Camp Taylor near Modesto serves kids with heart ailments. How it overcame its own obstacles

Camp Taylor launched in Stanislaus County in 2002 with a noble mission: helping children with heart disease enjoy the outdoors.

The nonprofit used various rented sites while working to establish a home of its own. In 2016, it purchased a former county jail work camp near Grayson, but the transition was slowed by the remodeling needs and then COVID-19.

The new location finally hosted its first overnight visitors in 2022. Two years later, the place is thriving, as demonstrated by the 60 kids who arrived Tuesday, June 11, for a four-night stay.

“It’s really fun here,” said 10-year-old Edison Wu of Sunnyvale, who’s now a three-time camper. “There’s a bunch of stuff, like a pool and a rock wall and archery.”

The camp has about 40 volunteers, including a cardiologist and several nurses. They know each child’s surgical history, dietary needs, medications and safe level of physical activity.

Edison, for example, was born with pulmonary atresia, which had kept oxygen from flowing from his heart to his lungs. Treatments since then allow him to exercise under supervision at camp, fueled by the dining hall’s heart-healthy meals.

Edison talked with The Modesto Bee while checking into one of the boys’ cabins with five roommates.

Camp’s namesake has heart condition, too

Kimberlie and Michael Gamino founded the camp and named it for one of their sons, Taylor, who was born with a defective heart. Taylor is now 30 and helps run the place. Among his tasks is fundraising, with a goal of $2 million beyond the $6.2 million already raised and spent.

The 22-acre camp has 10 cabins with six beds each. There is a game room, a craft room and an outdoor obstacle course. Another spot hosts a visiting petting zoo with farm animals.

Campers can kayak and canoe on a pond shared with the county-owned Laird Regional Park, fed by a Turlock Irrigation District canal. Both sites abut the San Joaquin River. It runs too high for safe swimming by the heart camp visitors, but they do learn about nature along its banks.

A revived riparian corridor could be in Camp Taylor’s future. It is doing initial planning with River Partners, a nonprofit that has brought back similar habitat at nearby Dos Rios Ranch State Park and other sites.

Separate sessions for teens and younger kids

The Bee dropped by Camp Taylor during its annual youth camp, for 7- to 12-year-olds. The teen camp will happen June 18-22, for guests up to 17. Parents do not remain on site for either camp, but entire families can take part in other sessions near the start and end of summer.

Camp Taylor charges $225 for the family camps and $195 per child for the parent-free sessions. The group estimates that each experience is worth $1,400 to $1,500, mostly covered by donors.

From fall to spring, the camp hosts students from eight school districts in Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties. This program is open to everyone, not just heart patients, and teaches about both nature and human health. About 3,200 children in all visit the camp annually.

Camp Taylor’s previous rented sites included Salida, the Livermore area and Stanislaus State University. Its permanent home had been the Stanislaus County Honor Farm, housing up to 350 inmates between 1950 and 2013. The renovation kicked off in 2018 with the aid of $2 million in state funding. Several old buildings were removed, as was the razor-wire fencing.

Camp Taylor had online-only gatherings in 2020, when the pandemic emerged, and a live/virtual hybrid in 2021. Everything since then has been full-fledged.

Palo Alto cardiologist comes every year

Dr. Kavin Desai has been Camp Taylor’s medical director from the start. He travels from his pediatric cardiology practice in Palo Alto.

Desai recalled Tuesday how the idea for the camp came about. He was already caring for Taylor Gamino, born in 1993 with hypoplastic right heart syndrome. The boy essentially had just half a heart. He underwent four operations and suffered a stroke by the time he was 8.

“Taylor was in for a checkup, and his mom was sort of frustrated that it was hard for him to find a camp that was comfortable taking care of him,” Desai said.

Today, Camp Taylor has plenty of volunteers, many returning over and over. Nurses and nursing students help in the infirmary and with other health needs. Other people handle sports, crafts, food and more.

Kimberlie Gamino, the executive director, said the camp is at capacity, but future funding could add 36 cabin beds. She also hopes to build an amphitheater and a heart education building.

Camp Taylor is not unique in it mission. A quick online search by The Bee found kid heart camps on Catalina Island and in Oregon, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey and British Columbia.

Livermore parents appreciate camp

Camp Taylor mainly draws clients from California, but some have come from as far as Australia over the years.

It was a relatively short drive from Livermore for one family new to Camp Taylor this year. Eduardo Urias and Viridiana Ponce dropped off daughter Samantha, 7, who was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome.

Samantha got tired easily until an operation last year that her parents hope will be her last. As they spoke, the girl was already blending in with table-mates at the camp’s first lunch, barbecued chicken and green salad.

“It’s an opportunity for the kids to know other kids with the same condition,” Ponce said, “and for us as parents to know other families going through the same trauma that we have.”

Samantha has a 9-year-old sister, Emily, who also stayed at the camp. It allows older siblings without heart defects to join in as part of the support system.

Just like any summer camp, except ...

In some ways, Camp Taylor is just like any summer camp. Children do rousing singalongs, make bead bracelets and other crafts, and play games such as checkers and air hockey. On the final evening, they put on skits with the costumes from the game room closet.

Here’s how Camp Taylor is not typical summer fun: Kids are urged to talk about the trauma of long hospital stays, about the stress on their families, about their worries over their own futures.

“At first, I was kind of scared because I had never been here before,” said Edison, the camper from Sunnyvale. “But over time, I really got into the flow of this.”

Some children might have been embarrassed about the scars on their chests, only to end up displaying them proudly at the pool. They are “badges of honor,” to quote the Camp Taylor motto.

The Bee’s tour ended at a small fountain that serves as a memorial to campers who have died. Metal stakes in the ground bear names such as Sarah, Jacob, Elektra, Becca and Alden.

Taylor Gamino said he is doing fairly well after three decades of heart trouble. He exercises, eats properly and takes his medicine. But he accepts that he, too, might not have a long life.

“It’s always in the back of my mind,” he said. “Doing this work is what keeps me going.”