Camp rehabilitation program in pediatric oncology
A camp for children with cancer is an innovation highly effective rehabilitation technology. It has been for the first time realized in Russia in Moscow in summer 2006 at the initiative of a social organization - Autonomous Non-profit Organization "Children" - with scientific and methodological support from the Federal Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Immunology. The camp is not an independent program, but an essential element of the regional/municipal system of comprehensive rehabilitation of children with cancer, their parents, siblings, and the entire family. The camp rehabilitation program is carried out twice annually during summer and winter school vacations at a sanatorium for children. Its main tasks are to attain psychological and social rehabilitation of disabled children and their siblings, to help them overcome social deprivation, and to promote their effective social integration. A special team of specialists, coming to the camp together with children, includes an oncologist, psychologist, art therapist, teachers, and camp leaders. Stable functioning and development of the camp program during 6 years is a result of effective collaboration of the social organization with the Federal Research Center of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Immunology, governmental institutions of Moscow and the Moscow Region, and with commercial and noncommercial structures. More than 300 children aged 6-18 years, 13% of them siblings, 3% children receiving maintenance therapy, received care within the framework of this program over 6 years.