Dr. Sarah Barlow Kamp K’aana Reflection

Dr. Sarah Barlow connected Senior Director of Healthy Lifestyles Tracey Burns to the Kamp K’aana program concept in 2017. As we reflect on the impact this program made from 2018 – 2025, Below is her reflection on the program over the years.

Dr. Barlow’s Story

Bringing the Kamp K’aana program to the Dallas Metropolitan YMCA was easy.The YMCA team took to it like a duck to water.

The 2-week overnight Kamp K’aana program gives kids 10 to 14 years of age the fun experience of a summer camp program (campfires, horses, new friends, new adventures) while learning skills to live a healthier lifestyle back home. The Houston YMCA Camp Cullen was delivering the program, and when I moved to UT Southwestern Medical School and Dallas Children’s Health, I wanted children in North Dallas to have the same opportunity.

In 2017, I met Tracey Burns, the Senior Director of Healthy Lifestyles, when Alex Reid from Children’s Health and I pitched the idea to her and other YMCA leadership over lunch. Tracey immediately became the champion. By the summer of 2018, Tracey had worked with the Houston YMCA to prepare to be the director, and we ran the first program that July at Camp Grady Spruce.

• Recruitment was a team effort, through Children’s Health clinics and   Children’s Health community programs and by getting the word around to other pediatric practices.
• Most campers received scholarships, and scholarship money came from individual contributions and a foundation grant to Children’s Health from Kohl’s Cares. However, substantial and consistent support came from the Metropolitan Dallas YMCA itself.
• Camp Grady Spruce has been a critical partner, selecting counselors from main camp to be part of Kamp K’aana, and the Camp Grady Spruce kitchen staff oversees the food ordering, preparation, and serving.
• Tracey has been the engine that makes this work: running the daily lessons, making sure the before and after measurements are complete, planning the activity schedule, posting pictures for parents, giving out medications, and problem-solving on the fly.

In the eight  years since this program began, the program has improved, with new lesson plans, tweaks to the menu, better communication with parents, and reunion opportunities for the campers. In 2005 and in 2024, K’aana benefited from the Dallas Metropolitan YMCA’s strategies to improve mental health, with specialists volunteering to engage with the campers on ways to identify and handle their emotions.

Important as medical care is, a healthcare office visit can give children only part of what they need. The Kamp K’aana program exemplifies the power that comes from a team of advocates for children: Children’s Health, a leading pediatric medical center, including physicians and psychologists; the Dallas YMCA, a leading community organization; philanthropic support; community mental health organizations; and families ready to send their children for this experience.  All combine to help the amazing campers become healthier in mind, body and spirit.