Friday, June 24, 2005

Camp CAMP

Just got back from a great week at Camp CAMP. No seizures!!! And Mom and Dad got to have their first time together in nearly a year.

Children's Association for Maximum Potential (CAMP) is a non-profit corporation established in 1979 to provide a wide range of recreational, rehabilitative, educational, and respite services for children with developmental disabilities and their families. Central to each of CAMP's programs is the provision of medical support. This ensures that every child, regardless of the degree of his or her medical needs, will be able to participate in all programs. CAMP was founded with the express purpose of filling major gaps in services for children with developmental disabilities.

Back in the spring of 1979, Chris Johnson, a pediatric resident at the United States Air Force Medical Center in San Antonio, could have had no idea that performing a routine summer physical would change her life. Her young patient, Matt, had had a kidney transplant several years earlier. He also wore leg braces and a back brace. As Dr. Johnson conducted the physical exam, Matt chattered eagerly about the special camp for children with disabilities he was to attend that summer.

Chris Johnson dreamed of a camp that accepted all children, regardless of the severity of their disabilities. Her vision became a reality in 1980 when, with a grant from the Air Force Aid Society and the help of private donations, she founded Camp CAMP (Children's Association for Maximum Potential).

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