Palomar Health partners with Camp HOPE America to provide an evidence-based camping and mentoring program focused on our community’s children and teens that have been exposed to abuse.

At Palomar Health’s Camp HOPE program, children and teens are praised for the person they aspire to be and are taught to see for themselves who they are and not just what they have accomplished. Camp HOPE is a fun, safe space for youths who have experienced a traumatic, dark upbringing to understand what it feels like to be seen, heard, encouraged and cared for.

Throughout the course of a week at camp, campers participate in a variety of activities ranging from field games to rock climbing, tubing to high and low ropes courses and art projects to singing campfire songs. Each day, campers read about real people, not too much older than they are, who have overcome diversity, abuse and other real-life challenges. This is intended to show the campers that they are not alone, and that their past does not define their future.

The year-round piece of the Camp HOPE America program is intended to create a safe and nurturing community for not only the youth involved, but their families as well. The events held throughout the year are varied, ranging from team building activities to college tours. We want to continue to expose children and teens to potential careers they never would have known about, STEAM projects, hobbies and interests, etc., while also giving them positive role models and friends.

Camp HOPE America is a program like no other—showing youth that there is a future ahead of healing beyond the trauma that they have endured. Thanks to this program, Palomar Health can continue to reimagine healthcare by removing the fear out of it and providing extraordinary care to every patient.