I recently volunteered to be part of the medical staff team
at Camp Jean-Nelson in Kananaskis, a diabetes camp (or D-camp), run by the
Canadian Diabetes Association for children with Type 1 Diabetes. This was my second summer volunteering at the
camp and it was fantastic!
D-camps are
one-week cabin camping experiences for children with Type 1 Diabetes, where the
children can go rafting, mountain biking, wall-climbing, participate in an
overnight tent camp and just be active, fun-loving children! This camp is also a reprieve for the parents
who wake up multiple times a night to test their children’s blood sugars and counting
carbs at mealtimes. At the camp, volunteer medical staff takes over this
responsibility for the week.
As one of the camp dietitians, I was responsible for helping
the children choose the right amount of carbohydrates at each meal while
encouraging nutritionally balanced choices.
Even though vegetables are generally “free” in carbohydrates, it sometimes
was a tough sell! The doctors and nurses
on the volunteer medical team were responsible with helping the children calculate
their dose and administering insulin. Depending
on the goals the children, parents and medical team have discussed and set at
the beginning of camp, the children are often encouraged to try new injection
sites and administer insulin on their own.
I've gained quite an admiration for the parents who wake-up
every night to test blood sugars and even more admiration for the children who
are learning to manage their chronic condition.
The fearlessness and responsibility the children take for their health,
while not letting their chronic condition overcome living and enjoying life is
something to praise.
Sometimes as a health professional, our field of vision in
the pursuit of optimizing health care for our patients can be tunneled. With this experience, I am encouraged and
reminded by the fact that self-management of
a chronic condition does not have to be the overwhelming focus of one’s life, but can help
us be more aware of LIVING healthfully.
For more information about D-camps, visit: http://www.dcamps.ca/
Sally Ho is a Registered Dietitian at the Leduc Beaumont Devon Primary Care Network.