If a fire has ever affected you, one of the images seared in your memory would likely be a firefighter.
At Easter Seals Camp Horizon organizers have been hosting annual water fights between firefighters and campers, who have been burned or scarred, to help change campers perspectives of emergency responders.
Ian McKee, director of the Alberta Fire Fighter Burn Camp, said the day is a way to rebuild relationships with young adults whose last memory of an emergency responder was from a traumatic experience on what might very well be the worst day of their lives.
“So for them to come out to camp where they can interact with firefighters in a different manner changes their last memory of what they have. So we become that friend again, that mentor, that social network that these burn survivors need,” said McKee.
More than 65 campers affected by burns, nurses from the Calgary and Edmonton burn unit and more than 45 firefighters from across Alberta including Kananaskis, Calgary, Edmonton and Redwood Meadows attended the event on Thursday.
“We look forward to this day every year,” said George Low, deputy Fire Chief from Redwood Meadows.
“We love it, it is another way of helping and interacting with the kids – it is the most fun day of summer.”
The Alberta Fire Fighter Burn Camp works in partnership with Easter Seals Camp Horizon to host a weeklong camp for young burn survivors.
“This is where kids can come together and share their stories with other kids who have been through similar experiences, no one else can truly understand what they have been through,” said Linda Firlotte, Camp Horizon’s fund development officer.
Camp Horizon specializes in outdoor and adventure-based programs for children, youth and adults with disabilities and medical conditions offering a variety of outdoor activities including high-ropes challenge courses, swinging on a giant swing, and rock climbs.
The camp runs 10 weeks with each week specialized toward a specific disability or illness.
“We bring them here to make them feel special - the campers come to camp and can just be a kid again,” Firlotte said.
Camp Horizon costs approximately $1,200 per child for one week of specialized camp. Camper-to-staff ratios are maintained at three-to-one or lower, organizers explained in a previous interview. Through generous donations, Easter Seals Alberta subsidizes the fee by 50 per cent so that all campers have the chance to attend camp.
The Kinsmen Club of Calgary built Easter Seals Camp Horizon in 1965, located 10 km southwest of Bragg Creek, off of Highway 66 – the camp hosts an average of 1,200 campers annually on the 62-acre lot in Kananaskis Country.
For more information on the camp and programs go to easterseals.ab.ca/camp.
