Diabetes in camp | Imamother

amother

OP ↓

Sat, Nov 02 2024, 9:16 pm

Any of you have a child with diabetes who went to camp? What camps did you find were comfortable dealing with this and able to do a good job being on top of it? Or is the expectation the child will be totally managing on their own?

amother

Emerald

Sat, Nov 02 2024, 10:21 pm

amother OP wrote:

It was long enough ago that saying which camp wouldn't help... but the camp wasn't able to be super on top of it, but they were clear about that. They said not to send until a certain age at which the camper could take care of things mostly on their own. the counselors should be in touch with the parents directly (even though it was against the camps general rule) and of course educated about emergencies. but the kid was on top of things day-to-day.

amother

Denim

Sat, Nov 02 2024, 10:25 pm

I’m a camp director who has had a camper with diabetes attend for the past three summers. Our nurse was on top of it, counselors and other key staff were aware, and BH all was well. This camper was also really on top of managing things, so that helped. She came from finishing 8th through 10th grades. Our camp is under 100 kids though, so possibly easier to stay on top of. I would suggest speaking to any camps your daughter is interested in attending, and see what they say. You’ll get a good idea from their responses if it’s something they can handle. Hatzlacha!

amother

NeonYellow ↓

Sat, Nov 02 2024, 10:35 pm

As a camp nurse I can tell you that were happy to help and work with you but your dc has to be on top of it, and it needs to be well controlled. We can't police his diet, numbers etc.
I think most camps are similar in that
Choose which camp he would like to go to ( or couple of choices)and call the nurse and ask how it works

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 9:22 am

Thank you! I’m actually looking for options s for a client of mine not my own child. Mom telling me there’s no camp options annd I’m wondering if this is correct or not. Even though the child is relatively stable, she won’t always wake up on her own if she goes low at night. Those of you saying it’s been done in your camp—Would a camp nurse or other adult be able to follow and track her sugars overnight and make sure she wakes up if she does go low or that would be fully the child’s responsibility?

amother

↑ NeonYellow ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 9:33 am

I had one camper who tended to drop overnight and it would typically alert the mom who woke him up. What we did for camp was the mom would call the counselor to wake up the boy.
It worked but I and the counselor were not super comfortable..it's a big deal responsibility.. what if counselor is in the shower? Or in a really deep sleep?
I think parents have to assess all details. does it make sense/ is it worth it?
If he's 11 years old still has friends in day camp, still needs help figuring his diet and insulin maybe he should stay home.
If he's 16 and would have nothing to do at home, has been pretty independent managing his diabetes for a couple years just needs a place to store his supplies definitely go for it.

amother

↑ NeonYellow

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 9:36 am

amother OP wrote:

A counselor sleeps in the room with them . But they're young and may not be comfortable taking responsibility
Most actual adults in camp are not so physically close. If I was getting alerts to my phone at 2am, I'd have to get dressed and walk across campus to wake up a kid? Not so practical.

amother

DarkMagenta

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 9:36 am

amother OP wrote:

How old is the child? And is generally responsible managing her diabetes? What happens at school?
That would make a difference.

amother

DarkGreen ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 9:41 am

As I camp nurse in a boy's camp (which has younger boys) I had 2 campers with diabities.
(12 year olds)
The boys were pretty responsible and I discussed all the details with the parents, but together they hired somebody privately to have the device and to monitor for them.
As the nurse over the entire camp, it was hard for me to take full responsiblity of when they were low and needed to be alerted.
They hired a married counselor as an extra job(to my understanding it was covered by insurance as a health PARA). He had the extra sugar/ices in his bungalow and they were always able to go there at all hours and it was much more controlled that way.
But obviously, the child has to be mature and trustworthy for something like this to work.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 9:42 am

amother DarkMagenta wrote:

How old is the child? And is generally responsible managing her diabetes? What happens at school?
That would make a difference.

She is 12. In school she carries her iPhone which would be a must in camp because that connects to her device that monitors her sugars, and she would call her mother if she goes low or high for guidance, or if she isn’t sure how many carbs a food item has. She is prob 95% independent but needs help troubleshooting at times. Overnight the fear is that she may sleep thru an alarm for a low sugar. There would need to be a person as backup in case she sleeps thru, or in case she needs help figuring out what to do in a certain scenario.

amother

↑ OP

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 9:43 am

amother DarkGreen wrote:

Wow that’s an amazing setup. The camp didn’t have an issue providing a bungalow for a married guy just for this purpose?

amother

↑ DarkGreen

Sun, Nov 03 2024, 6:09 pm

amother OP wrote:

Wow that’s an amazing setup. The camp didn’t have an issue providing a bungalow for a married guy just for this purpose?

No, he had a regular counselor job but was paid separately as well as a Para.
To my understanding, I think his wife helped him with the monitoring so it wasn't a full time thing

amother

Poinsettia

Today at 6:52 am

I have a child with diabetes and camp is one of the hardest things. When she was younger we hired an extra counselor to follow her numbers. We would also follow at home. when she got older (she’s a 16 now) we would just follow her numbers and call her when she went low at night and wake her to treat it. Sometimes we’d have to call a few times until she heard it. Back up would have been calling the infirmary if I couldn’t reach her but I really didnt want to do that bc they would get annoyed if we asked for much. Good luck. I would have her reach out to other moms of type 1 kids for advice.

amother

Mauve

Today at 7:11 am

Wouldn’t it be best to have that cartridge thing in her arm and the app on your phone and camp heads phone would see it and be notified if sugar was low or high. That’s what parents do even for young kids in school. They have an app to see blood sugar all day and night

amother

Blueberry

Today at 7:34 am

Another camp staff person here.

We’ve had multiple campers with diabetes and handled each case differently. Some campers handled it pretty independently but in the ones who didn’t (ie didn’t necessarily wake up at night) the parents paid a staff member (who was already in camp in another capacity) to sleep in the bunkhouse with their daughter and otherwise be on top of monitoring (along with the nurses). Notifications would go to that staff persons phone in addition to the nurse’s (and often the parents at home too)

From the way you describe this child, we would definitely require (at least for her first summer) a setup like that (hiring a part time “shadow” for their child).

My understanding is that as the parent told you, most camps do not accept campers with diabetes (it’s a HUGE responsibility!) but we are not the only ones who do. If the parents are part of a support group they can probably get good information (about people’s experience sending their child to camp) from other parents in the group.