Camp Winning Hands Creates Fun Video for Summer 2020 Campers

Camp Winning Hands, an overnight summer camp for children with congenital hand differences, recently released a creative video for campers who would have attended camp during summer 2020. Camp Winning Hands was canceled for summer 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The video is a fun message for campers from some of the camp’s counselors and volunteers. Check out the video

The video features Shriners Hospitals for Children — Northern California’s very own nurse practitioner Sally Martens, MSN, and pediatric orthopaedic hand surgeon Claire Manske, M.D. Ms. Martens and Dr. Manske have volunteered their time to Camp Winning Hands over the years. Ms. Martens is currently the camp’s assistant director. Other Northern California Shriners Hospital staff members who contributed to this year’s camp video include: Dr. Manske, Michelle James, M.D.; Evelyn Myrick, FNP; Victoria Owens, FNP; Yuen Leung, LVN; Daniel Buchanan (POPS), administrative assistant Aimee Gamez and surgical technician Vincent Ahsam-Kreiter. 

The video features several Camp Winning Hands counselors and volunteers who donate their time each summer to give children a memorable, confidence-boosting experience with their peers. It pays tribute to all the fun activities participants and volunteers enjoy each year and those missed in 2020: camp breakfasts, games, roasting s’mores, flash mob dancing, camp songs, archery, a climbing wall and camper awards. Camp Winning Hands offers a range of activities and gives children the experience of trying new activities and challenges in a supportive environment.

Camp Winning Hands campers are born with a range of congenital hand and upper limb differences including missing arms, hands or fingers; webbed or fused fingers; extra fingers; undergrowth or overgrowth of hand parts and constriction band syndrome. Camp Winning Hands is organized by Shriners Hospitals for Children — Northern California in partnership with UC San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff Children’s Hospital. It is generously hosted by The Taylor Family Foundation at Camp Arroyo in Livermore, California. It was established in 2010 to give children and teens between the ages of 7 and 17 a chance to explore their potential in a safe and supportive setting and learning environment. The camp typically runs for three days in July or August of each summer. The camp is free for participants, and approximately 60 children attend each year.

The Camp Winning Hands planner and counselor pool is led by camp director Ginny Gibson, OTR, CHT, of UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and comprised of professional staff and volunteers from UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital and Shriners Hospitals for Children — Northern California. Junior and adult counselors, many of whom have hand differences themselves, serve as role models to support campers and their families.

“Camp Winning Hands is such a special place,” said former hand difference patient and occupational therapist Sarah Tuberty. "This is the first time many of our campers feel 100% comfortable in their own skin, because it's such a supportive and loving environment, and this is their first time not being ‘the one kid’ with a hand difference. There’s something so powerful about finding a community where you can be completely at ease with your differences.”