Outreach Programs

Our outreach programs in the off-season continue to grow. Included are bereavement support weekends held at the Camp, home visits to campers and their families, health-related seminars and retreats for health professionals, young adult cancer survivors and various health organizations and our Hospital Outreach Program.

Since 2003, our Hospital Outreach Program has brought the hopeful, playful spirit of Camp to children and families in hospital and clinic settings. We offer unique, creative and developmentally appropriate activities and interactions. By so doing, we help to restore joy, laughter and self-esteem in times often laden with change and uncertainty.

Camp’s full-time pediatric clinical psychologist supervises and administers the Hospital Outreach Program. All of our Outreach Specialists are veteran Camp staff members with broad experience in Camp’s programming, philosophy and style of interaction with children. They receive ongoing professional training in principles of child development, behavior management, activity planning and the needs of medically special children and their families. Our Hospital Outreach Program operates year-round and, consistent with other Camp programs, is available to campers, families and hospitals free of charge.

What We Do

Through one-on-one and group visits, we bring Camp’s unique summer programming and spirit to hospitals and clinics in the community. We work collaboratively with hospital staff to enhance, augment or support existing programs focused on improving quality of life during treatment. 

Our interactions and activities with children and families include arts, crafts and interactive games, all specially adapted to this unique setting. Camp’s summer program serves as the inspiration for many of these activities. Just like at Camp, all interactions are guided by the child’s choice and are child-driven. Outreach specialists also take into account the specific needs of our clinic and hospital partners, and make any necessary adaptations. Flexibility and teamwork are key values in our program.
 
Our Partners

From an initial partnership in 2003 with Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, the program has grown to include Yale New Haven Hospital, Boston Medical Center, Children’s Hospital Boston, the Jimmy Fund Clinic at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts-New England Medical Center, UMASS Memorial Children’s Medical Center, and Hasbro Children’s Hospital, among others.

Our Goals

• To help make the hospital experience more pleasant and less frightening for children and families; 
  

• To complement and contribute to existing hospital Child Life and volunteer programs, and lessen the load for busy hospital staff;  

• To maintain relationships with our campers that began during our summer program;

• To bring a variety of innovative, creative, fun and highly appealing activities to children in the hospital on a regular basis; 

• To augment special programming for specific populations served by the hospital including teens, survivors, siblings, families, and illness groups, particularly cancer, and blood and immune disorders; 

• To increase awareness of other Camp resources, including the summer program, to staff and eligible families.