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Respiratory care students plan race to raise money for asthma camp
Respiratory care students and therapists from around the area will be racing to raise funds for Camp Michi-MAC at noon Friday, Oct. 26, at Jackson Community College.
National Respiratory Care Week is Oct. 21-27, and JCC students and Program Director Ann Flint are hosting a “5K” ventilator race around the Justin Whiting Hall parking lot. Area respiratory therapists and students will run around the parking lot five times with ventilators, and are collecting sponsors to help raise funds for the camp.
For the ventilator race, individuals may sponsor a team for one lap (each lap equals one “kilometer”) or five laps for the total race. To make a pledge, please contact race coordinator Brooke Charnock, a JCC student, at b_keely@hotmail.com, or Flint at 517.796.8684 or FlintAnnM@jccmi.edu.
“Camp costs money for these children to attend,” said Charnock, who volunteered there last summer. “A lot of the time it is money that they don’t have. It would make me so happy to see another child get the experience of Camp Mich-MAC. I hope this event will also help educate current students, future students and the community about the services respiratory provides. You would be blue without respiratory care!”
Prizes will be offered for best decorated ventilator, race winner and more. Prize sponsors include the Jackson Asthma Coalition from the Asthma Resource Center at Foote Health System.
“We are very excited to be having our first fundraiser for Camp Michi-MAC,” Flint said. “They help so many kids with asthma every year, and their needs are so great. And we are also excited to be sharing our Respiratory Care Week celebration with the community!”
Camp Michi-MAC is conducted at the YMCA Storer Camp, located in the Irish Hills, which covers 1,200 acres surrounding spring fed Stony Lake, near Jackson. Campers can have a “regular” camp experience because the medical team, who are on site 24-hours a day, understands asthma and allergies, triggers and proper treatment. The medical staff includes physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and respiratory therapists.
“Camp Michi-MAC provides kids with asthma the opportunity to become campers with the support of the medical community,” said student Michael Tallman, who volunteered at the camp last summer. “As a respiratory care student, this experience enables me to interact with other professionals in the medical community while serving campers. The event was positive and upbeat for the campers because it challenged them to swim, hike, boat, run and be independent from their parents and families.”
