Camp Quality, a camp for children with cancer, got its name when a doctor said, “No one can do anything about the quantity of life for children with cancer, but we can do something about the quality.”
The doctor was right and wrong. In the 30-plus years since, the survival rate for childhood cancers has vastly improved, from only 25 per cent to close to 80 per cent. But the challenge for these children is their quality of life, which ranges widely – from mental health issues from a life-threatening diagnosis, to health complications caused by cancer therapies.
Addressing quality of life for these children is exactly what Camp Quality does in seven camps throughout Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba.
It’s also what attracted its executive director, Recreation and Leisure Studies graduate Jarvis Strong (BA ’02), to work with the camp. Strong had never attended a sleepover camp until the summer before he entered studies at Waterloo, but the program reflected his affinities.
“Through high school, I worked at community centres, day camps and as a lifeguard. I liked being around people in places of play.” His studies at Waterloo established lifelong friendships, which led him into working with camps and charities, but also taught him that play was serious business. “Play is as beneficial as getting good sleep, eating well or exercising. And it’s fun! Laughter truly is the best medicine, and there is plenty of that at camp.”
These aspects of play are what Camp Quality brings to campers. “We give these kids an opportunity to just be kids for one week per year. They’re surrounded by peers with similar lived experience, as well as volunteers who have shared experience. They can relate to one another and even laugh together.”
While mental health isn’t a block on the schedule, Strong says, “The magic of camp is that we can weave lessons in resilience into every aspect of our program. Without this opportunity, kids would be isolated in their experience. One of best ways to describe camp is that it creates a sense of belonging.”
