WINTHROP – Rhonda Vosmos, director of AH! Asthma Camp, held her breath as a column of smoke rose up and surrounded a group of kids during an outdoor cooking demonstration Wednesday afternoon.
The weeklong camp, which has run at the Maine State YMCA Camp for the last five years, ends tomorrow.
“If anything will trigger an attack, this is it,” she said.
Despite the smoke, not a single wheeze could be heard. Vosmos credits careful monitoring of her campers’ inhalers and other medications for the attack-free afternoon.
“These kids aren’t any different from anyone else. We want to dispel the myth that having asthma means limitations,” said Vosmos, who is also an asthma educator at the Maine Medical Center in Portland.
Nationally, incidences of asthma have doubled in the last decade. One in 12 children in the state of Maine suffers from asthma, said Vosmos. Maine has the second-highest number of adult asthma cases in the country, behind Massachusetts.
Each day, more than 5,000 Americans visit an emergency room due to asthma-related complications, according to statistics published by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. Fourteen people, on average, die each day from asthma.
In the face of such troubling statistics, Maine Health, a collaborative network of health-care agencies in southern, central and western Maine, is committed to giving kids with moderate to severe asthma a chance to lead normal lives.
AH! Asthma Camp fulfills that mission not only by teaching them strategies to manage their illness, but also by providing campers with outdoor recreational opportunities.
Over the years, the camp has given more than 150 kids with moderate to severe asthma the chance to run, play sports, sit around smoky campfires and go fishing and swimming in the chilly waters of Cobbosseecontee Lake.
Each year, only 32 campers are chosen from more than 70 applicants. Several factors determine who gets chosen to attend, but the primary criterion is severity of condition. Most campers have been hospitalized for serious attacks within the past six months.
“I would love for all of my patients to be able to do this. They’re safe medically, but they’re also having a great time,” said Anne Barker, a nurse practitioner from Boothbay Harbor who helped with camp this week.
At least five medical professionals are on hand each day of camp.
Twelve-year-old Sarah McQuade traveled all the way from Caribou, a four-and-a-half-hour journey, to attend the camp after her doctor recommended she apply.
“At first I thought, Why would I want to spend a week at a camp just to learn about asthma?’ But then my brother showed me the part about all of the sports they offered and I thought it looked fun,” said McQuade.
In addition to spending time playing kickball, softball and basketball – all sports she rarely gets to play at home – McQuade has made many friends, and not just among her fellow asthma campers.
The camp runs concurrently with other YMCA camp programs, and its participants are integrated with about 200 other kids.
Each asthma camper wears a fanny pack containing an emergency inhaler. Otherwise, they are completely indistinguishable from their peers.
“They don’t set us apart from everyone else. That’s the best part about this camp. You don’t have to worry about feeling left out,” said McQuade.
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