelt condolences and prayers go out
to the Butcher family. Tyler was a
wonderful boy, and an inspiration to all of us, as are all of our children who
suffer from diabetes.
I receive an e-mail
today from the Porters, that one of the counselors, Courtney Hughes, was killed
last week in an automobile accident.
Camp Kno-Koma has experienced another tragic loss. My heartfelt condolences and prayers go out
to the Hughes family. Courtney was a
passionate diabetes advocate, as her mother suffered from diabetes.