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About Heart Camp

June 12–16, 2012

“Heart Camp is a place Rachel can just be a kid that is accepted and has endless fun. We actually work our summer schedule around Heart Camp.”
- Debbie Marting

Heart Camp provides an opportunity for patients of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC with heart disease to enjoy the beautiful surroundings of Camp Kon-O-Kwee.

Heart disease affects approximately 1 percent of all children born in the United States, yet very few who have heart disease are aware of others with the same problems. As a result, many children with heart conditions feel isolated.

Heart Camp helps children and adolescents with heart disease feel less isolated by introducing them to other children like themselves.

A Friendly Environment

Each year, more than 150 children ages 8–16 with heart conditions attend Heart Camp. Campers are encouraged to make new friends and share their experiences. Camp provides them with an opportunity to participate in sports and other camp activities to the best of their abilities without fear of being judged by others.

Campers also have role models in their Heart Camp counselors and junior counselors. All of the counselors and junior counselors have heart conditions and were campers themselves at one time. They can speak from their past hospitalizations, tests, surgeries and illnesses; and are proof that children with heart disease can become normal functioning adults.

Make New Friends

Heart Camp is test- and pain-free. As such, it provides an opportunity for the children to interact with their doctors and nurses in a non-medical setting. In this environment, campers learn to view the medical staff as friends, while the medical staff learns more about each child’s personality and limitations.

Last Update
July 29, 2011

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