PHOEBE CHASE RAMSEY

1. What do you enjoy about your job?

I love working with families and helping them through difficult times. It is such an honor to witness parents being parents to these fragile babies often before friends or family get to see them. I also enjoy it when families come back to show off their babies after they have left the NICU - it’s so neat to see how they grow and develop.

 

2. What led you to pursue your career path? 

So many things, really. I volunteered a lot after college - first with adults in crisis and then with hospitalized children and their siblings. Slowly I started to put together a more clear picture of the population I wanted to work with (families of hospitalized children) and then I had to go get a masters degree so I could do that work!

 

3. What are your favorite memories of ALC?

The incredible friendships that have lasted for decades, the fun adventures, the ability to be completely goofy and know I wouldn’t be judged, the joy of being a counselor to a tent full of campers, the feeling of being supported by an entire community of people.

 

4. Did you gain anything at camp that you use today?

So much! Any time you’re crammed into a small space with 5-7 other people you learn respect for others and their feelings and belongings. You learn how to negotiate and compromise. Overwhelmingly, the aspect of camp I use most in my day-to-day life is “flexing”.  An ICU environment is fast-paced and things change quickly. I never know from one day to the next what kind of families I will be working with. I might make a plan for the day, and then a family comes in unexpectedly with a critically ill child and I have to flex and re-arrange my day to make that family my priority. Another thing I gained at camp that I use all the time is a sense of community - recognizing that I am part of a larger whole, and that my actions matter and impact others. I see a trend these days towards individualism and a focus on self, and there are fewer and fewer instances of people looking outside of themselves to see that they are part of

a larger community. Camp has always been a steadfast reminder to me of the importance of community and of looking out for others in addition to myself, both in the workplace and in my personal life.