Camp Discovery offers cancer survivors support and fun

Three-time cancer survivor Barbara Thomas thoroughly enjoyed her first experience with Camp Discovery this year.

The event, now in its third year, is organized by the Department of Occupational Therapy in Augusta University’s College of Allied Health Sciences. Camp Discovery is a one-week, activity-based program held at the HUB for Community Innovation Augusta. The program’s goal is to support women who are cancer survivors while building community, improving quality of life and increasing engagement through meaningful activities and exercises.

Occupational therapy students help plan each year’s activities, and, with the community support, they have been able to offer the camp free of cost to the participants.

This was Thomas’ first time participating, and she enjoyed the week’s events that featured jewelry making, flower arranging, learning to plant herb gardens and baking pizzas with Augusta Locally Grown, as well as health tips and discussions.

Thomas said everyone’s spirits “perked up a little bit” when the participants saw they weren’t alone in what they were going through.

“I think I could be an encouragement to them, and I could be a role model to them if they can see me and see how well I’m doing after what I went through,” she said.

Thomas said the camp gave her a chance to meet new people while learning different exercises to help relax and take her mind off her day-to-day life. She learned about the camp through her cancer support group at Wellstar MCG Health.

“This camp was just fun, and it was very innovative,” Thomas said. “The volunteers and the occupational therapy students were right there to help us do all the activities. The exercises and the meditation are both great for my physical and mental health; even coloring pictures just took my mind off what I’m going through, and it relaxed me. I love it, and if I’m able, I will be here next year.”

Creating opportunities

Pam Kearney, EdD, co-organizer of the camp and department chair of the Occupational Therapy program, said Camp Discovery was created by colleagues Colleen Maher and Rochelle Mendonca, PhD, in Philadelphia almost 15 years ago at what is now St. Joseph’s University.

They talked about bringing Camp Discovery to Augusta when Kearney moved, and they did so in 2023 with the help of Patty Watford and Beth Willson, both occupational therapists, and Hari Kashyap, PhD, at the Georgia Cancer Center.

“We know that cancer diagnosis and treatment can have a negative impact on quality of life and participation in meaningful occupations, in addition to a host of other challenges such as fatigue, memory difficulties and low endurance,” Kearney said. “Often, these challenges continue even after women go into remission. Our goal for Camp Discovery is to provide an avenue for women to give and receive peer support while addressing some of these impacts.”

Kearney said they had 19 participants this summer, an increase over the past two years. One student from the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University volunteered, as well as six OT students who completed their Level 1 fieldwork requirement.

“Occupational therapy is a hands-on profession. As a program, we take pride in incorporating what I call authentic learning experiences into the curriculum, where students have the opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills with actual community members, not just practicing on classmates,” Kearney said. “OT is a profession that extends beyond health care to K-12 education settings and community settings, so experiences like Camp Discovery are important to not only allow students an opportunity to develop their therapeutic and interpersonal skills, but also to envision possible roles for occupational therapy in non-traditional types of settings.”

Expanding the experience

Kearney said they added monthly meetings in the fall of 2024 at the request of the participants to supplement the one week during the summer.

During the fall semester, Camp Discovery serves as a service-learning experience for one of the courses, and, in the spring, it is a volunteer opportunity for students. The participants have said the activities they do during Camp Discovery go a long way to creating a better quality of life.

“For Camp Discovery, we strive to balance education with movement activities such as yoga and tai chi and creative expression activities. Conversation flows around the table and the room during activity, which fosters a sense of community and support that we have seen extend beyond the program,” Kearney said.  

“I have seen and heard a lot of information sharing as well as women sharing about their experiences and offering support to each other,” she continued. “Our participants have talked about how much they appreciate being able to talk about their experience with others who understand what they are going through or have gone through – and how families, even the most well-meaning, often don’t truly understand. There was a discussion about how long side effects of chemotherapy can last, and the physician who was there said sometimes side effects never go away. One of our participants asked if she could record the physician saying this on her phone so she could share with her children, who don’t understand why she is still talking about side effects months after chemo ended.”