Camp Fun for Seriously Ill Children

Going to summer camp is part of growing up, but many of the normal activities of childhood are denied to children with serious illnesses. That is why the Sickle Cell Disease Research Foundation Summer Camp is special.

Saturday, 108 boys and girls from Southern California, Phoenix and Colorado will return home after a week filled with swimming, games, arts and crafts, drama, dancing and campfires at the Lazy W Ranch in San Juan Capistrano.

“It is just like regular camp only in a more controlled environment,” said Sherelyn Roberts, public relations officer for the Sickle Cell Disease Research Foundation. “They do all the things other kids at camp do. They get a chance to be normal.”

The camp, in its 19th year, is funded by corporate sponsors and individuals and is staffed by volunteers, including doctors and nurses. Although the cost for the week is $400 per child, each child pays only $5. All children between 6 1/2 and 14 who have sickle cell anemia are eligible to attend the yearly program.

Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease with no cure. In people who suffer from the disease, disc-shaped red blood cells become sickle-shaped and cannot easily pass through small blood vessels, causing blood to move sluggishly.

About 50% of the campers are on medication, and during the week some children went through crisis, which can be triggered by an infection, over-exertion, high altitudes or stress. The symptoms range from leg ulcers caused by poor circulation to drastically reduced circulation and oxygen shortages, which result in extreme pain and require immediate medical attention.

“But the other kids are sympathetic because they’ve been there themselves,” Roberts said. “Sometimes children can be cruel. Normal children don’t understand what pain these children go through or why they miss so much school.”

Most of the children in the infirmary one day last week, however, were being treated for bee stings. They were trying to catch them, reported Mary H. Brown, camp director.

The Right Stuff

Lori Dirkx’s record time of 39 seconds meant she had it in the bag when she left for New York recently for the Third Annual National Paper Grocery Sack Pack-Off. The 23-year-old Long Beach Vons Supermarket clerk had out-bagged 3,200 other Vons clerks to compete against the top 25 baggers from other chains across the country.

Although finishing the first round with the highest score in the four categories used to determine the winner, Dirkx came in third behind a bagger from Iowa and last year’s champ. Besides being nervous from the pressure, Dirkx said she was thrown by the tall bags used in the contest because Vons uses shorter bags.

She won $1,000 from Vons for being tops in its competition and $750 from the American Paper Institute, sponsors of the contest. Vons paid for her trip and expenses to New York and has promoted her to checker. Things did not go as well for Carlos Choto, 20, of Malibu who represented Hughes Markets. Even though he finished first in his heat, he did not make it to the finals, apparently losing out in the other categories of item arrangement, style and weight distribution. He received $150 and the trip to New York from Hughes for out-stuffing all other Hughes’ clerks.

A Nurse of Honor

Carole L. Larsen of Los Osos takes being named outstanding nurse in the country in stride. Selected by a board of nurses from hundreds of nominations nationwide, Larsen received the award--the first Nurse Mates Heart of Gold Award, sponsored by Lowell Shoe--at the American Nurses Assn. Convention in Anaheim last month.

Pat Attala, her supervisor at Home Health Agency of San Luis Obispo County, entered Larsen’s name in the nationwide contest.

“I was so impressed with the other finalists. I was in awe of what they were doing,” said Larsen, who was named 1985 Central Coast Nursing Cooperative Nurse of the Year. “I realized what I’ve always known--what a wonderful career nursing is.”

In 25 years as a home health care nurse, Larsen has seen dramatic technical improvements, allowing shorter hospital stays or even preventing hospitalization. She started a support group for families of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as one for patients with chronic lung disease. She also organized and taught geriatric classes in Central California.

“In the 12 years Carole has been with us, her energy level and enthusiasm have never gone down,” Attala said. “She sees lots of patients and her whole attention is always on that person. Everyone admires her, but I always tell new staff members not to try to keep up with her.”