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Columns::September 10, 2001
UGA climbs again in ranking of national public universities
Alumna returns to discss the ethics of the political memoir
The next step
Finance professor builds global bridges
Newsmakers
Georgia Museum of Art exhibits works by American realist Whalley
Research Experience for Undergraduates
Administrative changes
UGA forms hazard assessment response team
Day of caring
Campus News
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| Nancy Williams is studying the impact and effectiveness of camps for young burn survivors and also teaching a service-learning course for UGA master’s students at the burn camp in Eatonton. Photo by Peter Frey |
Making memories
Social work students volunteer at camp for burn-injured children
By Laura Hartman Ciucevich
lciucevi@uga.edu
Essential summer camp memories: the smell of pine straw, the noise of splashing in the swimming pool, canoeing, arts and crafts, nature walks, horseback riding, camping out and campfires, camp songs in the dining hall. This past July, for a group of
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| CeCe Coleman (left), a camp counselor and UGA student, talks with some children who attended. Photo by Peter Frey |
110 children who are burn survivors, Camp Oo-U-La (located at Rock Eagle State Park in Eatonton) provided just such memories. It is the only camp in Georgia—and one of only 40 nationwide—dedicated to serving burn-injured children, ages 6 to 16.
Under the direction of Nancy Williams, assistant professor of social work at UGA, 22 master’s of social work students signed up for a service-learning program course as volunteers at the camp this summer. They were eager participants, enthusiastic about the children, the opportunity to learn social work practices and the intensive, hands-on learning experience. The preceding summer, 25 M.S.W. students participated in the course. Service learning, a form of experiential education now gaining popularity in institutions of higher education, emphasizes learning through community service and values development.
This spring, Williams received a grant from the Lois and Samuel Silberman Foundation to study burn camps. With the grant, she is undertaking exploratory research on the impact and effectiveness of three geographically diverse burn camps, through focus groups conducted with returning adolescent campers and volunteers. This study is a preliminary step towards an expanded evaluation process for such camps.
Founded in 1993 by the Georgia Firefighters’ Burn Foundation, the camp’s name, Oo-U-La, means “cool running water” in Cherokee. Any child who has been hospitalized in either of the two Georgia burn units (at Grady or the Medical
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| Camp director Michelle Dyer (left) spends time with some camp attendees before they embark on a limousine ride at the burn camp. Photo by Peter Frey |
College of Georgia) for at least four days is qualified to come to camp. Each child attends free of charge to his or her family, since all costs are borne by the Burn Foundation, a non-profit organization run by state firefighters. Many of the firefighters also volunteer at the camp each summer to assure that the campers have a positive experience, without the fear of being looked upon as different because of their burn wounds. The camp is intended to help children who are burn survivors cope with the many obstacles they face on a daily basis—low self-esteem, the physical challenges of their injury and social acceptance.
Julie Kerr, one of the UGA students, was particularly impressed with effect of the water games. “It’s a beautiful thing to see these children playing freely, despite their scarred bodies and sometimes wounded hands,” she says. “The smiles on their faces, the joy in their smile and the laughter in the air become contagious as the afternoon passes.”
This year, approximately 125 volunteers made up the camp staff, many using their vacation time to volunteer. Most are firemen, or members of a fire-related community—emergency medical technicians, nurses, physical therapists—or adult burn survivors.
The students handled a variety of camp tasks. Some were cabin counselors and some were kitchen staff. Some drove the “fluid cart,” making sure the children stayed hydrated, or built sets for special activities or served as clean-up crew or security.
“It has been the best educational experience I have had, besides my internships,” says Allison Walton. “You really can’t learn these things from lectures and a book.”
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