Young patients attend Townsend summer camp

Summer Camp--these words conjure up fond memories of childhood summers for many adults and mean eager anticipation for children everywhere as they look forward to upcoming adventures from swimming and cookouts to walks by a creek and hiking through the woods. For children with physical limitations and disabilities or with serious illnesses like cancer and other blood disorders, summer camp might seem like a faraway dream. But thanks to Children’s Hospital and the monetary assistance of people throughout East Tennessee, this popular summertime experience is a reality for dozens of children this year at Camp Eagle’s Nest, a special camp designed exclusively for kids with special medical needs. This year’s camp will be held July 30-August 3 at Wesley Woods in Townsend, Tenn., and the more than 50 children from ages 6 through 18 attending the weeklong camp will participate in a wide variety of fun activities and outdoor play including archery, caving, tubing, canoeing, crafts, snorkeling, photography, swimming, horseback riding, hiking, and orienteering (where the campers learn ways to navigate through the outdoors). Campers will also enjoy cookouts and creek walks, take a trip to the nearby falls, make ice cream, go on a scavenger hunt, and stage a talent show complete with a karaoke machine. The fact that each child in attendance is affected by either cancer or a blood disorder might only be apparent if you knew the “true identity” of their counselors at Camp Eagle’s Nest: all are doctors, nurses and other medical staff from East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, allowing a unique opportunity for the hospital staff to interact with patients outside of the hospital. And thanks to the generous support of Children’s Hospital and the East Tennessee community, each child attends Camp Eagle’s Nest free of charge. East Tennessee Children’s Hospital is a private, independent, not-for-profit pediatric medical center which has served the East Tennessee region for nearly 70 years and is certified by the state of Tennessee as a Comprehensive Regional Pediatric Center.