About Us
Kentucky Easter Seals Camp Kysoc is a 501 c 3 (Not for Profit) Facility of the 501 c 3 (Not for Profit) Kentucky Easter Seals Cardinal Hill Healthcare System.
Easter Seals Camp Kysoc has served over 27,500 children and adults with disabilities since 1961, involving over 165,000 overnight camping stays (6-day sessions) where campers came and stayed in 27 screened cabins on beds located within nine rustic villages (three cabins per village) situated deep within 124 acres of tall forest under an immense canopy of shade that has kept the day temperatures 20 degrees cooler during the summer months, while they enjoyed swimming in a large indoor heated pool, fishing, pontoon boating and canoeing on a 12 acre lake, a high challenge tower with three 28 foot climbing walls, a high plank bridge, a high cargo net and a high narrow goat bridge and two 300 foot long zip lines, a low elements course including a 100 foot zip line, hour long hay rides, a farm with 12 animals to be petted and fed, arts and crafts, and social activities like dances, skits and great evening campfire programs while following its Mission of making a difference in the lives of those with special needs by providing quality care, safe and fun program experiences in an environment that promotes independence, personal growth, social interaction and camp community involvement.
It is believed that the Kentucky Easter Seals Cardinal Hill Healthcare System is the largest rehabilitative healthcare system in the world that is helping more patients to attain a better life through great rehabilitative care.
The Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, the Flagship hospital of the Kentucky Easter Seals Cardinal Hill Healthcare System, was rated within the Top Fifty (Best) Hospitals of all hospitals in the United States for two straight years, 2002 and 2003, by U.S. News and World Report.
According to Dr. L.B. Sharp, the Camp Kysoc consultant and a world renowned expert in outdoor recreation and camping, and Mr. Jim Montgomery, a key early designer and builder of Camp Kysoc, Camp Kysoc was the first complete de-centralized camp built in the world to serve children and adults with disabilities.
Camp Kysoc is a resident and respite decentralized camping facility that provides children and adults with disabilities the opportunity to enjoy the wonders of the outdoors in a safe and fun environment.
Camp Kysoc (Keep Your Sights on Challenge) is believed to be the first in the world to use ramps instead of stairs and steps, the first to use grab rails in the bathrooms, the first to asphalt all of its pathways to all of its sleeping cabins, activity areas, and facilities, and the first to have a zero entry swimming pool. It is believed that all of these ease of access innovations were first developed and used at Easter Seals Camp Kysoc before anywhere else in America or the world. Camp Kysoc is now the first in the world to offer to those with disabilities the ability to enjoy America’s and the World’s finest and most scenic hiking trails to the most spectacular locations on Planet Earth.
Camp Kysoc is totally accessible for persons in wheelchairs or with limitations in mobility.
To help make the camping experience special, a registered nurse, trained counselors and program staff are on duty 24 hours a day and ratios of care are determined by the individual needs of the campers. We try to maintain a 2 to 1 and even a 1 to 1 staff to camper ratio. A staff person is with each camper at all times.
The residential camping season is from June through August. Respite weekend retreats are offered in the fall, winter and spring.
Camp Kysoc is also available to church camps and retreats and school groups, fraternity and sorority groups, corporate picnics and to any group serving those with disabilities as well as other groups like the National Military Families Association Operation Purple Camps.
For additional Camp information and registration, please call (502) 732-5333 or visit http://www.cardinalhill.org.
Downloads
Easter Seal Camp KYSOC 2008 Schedule (Word Document)