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Patients and Physiotherapists: Growing Stronger Together
By Gwen St. John
Recalling the Physiotherapy Today (June/July 2009) article about the "Fifth Annual Co-ed Physiotherapy Beach Volleyball Face-Off" to support Camp BUCKO, prompted me to contribute to OPA's "Stronger In So Many Ways" campaign. Do you realize for how long and in how many ways physiotherapists have been involved with Camp BUCKO; did you know Camp BUCKO was STARTED by two physiotherapists working in Burn Care in London, ON?
I believe programs such as Camp BUCKO are crucial in assisting our young participants to become ‘stronger, in so many ways’,  following devastating injury such as a severe burn. I also appreciate the associated benefits to us volunteers, who, in turn, become stronger in the process.
I have found physiotherapists, in general, to be quite humble in taking credit for their accomplishments. In the past, I too have routinely minimized my role in the development and success of Camp BUCKO, always recognizing and speaking about the necessity of true "teamwork" in achieving the best result. I would like to take this opportunity to relay a bit of Camp BUCKO's history to you.
A fellow physiotherapist and I began the ground work for a Burn Camp Program for Ontario children in January of '94 and embraced a unique multicentre approach in the establishment of our organizing team. Only the third of its kind in Canada, our inaugural camp was held in August of '95. I was able to continue to lead this work for the next 11 years, during which the program "became stronger", as evidenced by:
- A week-long residential summer Burn Camp was successfully held and made available to a growing number of children primarily throughout Southwestern Ontario for 12 consecutive years,
- Successful approval as a Registered Charitable Organization (2000) with a Board of Directors representing some of the wide geographical areas our program aimed to serve and consisting of diverse, key stakeholders including healthcare providers, family members and firefighters.
- Evolution of programming to include a Camp Exchange Program, a growing number of activities and opportunities throughout the year and the initiation of a Family Camp Program.
Camp participants became stronger by developing their confidence and leadership potential in a supportive environment amongst their peers. T-shirts were willingly removed for swimming for the first time, children and campers were able to share personal stories, fears and frustrations safely and privately with friends or more openly at campfire sharing times, as they felt stronger and ready.
Fast friendships were made with peers who truly knew what each other had gone through and continue to go through every day.  Campers had opportunities to speak to the public on behalf of the camp and represent Camp BUCKO and/ or their Burn Unit at International Camps. Many have maturely expressed the desire to give back, grateful for the experiences from which they have benefitted, and have embraced opportunities to do so by, for example, participating in the Camp Volunteer Training Program and subsequently returned as volunteer camp counselors every year.
In 2006, what was to be my last year at camp, I witnessed the Camp BUCKO program coming full circle; several of our inaugural campers (who, incidentally, I had worked with closely as toddlers suffering extensive burns) who had attended camp every year since and participated in the volunteer training program were, for the first time, returning as volunteer counselors. What an amazing evolution for them!
Physiotherapists have supported Camp BUCKO in so many meaningful ways, including:
- establishing annual fundraising initiatives (such as the Beach Volleyball Tournament and the UWO Students' Talent Show and Silent Auction),
- serving on the Board of Directors and Planning Committees, and
- volunteering at camp in Administrative, Camp Counselor and Camp Therapist capacities.
I know several Camp BUCKO graduates, now seasoned camp volunteers, who are committed to becoming strong and influential members of the organization's Board of Directors. They are determined to give back to the organization and their communities. I am sure the current board is enthusiastically welcoming the prospect of these strong, mature, focused and dedicated young people becoming the organization's leaders of the future. Who better to understand and represent the needs of Pediatric Burn Survivors than Pediatric Burn Survivors themselves. A special phrase, coined by young campers in the early BUCKO years, "I'm BUCKO for Life" certainly seems to be holding true!
Camp BUCKO was in part established to foster the development of participants' strength, in so many ways including the confidence, determination and motivation to aim high throughout their lives. Fifteen years after its conception, I cannot imagine a better testament to the program's success than the realization of this dream.
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