The World's Only Association of Diabetes CampsOne of the single best things you can do for a child with diabetes and their family is to send them to diabetes camp. There are over 400 diabetes camping programs worldwide helping more than 30,000 youth with diabetes and their families. DECA
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Clara Barton Camp
“ I could say searched the world a thousand times to finds my rhyme, but I say, I already found it in our time, my haven in a heaven, a fire side and you…Good-byes, no such thing, only goodnight…" Good-Night A song about Clara Barton Camp by Allison Hubbard.
I just got back from camp (again) and I have to say ten years is not nearly enough time at Clara Barton Camp. When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I was only 6 years old, and I was scared and felt very alone. A friend of ours in the Lions' Club suggested that my parents take me and my brother to a family camp session the next month. Being at Clara Barton made me feel like I belonged, and not only has the experience helped me, it has also helped my friends and family understand, and to help me with my diabetes. While at camp instead of being homesick, I can say that for myself and many others, when I am home, I get camp sick.
I miss the sunshine filled days, Gaga (the best game in the world!), the pond, all of the campers, the cookie bake-offs, eating spoonfuls of peanut butter when your blood sugar is low…I do not know where to stop or where to begin. In all my years as a camper, and now a staff member, I have never seen anyone not have fun at camp. Between the camp dances with the Joslin boys (Camp Joslin is the boys camp right down the road, an equally wonderful place) and counselor auction, you never run out of things to do. Singing songs by the campfires, dancing around the dining hall singing about a bog, boa constrictor, or a chicken in the air, and having a polar bear swim (swimming at 6-6:30 am) are just a few things that never lose their charm. Friends made at camp are friends for life; the memories will always be there. After waking each other up at 11:00 at night, or at 1:00am, to go to healthcare, or go to check blood sugars, you cannot help but look back and smile. All I can say is, that now I cannot imagine my life without CBC, it is my home, and my family is there too.
History of Diabetes Camp
It's always a good day when you hear from an old diabetes camp friend. That's exactly what happened to me in mid-August when, out of the blue, I received an email from Dr. Stuart Brink, a pediatric endocrinologist from the Boston area, with whom I have shared many camp memories. "Stu" and I did family weekends together before anyone else did them. It was a Clara Barton Camp, Camp Joslin, American Diabetes Association partnership. And it was good. Volunteers served on the American Diabetes Association's Youth Services Committee. Stu was one of them. I remember him with young children, sitting around the fireplace, reading a bedtime story. Later, when I visited him at clinic, I thought, "if all doctors could spend an evening with their patients around a fireplace - the doctor-patient relationship would be transformed."
We include an article that Stu wrote on the history of diabetes camping in this month's newsletter because it's important to keep track of our beginnings and the transitions we've made along the way. You'll see familiar names in this article - people, like Stu Brink and Sam Wentworth, who have been around diabetes camping for a long time. We applaud them. Hats off, Stu, for documenting our precious work. Let's keep the fire burning and bring more people to the fireside to spend quality time with friends and family - and to share diabetes in an intimate, empowering way.
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Shelley D Yeager, MA, LCSW
Director of Outreach and Development
Caring For Camps 2011 Year in Review
Summer has come and gone, but the important work of fun and discovery continues at diabetes camps nationwide. We’ve heard from so many people involved in the camp experience how important diabetes summer camps are to them, their children and their neighbors, and that’s why Lilly Diabetes continues to support organizations like the Diabetes Education and Camping Association and the American Diabetes Association.
Based on camp director feedback from last summer, we continued many of our most popular camp programs this year. We also rolled out a few new things that camp directors suggested, like a variety of colors and size options for the L.L. Bean® bookpacks, to help improve
the camp experience.
It is our hope that you continue to find our programs beneficial for the children and families your camp serves. It’s been our privilege to provide volunteers, medicines and other diabetes supplies, as well as guest speakers and educational materials that support diabetes camps and help children in dealing with everyday experiences with diabetes.
Karen Wurster
Senior Director, US Lilly Diabetes Strategy
*Submitted by Lilly Diabetes for Inclusion in this Publication
TrialNet Thanks DECA for Summer Screening Success
TrialNet looks to collaborate in 2012 with DECA on important research that is working to find a way to prevent Type 1 Diabetes.
This past summer, 98 DECA camps hosted Type 1 Diabetes TrialNet screenings, and 1,568 family members of campers were tested for risk of type 1 diabetes. Screening rates at camps have increased over last three years. DECA’s support helped TrialNet reach an important milestone in 2011: 10 years, and 100,000 people screened.
“We are grateful for the Diabetes Education and Camping Association’s continued support and endorsement,” says Annie Abraham, TrialNet recruitment coordinator at the University of Florida. “Every year, more families are learning about TrialNet through DECA, and more diabetes camping organizations are inviting us to screen at camp.”
Camp Kudzu, in Georgia, hosted the most productive camp screening, with 63 people screened in one day. Other top screening events of 2011 were hosted by Camp Lo-Be-Gon, Okla. (53 screened in one day); Camp Carefree, N.H. (40); Camp Winona, Fla. (32); Camp Nejeda, N.J. (31); Camp War Eagle, Ark. (30); Camp Joslin and Camp Clara Barton, Mass. (30); and Camp Conrad-Chinnock, Calif. (24).
TrialNet anticipates another successful camp season in 2012, with a goal of screening 2,000 people. In January, TrialNet will send camp directors flyers to include in outreach mailings. Then even families who cannot participate in camp will learn about TrialNet and the opportunity to be screened. In the spring, TrialNet will send camp directors flyers with dates and locations of actual screening events.
“Families tell us they appreciate the opportunity to participate in research at camp,” says Abraham. “The effort is truly shared and a great example of the cooperative spirit that diabetes camp represents.”
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Comments
Diabetes camp staff share a special bond. At lunch today, just the early bird "setter uppers" were here, including young staff members from Camp Seale Harris. We were introducing ourselves and each of the young staff commented - "I've been here for 12 years," or "I've been here for nine years," or "I'm new, this was my sixth year." Well, you don't come back to a place you don't love for six, nine or twelve years (unless you are a glutton for punishment). And the older folks? Some of us have been doing this for 20, 30, even 50 years!
What is the power of diabetes camp? Who knows, but what I know is that when you get diabetes camp people together (staff or campers), there's an incredible shared experience built on passion, friendship and fun. I'm excited to be in the land of grits and fried okra with fellow diabetes camp friends from across North America. And if you are home missing this, well - don't miss the next one. You need "the power."
Today, I'm excited that DECA's new website can bring camps worldwide together. There are over 400 diabetes camping programs out there. They serve tens of thousands of campers and their families. I hope you will use this website to get and give resources that will help other camps; communicate with your camping community, reach out to camps in need and stay connected with camp friends.
Let's all try to use this website actively so that when camp is not in session, we can still work together to enhance our own programs and help others expand. Let's live and love camp like Allison and so many others.
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