Summer camp is a different experience for everyone. For the young participants in The Advantage Program, summer camp recently consisted of a fun day learning about healthy habits, heart health, and more at the WellSpan Heart and Vascular Center in York.

TAPIN Summer Camp

WellSpan Community Health and Engagement partnered with The Advantage Program to host the 2^nd annual TAPIN Summer Camp on June 28.

Local youth took a “field trip” throughout the WellSpan Heart and Vascular Center, moving through multiple stations to learn about career opportunities in healthcare, as well as healthy skills and habits.

Stations they explored included:

• Heart and Vascular Center clinicians speaking about their work.
• Basic exercises for heart health.
• The basics of money and how to shop locally by purchasing items from the JMar Produce Stand.
• Planting a garden herb to take home.

The youth participants used their purchased items from the JMar Produce Stand to prepare a lunch of a healthy wrap and smoothie via a cooking demonstration.

“We aimed to provide an authentic experience to the students that demonstrated how the healthy choice can be the easy choice too,” says Stephanie Voight, director of system community health. “Our hope is that WellSpan equipped the students with heart healthy life skills, as well as an interest in pursuing a future career in healthcare.”

Voight believes the enthusiasm and investment in learning that the large group of students brought to the patients, team members, and providers was contagious. “The energy, combined with the gorgeous weather, made for an inspiring day for all of us!”

What is The Advantage Program?

Based out of York County, The Advantage Program was founded in 2020 by Tavon Parker. The organization serves high-risk youth and provides mentoring services and educational experiences to young men with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty. In the past four years, the organization has increased the number of individuals served each year and expanded its services to include female mentorship programs and adult courses. Beginning this month, it will expand services to Harrisburg.

The organization has received grant funding from WellSpan Health for the past several years to support its services to local youth, including the TAPIN Summer Camp. The Community Health and Engagement department is also partnering with the summer camp to provide home and water safety education to local youth.

Parker is very grateful for the partnership with WellSpan Health and excited for the participants to have such valuable engagement with the staff and providers.

“The TAPIN Summer Program had an amazing day, thanks to WellSpan’s cardiology team,” says Parker. “Overall, the experience was very impactful and we as a program could not be more appreciative of the opportunity.”