For six days in June, Paul Dudek was without his cellphone. E-mails and social media went unchecked.
That’s because Dudek, a second-year student at WMed, immersed himself in his duties as a counselor at the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Greater Detroit summer camp from June 22-28. It was an opportunity for the aspiring physician to spend time with – and lend a hand to – more than 80 children and teenagers who attended the camp from across Michigan.
“It’s one thing to learn about muscular dystrophy but working at the camp provides a whole different perspective on understanding the difficulties and it makes you a lot more conscious of what it all means,” Dudek said. “And beyond what you learn, you spend six days focusing completely caring for your camper. It’s the ultimate get-out-of-your-own-head experience where you drop everything that you’re doing and you pay attention to the needs of that child and learn about that child and their experience.”
After he arrived at the camp, which is located on Lake Huron in Lexington, Michigan, Dudek was assigned to a 10-year-old camper, Xander, from Detroit. For Xander, it was his first time ever being away from home and his parents, Dudek said, and Xander’s father challenged Dudek to push Xander to spread his wings and try new things.
The camp offered a week of fun for Xander and the other 86 campers, Dudek said, with a slate of activities that included swimming, paintball, horseback riding and arts and crafts. The duo read “James and the Giant Peach” together and Dudek said Xander loved to swim, often opting out of other activities so he and Dudek could head for the water.
Dudek said each day of the camp had a theme and he and Xander dressed up as royalty and also donned their best 80’s attire. Another time, they dressed in red and took a ride on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
“We definitely hit a stride,” Dudek said of his time with Xander. “There were activities he didn’t want to do and a lot of it was finding out what he liked to do. He loved the water and, luckily, we were able to get in the lake.”
The week with Xander was Dudek’s second time working at a MDA camp. In the summer of 2018, before his first year of medical school, the Chicago native worked as a counselor at the MDA Illinois summer camp in Bloomington, Illinois.
Dudek first learned of the MDA summer camps in 2017 when he was working as a research assistant with a neuromuscular team at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. During that time, Dudek said he was charged with data collection and management and worked on clinical trials involving children.
“It just seemed like a lot of fun and it really was that first year,” Dudek said. “That’s why I wanted to go back this year.”
Dudek said he is hopeful that he will be able to return to the camp in Detroit next summer and wants to help assist the camp’s experienced medical staff.
“One of the things is that there were a lot of impressive, dedicated people that I got to see,” Dudek said. “Nurses and doctors that have been volunteering at the camp for years.”
Dudek said he is grateful for the experience he gained at the MDA summer camp in Detroit and the time he got to spend with Xander. He said he is hopful that the week away from his family allowed Xander to mature and become more comfortable in a large social setting without his parents.
Dudek said he is also thankful that the camp allowed him time for self-reflection, to remember why it is that he made the decision to become a doctor and why he has his eyes set on pursuing a residency in Pediatrics or Emergency Medicine after his graduation from WMed in 2022.
“The experience really makes you grateful,” Dudek said. “You realize the number of people who have helped you and the amount of challenges you haven’t had to face, and that you’ve got it pretty good. So, what are you going to do with it, what are you going to do about it?
“It’s a reality check that you’re going to be in a position one day as a physician to really have a big impact on these kids and it’s just a reminder that the need is there and you could one day really help them once you get through medical school.”