United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi Bethany,

I'm sure a board member will reply to your questions soon, and they will do a better job explaining camp than I can. Meanwhile I want to welcome you to this site and our message boards.

Quickie answers first. Yes, there is a cost. We have to pay for a place to hold our camp, so those who are going share the cost. Yes, you have to register. That way those who are in charge know who's going, how many rooms are needed, if an extra cot is needed in a room, etc.

UBPN Camp is a camp where people with brachial plexus injuries get a chance to meet each other face to face. Their families also get to meet. It's held every two years, in different places around the country. The next one will be in 2009, somewhere in Florida. I don't know exactly where or when yet. It's a weekend away, at a camp or camp-like setting, with various camp activities for different age ranges.

I'll leave the rest of the explaining to the board members.

For me the important part is meeting others with this "rare" injury, and seeing that I'm not alone.

Joanie, 59 years, LOBPI

Hi Beth,
UBPN camp is an opportunity to meet others face to face who know what you have lived with every day of your life or every day since an injury.

Camp is an incredible learning experience in several ways. One great way is we can share face to face what tricks we might have and what we still have trouble with. Many times there is some one around who either knows exactly what you are talking about or can give a new idea on ways to do things.

Camp is a place where we are all in the same boat! Some of us are looking for answers and others are looking for options. As a board, we try to pull in different parts of the community to share their thoughts. We have had guest speakers that were OT's PT's BPI specialists. There was a person to talk to the mothers at last camp. And so much more!

There is cost to camp but we keep it as low as possible so that the most people may attend. We all know what its like to pay bills and other such things.
UBPN does have some scholarships available so thats a possibility.

There is registration and that information will come out in Outreach a free publication that UBPN puts out. To get on that mailing list please email your name and mailing address to Nancy Birk at nancy@ubpn.org
You will recieve all future mailings. In the mean time if you would like to check out some past issues, we have made them available in pdf in the resource section of the site but here is the direct link http://ubpn.org/outreach.html

As we get more information on camp things will be posted here so stay tuned! Like Joanie said, the next camp will be in 2009 somewhere in Florida.

I hope you will attend!
Amy 20 years old ROBPI from MN

(also a member of the Board of Directors)

The camp sounds wonderful, i would very much like to attend! I have never met anyone with my injury in my life so it would be great to meet others with my rare condition. Thanks so much for the info!

Welcome to UBPN, Baeta!

FYI there are pictures of CAMP 2007 posted under the "CAMP 2007" Topic Thread if your are intersted to see some fun people having F-U-N!

Carolyn J
LOBPI/ 69++...


Message was edited by: Carolyn J

Welcome Baeta,

Just wanted to introduce myself and to welcome you to our family.

My name is Karen McClune. I am camp coordinator for 2009. I really enjoyed doing the last two camp and getting to meet so many wonderful people. There isn't much more I can tell you about camp that hasn't already been said.

Once we have a camp site etc., I will post it here and as Amy said the rest will be in a future Outreach. In the meantime if you have any other questions you may post them here or email me at karen@ubpn.org.


I look forward to meeting you at our next camp.

Hugs, Karen
BOD camp coordinator.

This camp sounds like a great idea. I just have one question. I have a brachial plexus injury, but it's not expected to be permanent. Does that matter? Should people attend have an injury that is permanent? I would want to attend but if it would seem... rude (for lack of a better word) to go when mine is not expected to be permanent and others are, I wouldnt not go. I just want to know what the norm is...

People who attend have all different amounts of disability, some you can hardly tell they have the injury, others have no use. But it is a great experience to meet people who just get it.

We are interested in the UBPN camp. May we get more information. I know you said the cost for a family of 4 is between $300/400 dollars per person. What would be the estimated cost for a family of 4?

Well if it is $300-$400 per person then for 4 it would be $1200-$1600...

No definitive plans have been made for Camp 2010 as of yet. The cost of the camp depends on where the camp is, what activities are available, what type of facilities there are, food costs, etc. Keep saving as the cost will hopefully be comparable to past years, but nothing has been decided yet.

Tanya
Board of Directors