By Emilia Kicillof, age 13
The very first thing Nurse Ruth Bertrand showed me when I sat down to interview her was her brand new Maleficent mug she bought that morning. Our kind and caring nurse, Ruth, is a strong and playful presence wherever she goes, and she might have one of the most important roles at camp. Keeping everyone safe and healthy at camp is not an easy job, and Ruth’s strength, stamina, and intelligence is something to be admired. Before and after mealtimes the Health Center is swarmed with tired, hungry, and impatient campers in need of their meds, and the multitude of needs to be met are thrown at Ruth and her assistant(s). Even when she is tired, Ruth never fails to help everyone, and always helps them with a smile. “I’m tired, but I don’t stop,” she told a camper. “That’s just how nurses roll.”
But what’s possibly more impressive than Ruth’s job and her skill is her special personality. Ruth has experienced many personal losses and struggles throughout her life, including her birth father being lost at sea before she could meet him, and her sister passing away a few weeks after Ruth returned from a big trip, but she manages to look at the bright side and remember the lovely parts of her life, describing every anecdote with a smile and a laugh. She was very excited to tell me about her family, explaining that one of her direct descendants signed Napoleon’s death certificate and was buried in his tomb, and that her aunt was one of the first female drill sergeants in the US Marine Corps. All of these connections and memories, both positive and negative, have inspired and impacted Ruth’s personality. There are so many positive adjectives that can be used to describe this wonderful, hard-working nurse, who carries powerful and heartwarming stories about her life.
On the first full day of camp, campers approached the Health Center during a quieter time to find Ruth bent over a sunlit patch of grass. She smiled at the small group, showing them the bright yellow flowers she had picked in hopes of arranging a vase for the Health Center. She set down what she was doing to help the campers, but that sweet, happy smile lingered for hours. Later that night, the same camper returned for meds, and found the beautiful yellow flowers resting safely on the bench, a symbol of Ruth’s thoughtfulness, but also her commitment to making camp a joyful, safe, and beautiful place for everyone. Ruth doesn’t simply do her job. She does it with passion, skill, and a wonderful sense of humor! She makes campers and counselors feel good both physically and mentally, however tired, ill, or injured they are. She is a force to be reckoned with, and the perfect addition to our camp community.
Ruth has led a giving and complex career for the last twenty years. She is a licensed practical nurse who has worked at various camps for seven years. She started out working as a nurse at a local camp for campers with disabilities, however when that camp closed down, Ruth decided to join WriCampia due to her love for writing and meeting new people, despite her retirement a few years before. This is just her second year at WriCampia, though she plans to return, saying “This is my second favorite job I’ve ever had.” Topping the list was her experience working as a traveling nurse during the Covid pandemic, risking her health to help others. She traveled all around the world, working on eight different cruise ships and crossing the Panama Canal four times!
Aside from nursing, Ruth enjoys crafting, decorations, and other art-related hobbies. She made sure to point out “I also like shopping, don’t forget that!” Ruth repeatedly explained that she feels incredibly blessed for her career’s success as well as WriCampia’s. She adores not just the people, but also Camp Danbee, stating that she believes WriCampia has found their spot. We hope Ruth has found hers, and will return for many years to come.
