Ask a nurse what she did on her summer vacation, and you may hear some amazing tales about camp. Every summer, Georgia nurses, doctors and other medical staff shed their lab coats and scrubs for tank tops and shorts.

They take vacation time, say goodbye to families and head to Rutledge to volunteer at Camp Twin Lakes, which is equipped to serve medically fragile and special-needs children. These health care practitioners are willing to dispense medications, handle health emergencies and volunteer as counselors so that patients with cancer, diabetes, asthma and other chronic diseases can do what other kids do in the summer: have fun.

From March until November, Camp Twin Lakes is the site of a host of weeklong camps with names that reflect the campers' conditions: Camp Braveheart for heart patients, Camp Breathe Easy for children with asthma and Camp Walk 'N Roll for kids with muscular dystrophy, for example.

"You can tell by the way that they interact with the kids that these volunteers are doing it from the goodness of their hearts. It's all about the kids," said Katie Lawhead, CCLS, clinical child life specialist at MCG Children's Medical Center in Augusta.

She directs Camp Joint Venture for kids diagnosed with rheumatic diseases.

"Every kid should have an opportunity to go to camp," Lawhead said. "Here, the kids don't have to feel different, and parents don't have to worry because the medical staff knows how to keep them safe and let them have fun.

"If a child seems a little scared but excited to try something, we encourage them to go for it. When, in spite of swollen and sore joints, they make it to the top of the high-ropes course, you should see their faces. We want them to have that sense of accomplishment."

Volunteer counselor Joyce Dorman, RN, MSN, CNS, reinforces those accomplishments by making scrapbooks. "Hearing a patient say, 'Look, Mama, that's what I did; that's what I told you about' makes my heart go warm," she said.

Dorman, who works at MCG Children's Medical Center, has pictures of the 71 campers swimming, boating, shooting arrows, fishing, playing miniature golf and performing in the talent show this year. Camp Joint Venture is sponsored by MCG Health System and the Atlanta chapter of the Arthritis Foundation.

"Taking part in activities with kids you cared for as very sick babies [and] seeing that they're doing fine just makes you feel good. It's a blessing," said Elaine Kyler, a registered nurse at MCG Health System.

Seeing patients differently

At camp, doctors and nurses get to see their patients in a different light — when they're feeling good, instead of sick or hurting.

Dr. Rose Cummings, a pediatric cardiologist at the Sibley Heart Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, has volunteered at Camp Braveheart for three years. She loves that the children aren't scared to visit the camp's medical lodge, unlike the hospital.

"They just climb on your lap and start talking away. You become a friend, and that carries over to the next time they come to clinic," Cummings said.

She's seen Camp Braveheart grow from 60 to 120 kids and says that spending play time with her patients is a reminder of her purpose as a physician: helping to give kids a chance at life.

Jan Lorentz, RN, with LifeLink of Georgia's Savannah office, volunteered at Camp Braveheart for the first time this year.

"We see the organ procurement side of transplants but we don't get to see the positive outcomes," Lorentz said. "I can't believe how great the kids were. Next year I'm coming back but bringing half the clothes and no makeup. No one cares what you look like."

Months before camp starts, Cheryl Belair, CCLS, program coordinator for cardiac services at Children's and camp director, is busy "drumming up and training volunteers," while members of the CHOA Foundation are raising funds to pay for the fee, which is roughly $500 per camper. Most organizations subsidize a portion or all of the costs for campers.

When generous donors see the smiles of kids swimming, riding horses or having water-pistol fights, they know it is money well-spent.

"The Atlanta Thrashers Foundation provided street hockey in the gym this year, and the kids loved it. When they tell you 'that was the best' and you see the look of joy on their faces, then all the planning and work are worth it," Belair said.

A labor of love

Many nurses work harder at camp than they do on the job. Campers are too excited to sleep much. Many have to be lifted or pushed in wheelchairs.

"Some of these children are on 15 medications a day, and you have to make sure each child gets what he needs," said Robin Epstein, RN, CPNP, a transplant coordinator at Children's. "If you miss meds with a transplant patient, you could cause an organ rejection. Parents feel more comfortable knowing I'll be there."

Epstein believes that it's good for the children to be away from home. It builds self-confidence and gives their parents a break from care-giving. Most importantly, it gives children an opportunity to meet and bond with others with the same medical conditions.

"You look in the pool, and every child out there has a chest incision, and they'll compare notes. I heard one kid tell her new friends that she had them all beat; she'd had three heart transplants," Epstein said.

Karen Rittenbaum, development director for the Georgia chapter of the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America, calls Camp Oasis at Camp Twin Lakes "the most fabulous place on the planet."

"The bottom line is that parents want their children to be individuals, but kids want to be just like everyone else, and for five days each summer, our kids are," Rittenbaum said.

"Crohn's is an embarrassing kind of disease for children. They get asked why they go to the bathroom so much at school. They may be afraid to sleep over at a friend's house, but at camp everyone has similar problems. They can share experiences and solutions," said Cathy Saripkin, RN, an infusion nurse at Children's Center for Digestive Health Care and the medical director for Camp Oasis. This summer was her eighth year at the camp.

"The kids form close bonds and, since many of the counselors also have Crohn's, they get to see adults who are managing their disease, going to college, working and having fun," she said.

Saripkin said that camp is so "jam-packed" with activity that it takes her days to recover. "Every year, I'm burned out and say it's my last year, but as the year goes on, I can't wait to go back."

Jill Waddell, president of Signature Consultants and Camp Oasis director for five years, said it's hard to find new volunteers and persuade them to take a week off work. But once someone volunteers that first time, most come back.

"Everyone says that they get more out of it than they give, that it rejuvenates them for the whole year," Waddell said.

That's especially true for Casandra Nichols, RN, BSN, an oncology staff nurse at MCG Children's Medical Center. Nichols, who has volunteered for eight years at MCG's Camp Rainbow for kids with cancer, was astonished by the kids she met during her first camp.

"They had the best attitudes. You wouldn't even know they were sick. They just wanted to have fun, and they were in this phenomenal environment where they could try new things," she said.

Six months after volunteering at her first camp, Nichols was diagnosed with leukemia and underwent a bone marrow transplant.

"I cried and then I thought, 'If those kids can do it, so can I.' I'm so grateful for Camp Twin Lakes and so fortunate that I get to go there and be touched by these amazing children. It reminds you what life is all about."