Camp Lake Owen

I recently came back from working at a kids' camp in northern Wisconsin. There were a whole bunch of kids from different states and with different backgrounds. I really had a great time not because the weather was nice or I got to relax or anything but because I got to meet a lot of campers over there. I worked as one of the medical team consisted of 2 nurses and 2 athletic trainers. They were also fun to work with.

Well, I was there for 2 weeks working with those campers. They kept us busy...... Lots of taping ankles and injuries that we had to take care of. Some cases were harder to evaluate than others. From simple ankle sprain to ACL sprain to head injury............. But that was not the most challenging thing to me. The most challenging thing was to get to know each kid within a short period of time. Most kids stayed for a week since it was a week-long camp session. But some stayed 2 or 3 weeks. There were propably close to 300 campers...I think. To be honest, it's almost impossible to get to know them all in a week. And I didn't get to meet a lot of campers that were not injured. But to me, you cannot work with kids unless you know them and about them. Each kid is different. They all have a different personality, charactor, and they are all from different backgrounds. For example, it makes it harder to evaluate an injury if you don't know how the kid usually reacts to an injury. Some may overreact. Some may just cry. And they will have hard time describing it in words. So, it is our job to get as much as information as we can get and take care of the kid. Not just the injury but the kid. Some are shy and some are nervous talking to someone that he/she doesn't know.

When we got busy, I was not able to spend as much time taking care of them as I wanted to. They may have felt ignored, but I promise I DID NOT. I tried. I could have done a better job with it. So, if I am given another chance to work there at the camp, I am going to do a better job than this time.

But at the end, I really had a wonderful time. It was great to see the campers smiling and having fun. It was nice to be able to be around those kids and get to know them a little. At the end, I LOVE WORKING WITH KIDS!!! and I love them! There is nothing better than seeing their smile. The Bible says that there is no such thing as perfection besides God. But kids' smile is PERFECT because it is a perfect gift given by God.