Diabetic Camps

[BriOnH]

Has anyone here ever been a camper, or worked at a diabetic camp? i used to work at Bear Skin Meadow in Kings Canyon National park. Wondering if maybe anyonere here ever went there...?
-Brian

[David]

I've never worked at a camp, but was a camper for two years in my early teens. It was Camp ZaNiKa in Ohio and I still keep in touch with a couple of the other kids who went there. I highly recommend it for kids with diabetes, especially the newly DXd.

David

[jen_slc]

I went to a summer and a winter diabetic camp here in UT right after I was diagnosed and I hated both. Think I must be in the teeny tiny minority with those feelings, or maybe I'm the only one, lol. It didn't teach me anything and it was just a huge competition amongst the campers - who's been in the ED the most? who's passed out the most? who's had glucagon the most? I could not understand why on earth people wanted to be the winner!?!?! As a newbie diabetic at the time, it really just scared me to death and unfortunately soured my view of other diabetics so that I have avoided them ever since. That is, of course, until I joined this forum 6 months ago when I was having problems, and thankfully my views have changed. :embarasse :thumbsup: Everyone is so helpful here! :smile:

[SugaryOne]

I'm going to be a 7-8th year camper at Gales Creek Camp this year in Gales Creek, Oregon. I find the experience really fun and I hope to become a counselor there when I turn 18.

[KickStart101]

No, sorry, haven't been to Bear Skin Meadow, but I was a Camper
from age 8 to 13 at Camp Banting here in Canada. I still have my
first T-shirt from there. I noticed that the Camp has been moved
to another area. Very odd. Great place and we had tons of Fun
and adventures. :)

[MagsRM23]

I went to camp when I was 10 at Camp Mack in Indiana (I don't remember the city), and I absolutely hated it. I hated it so much that I wouldn't even reccomend it to anyone. Although I did learn how to give myself shots for the first time, it was not, overall, a good experience. They forced me to learn how to do injections. I'm grateful for it now, but it was a little intense. They were so strict with us that we couldn't make substitutions to the meal plan we had sent in with our information and had to eat whatever we were "supposed to" (I know, craziness! meal plans! But I'm talking about substituting a fruit for a bread, or something like that. It was 1996, guys....). I was miserable the whole time. It was not an uplifting experience to meet other diabetics. I think it might have made me more depressed! I'm also not an outdoors girl, so the whole "camp" thing just didn't float my boat either. I don't know, it was just not a good time! I used to cry in my bed at night, hoping that the week would pass by quickly so I could go back to my parents (yep, it was only a week long and I was that miserable!). I guess my biggest problem was that we're taught as young diabetics that there is nothing different about you at all, but ALL we could talk about there was diabetes! It was like a huge slap in the face/reminder of what we had to live with. Instead of "forgetting" about being diabetic and just having fun with other diabetics, I was constantly reminded that I wasn't "normal." If I had to do it again, I would just go to a normal summer camp.

[jen_slc]

It was not an uplifting experience to meet other diabetics. I think it might have made me more depressed! It was like a huge slap in the face/reminder of what we had to live with. Instead of "forgetting" about being diabetic and just having fun with other diabetics, I was constantly reminded that I wasn't "normal." Oh good, I'm not the only one!!! It was so true for me too, I hated the constant reminder and the strictness of it all. I did enjoy being outdoors, but I wanted to forget, just for *one* hike, that I was diabetic, that I could be 'normal'. But though we had bad experiences years ago, I like to think that camps these days are much much better with all the changes in the last 10-15 years - I wouldn't want to discourage any newly dx kids from going, and in the future, *if* I should ever have a diabetic child, I would hope s/he would want to go. :rolleyes:

[someone]

It was not an uplifting experience to meet other diabetics. I think it might have made me more depressed!

This is exactly how I feel. Wow.. someone who actually understands.. I have refrained from going for the last couple of years, but I think my parents are going to force me this year :bawling: .

[BriOnH]

Wow! So many bad experiences. I am sorry to hear that. I only worked at a camp, never went as a camper. It's been about 9 years since I have worked there but still have a bunch of friends that I keep in touch with and see from there. I miss it a lot. I really enjoyed meeting other diabetics. It's nice to be around people that can relate with you, instead of having to explain to them what I just did with that pen in my pocket and why. Not to mention all the other things a diabetic has to do and think about during a day. Also, at the camp I went to, they were always ahead of the curve on treating diabetes and managing it.