Children laugh, play at annual Burn Camp
FOMBELL, Beaver County — Carefree laughter and the banter of boys and girls rang through the valley at Camp Kon-o-Kwee on Tuesday as campers fished in a pond and made decorative cement stepping stones in a pavilion.
A visitor would never know the 36 youths at the camp outside of Zelienople were participating in West Penn Burn Center's fifth annual Burn Camp. All of the participants had been treated in the burn unit at West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, said Sandy Smith, a burn center outreach coordinator.
Smith said the campers, who range in age from 7 to 17, look forward to the weeklong event because it allows them to spend time with others who share their concerns, such as scarring or wearing a pressure garment.
"In the process, they move forward with healing and building self-esteem," said Smith.
The untrained eye would never realize the physical and emotional pain each camper has experienced, as the group looked and behaved like any other group of children and teenagers.
Eight-year-old Emily Thomas of Butler attended the camp for the second time. Emily burned her hand and abdomen when she fell onto an oven door and knocked it open at age 3. She was burned on the hot inside of the door.
"I screamed and ran out to the garage where my parents were and then I said 'I'm burning,'" recalled the petite McQuistion Elementary School student.
Emily caught three fish on Tuesday, but admitted they may have all been the same fish.
Her favorite camp activity is helping Kon-o-Kwee personnel outdoors, especially planting flowers and trees around the campus. Emily said the camp is important because it offers fun activities to youngsters who have gone through the agony of burn treatment.
"All the kids can, like, forget about what they had done to them and have a lot of fun."
Steve Manuel, 14, and David Hindman, 12, both in the Moniteau School District, also attended the camp. Typical adolescents, the boys mainly attend the camp to "hang out with friends from last year," but David admitted to feeling totally accepted at the camp.
"You get to have friends and meet people from different places," said David, who spent a week at the burn center after suffering wounds to his right shoulder and arm in a trash-burning accident.
The camp also offers swimming, tennis, archery, canoeing, a carnival and other activities. Campers go to peer group meetings each evening, where they can talk about their concerns.Before coming to Kon-o-Kwee, campers stopped at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, where they talked with fellow burn survivor Don Kelly, who plays shortstop for the Pirates. They then attended a Civic Light Opera show at the Benedum Center and went to Kennywood on June 1.On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh metro chapter of the Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society, or FOOLS, had lunch with the campers and helped them fish.The firefighters raise funds all year to help support the camp, and then spend a half day with the children. This year's camp is the fifth year the group has been involved.Chapter president Brian Kokkila pointed out the smiles on the faces of members as they baited hooks and helped campers cast their lines into the water."This is by far the guys' favorite thing to do with the kids," said Kokkila. "This camp is the single greatest thing we do as an organization."Smith said, "We have the camp because it's a place where the kids can feel comfortable and relate to others having the same experiences they have. They can talk about their burns. It's a safe environment."
