Penn State Health: Custom-Made Camp for Kids with Heart Conditions

Camper Kaeden Rhoads makes his way down a zip line at Camp Lionheart, the annual summer camp for children with heart disease held at Camp Kirchenwald in Colebrook Township, Lebanon County.

Custom-Made Camp for Kids with Heart Conditions

PENN STATE HEALTH CAMP LIONHEART OFFERS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SUMMER FUN AND NORMALCY

This summer, Kaeden Rhoads will spend a week hiking, biking, and having fun with a group of campers hailing mostly from central Pennsylvania. He can’t wait, but at the same time, he knows the stakes for kids at this camp run far beyond combating homesickness or scraped knees. He understands that for some campers, the summer of 2022 is their first shot at being a normal kid.

For others, more profoundly, it could be their last shot.

Rhoads knows all too well what the summer holds. This will be his first year as a counselor, but he’s no stranger to Camp LionHeart. The Millersville native was born with life-threatening heart defects and has had many open-heart surgeries since his first one at just four days old. Camp LionHeart was custom made for kids just like him.

Every summer since 2016, Camp LionHeart offers a chance at normalcy for children who have previously undergone open heart surgery for heart defects present at birth or who have chronic heart diseases such as cardiomyopathy. Nurses, physicians, and other medical personnel volunteers provide around-the-clock coverage over the course of the five-day camp. In addition, two Life Lion Emergency Medical Services and Critical Care Transport paramedics volunteer their time.

While offering many traditional activities like swimming, biking, canoeing, and — Rhoads’s favorite — ziplining, Camp LionHeart also provides participants opportunities to learn about their hearts in the company of other children with heart disease.

“As a person with a heart defect, I’ve struggled with people bullying me because I’m different,” Rhoades said. “At this camp, you don’t have to worry about that because you’re there with kids who are just like you.”

One of the most important things that the camp does is to teach kids how to take more responsibility for their own lives, says Dr. Thomas Chin, the camp’s founder and a pediatric cardiologist with Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, Penn State Health Lime Spring Outpatient Center, and, starting in July, the new Penn State Health Children’s Lancaster Pediatric Center. “Scattered throughout the campers’ days are sessions to learn about their medications and why they’re taking them, and what is going on with their hearts,” Chin said.

THE HEARTTHEMED LESSONS ARE ANYTHING BUT BORING, RHOADS SAYS.

“When they wanted to show us models of the heart, they didn’t just show us pictures,” he said. “They actually had 3D printed models that we could take apart to see all the different areas. And they brought in pig hearts — so similar to human hearts — so we could touch them and get an understanding of what it really feels like.”

Campers also learn about heart-healthy lifestyles and nutrition as well as life-saving techniques that can help others — such as hands-on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and how to use an automated external defibrillator. And they learn how to deal with grief and loss. Each camp session includes a butterfly service honoring previous campers and family members who have since died from heart disease.

This summer’s camp is Sunday, July 24 through Thursday, July 28, at Camp Kirchenwald in Colebrook, Lebanon County. Each year, in addition to accepting applications from interested campers with the knowledge and support of their cardiologists, the camp also welcomes applications for volunteer medical personnel with cardiology expertise and a passion for helping children with heart disease.

The camp is provided free of charge to all campers through donations from Children’s Miracle Network, Ellie’s Heart Foundation, Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, Penn State Health Children’s Heart Group and individual private donors. The camp is made possible by the Lutheran Camping Corporation of Central Pennsylvania and numerous volunteers, including physicians and nurses from Penn State Health Children’s Hospital and staff from Penn State Health Life Lion Emergency Medical Services and Resuscitation Sciences Training Center.

While the majority of campers are from central Pennsylvania and Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, youth from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and Boston Children’s Hospital have also participated.

Physicians who want to learn more about the program for their patients or to volunteer can visit the web site camplionheart-elliesheartfoundation. org and contact Elizabeth Hulstine at ehulstine@pennstatehealth.psu.edu or Dr. Chin at tchin@pennstatehealth.psu.edu.

Now a student at Harrisburg Area Community College where he’s studying protective services, Rhoads is counting down the days till this year’s camp.

“As a camper, I remember the counselors being parent figures and being so helpful,” he said. “I’m excited to step up and be there for the younger kids and help them with whatever they’re going through. And at the same time, I really look forward to seeing them get the same sense of independence that I did as a camper. The camp is just awesome.”