Healthy Kids: Cleft Camp gives young kids a place to be together and boost confidence
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- Everyone strives to fit in, especially little kids. But when you look different than your friends or classmates, that can sometimes be hard. There's one nurse at Children's Hospital Colorado Colorado Springs, who's making it her mission to include everyone this summer.
"This is like the best week of the year for them and they have had their bags packed and they are just so excited," says Amber Kerr, Briargate Cleft Lip and Palate Team Coordinator, and nurse.
Right now, southern Colorado kiddos are at the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center for Cleft Camp.
Twice a year, for the last 17 years, kids have been attending Cleft Camp, hosted by Children's Hospital Colorado. But Kerr is thrilled to see the program in its fourth year being offered to kids on this side of the state.
Sean Pittman is an incoming senior at Falcon High School in D49. It's a trip that boosts self-esteem and confidence.
"Hey there are other people like me and I am not the only one who looks a little different," says Sean Pittman. "I've made so friends and we still talk to this day and some of us are going on this one together."
And up in Breckenridge this week there's a lot of friendships to be made, fun to be had.
"I am probably the most excited about the ropes course because there is a zip line at the end of it," says Pittman. "It comes from a really high hill down to the bottom of the hill and so it is really thrilling and all of that, just really fun."
For the first time ever, many of these kids won't have to explain their cleft, they just get to enjoy being a kid at camp.
"It's a really great experience for everyone with cleft lip and palate because I never saw anyone with a cleft lip and palate until I went to this camp in 2019," says Pittman.
And that's something that Kerr is proud to be a part of. She spearheaded the trip to be made available to southern Colorado kiddos. Having a cleft herself, she knows how critical it can be to have the right support system around you. And the skills that can transcend past camp.
"We are challenging them, we are building in that sense of community through the games that we play and it is just this subtle way of building the skills and tools that they need to face things," says Kerr.
