By Vanessa Orr
For more than 30 years, Camp U.O.T.S. has been providing children who have cancer and are treated at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital (NCH) with a chance to meet friends and make memories in a medically safe environment. Even more important, according to Camp Director Athena Pefkarou, M.D., a KIDZ Medical Services provider and hematology/oncology specialist based at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, the camp has made it possible for these children to meet older cancer survivors who give them hope that there is life beyond the disease.
“A lot of our patients are on aggressive chemotherapy, and their parents would be scared to send them away to camp without having their doctors and nurses there,” explained Dr. Pefkarou, who has been involved with the camp since its inception. “Our camp is located in the park right next to the hospital so the children have access to our own doctors, nurses and child life specialists.
“More importantly, 75 percent of our counselors are cancer survivors who were treated at this institution,” she added. “So when a child with a bone tumor comes to camp, for example, he or she will be assigned to a counselor who had the same disease. That child, who is now without hair, hardly goes to school, and is still on chemo can look up to this 25-year-old survivor and say, ‘That’s what I’m going to be one day. I’m not going to die.’ This is exceptionally important for the patient’s morale and how they accept their disease.”
Free and open to NCH hematology/oncology patients, Camp U.O.T.S. was founded with the support of the United Order of True Sisters (U.O.T.S.), a national philanthropic organization dedicated to raising money for cancer research and providing support to cancer patients. The brainchild of the late Eve Ruthfield (former president of the Miami U.O.T.S. chapter), Dr. Pefkarou and a number of families including Tony and Giselle Morales, whose children were treated at NCH, worked together and the camp began welcoming kids in 1991.
Affectionately known as “Dr. P” among campers and staff, Dr. Pefkarou originally helped decide which patients were medically qualified to attend; today she runs the camp with the help of her family and numerous volunteers. In addition to serving as the primary physician for camp attendees, she has her hand in many of the day-to-day activities, including training volunteers, organizing event logistics and creating partnerships with community organizations and individual supporters.
“I do not run the camp on my own – not by any means,” Dr. Pefkarou laughed. “Eve Ruthfield’s granddaughter, Fern Ruthfield Thomas and her husband, Michael, raise money for us, and my own daughters, son-in-law, granddaughter and grandson run the camp with the counselors – the survivor kids.”
The seven-night, eight-day camp is funded in part by an endowment created by U.O.T.S, Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation, and through public and private donations. Recently, the camp counselors and staff formed their own U.O.T.S. Camp 501c3 in order to raise funds.
“Our goal is to use the money raised to help us meet expenses and to establish small scholarships for our cancer survivors,” said Dr. Pefkarou, adding that the next U.O.T.S camp is scheduled to run July 20-27, 2024.
While at camp, young patients have the opportunity to be like any other campers, taking part in a wide range of activities from mini-golfing to kayaking to arts and crafts and laser tag. The camp also includes a three-day trip to Orlando, FL where kids visit Universal Studios. To date, more than 1,100 children have gotten to enjoy a week of camp, and Dr. Pefkarou is looking forward to continuing this much-beloved tradition.
“We provide these children with an exceptional experience that they have never had before,” she said. “And we couldn’t do it without all of the survivors, counselors, doctors, nurses and child life specialists who make it happen, as well as the hospital, which provides us with the support.”
