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Friday April 25, 2008

Summer of smiles: Camp helps chronically ill kids feel normal

by dan pine
staff writer

Camp Simcha Special in Upstate New York is like most other Jewish summer camps. Kids swim in the lake, play games and frolic in the woods. And if they need it, they can also get dialysis.

Camp Simcha Special kids are not like most kids. Ranging in age from 8 to 17, all suffer from serious chronic illnesses, ranging from genetic disorders to childhood strokes.

For eight years, Dr. Stuart Ditchek has served as the camp’s medical director. It’s part of his job to train the staff to provide the best medical care possible to the 125 kids attending Camp Simcha.

One thing the kids don’t get is pity.

“People who pity kids with chronic illness have no place in our camp,” says the Brooklyn pediatrician, who recently spoke in the Bay Area about his work at the camp. “[The children] hate pity. They want to be treated like regular kids.”

And for two to eight weeks every summer, they are. At Simcha, no one looks twice at a kid in a wheelchair, on oxygen or having lunch via gastronomy feeding tube in the dining hall.

As Ditchek notes, the kids even take pride in who they are and what they have.

“We had a parade through camp,” he recalls. “Kids made posters about their diseases. The muscular dystrophy kids had signs that said ‘Walking is Overrated.’”

The camp is a program of Chai Lifeline, an international Orthodox-led organization providing services to Jewish kids with special medical needs. The camp is free to campers, and many of the medical and counseling staff volunteer their time. There are also separate camp sessions for kids living with cancer.

A pediatrician with a specialty in high-risk medical problems and genetic diseases, Ditchek considers his work at Simcha a blessing not only to the campers, but also to the families. For most, caring for a child with serious chronic illness is a fulltime job. Camp provides a vacation for moms and dads, too.

“The parents trust us,” Ditchek says. “The medical staff counselors are amazing people. It’s a diverse group of campers, and it’s fascinating to take care of them.”

Campers come from all across the Jewish spectrum, and participate in plenty of Jewish activities, from Shabbat prayers and sing-alongs to concerts by Jewish music artists.

Ditchek starts preparing for camp in February, collecting medical equipment and training staff. The infirmary has everything from ventilators and an ambulance to a dialysis machine.

His days at camp are long, but the doctor says his work there is pure joy. “Not a day goes by when I don’t see things I haven’t seen before, medically or socially.”

Raised in Borough Park, N.Y., Ditchek still makes his home in Brooklyn’s Flatbush section. He works at NYU Medical Center, and has also recently become the medical director of the Jewish Genetic Diseases Consortium. He and his wife, Ruby, have five children, ranging in age from 5 to 20.

Camp Simcha Special is a family affair for the Ditcheks. All of them attend camp together, and his wife — a pediatric occupational therapist — runs the camp bakery.

Though he faces daunting challenges at camp, Ditchek gives most of the credit to his staff. And to the campers, who impress him every day with their courage.

“I’m a minor player compared to the people caring for the kids every day, the parents, the counselors, the medical staff. They do the heavy lifting. I’m just having a lot of fun.”

For more information on Camp Simcha Special, go to www.chailifeline.org.

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