The first Diabetes Awareness Youth Camp was conducted in 2000 at Camp NOSOCA. A camp has been conducted each year since. We feel the camp has been a great success in reaching out to the Native Tribes within the Southern Union. Our eighth camp was conducted June 2007 at Camp ALAMISCO located on Lake Martin in Alabama.The remainder of this article explains how the camp operates.
Bringing Back Native Health
There was a time when Native Americans were one of the healthiest people on the face of the earth. Today they have the greatest occurrence of diabetes than any other ethnic group in the United States. There are reports from many tribes that numerous Indian children, as young as ten years old, are being diagnosed with type II diabetes. What has happened to this once very healthy group of people? There are many reasons that could be sited, but we do not have the space to cover them all. The good news is that this diabetic problem can be changed with education about diet and exercise. We use a camp setting to teach children how they may prevent becoming diabetic.
It is midsummer and children are enjoying their summer vacation. So how do you get them to sit quietly for a hour of instruction that just may be life saving information for Indian children? This is a challenging task, but when the children know what awaits them after the instruction is completed, they usually are willing to tolerate a summer classroom. We do pre & post-testing to determine if the children are absorbing the material presented to them. We are continually amazed at the retention level of the children. We receive numerous reports from tribal administrators about changes in the lifestyles of their children. They also report that the children are sharing this information with their parents. Parents are astounded that their children are asking for salads and vegetables. We are also told that many children’s social well-being has been positively impacted by their camp experience.
Innovative Instruction
For part of our staff we enlist a doctor (MD), a nutritionist, and a nurse (RN) to instruct and care for our children during the camp week. They are very innovative in creating a learning atmosphere for our children. This instruction includes games to teach how the blood flows through the heart and arteries, and what happens when to much cholesterol is present. A fun device is used to teach about insulin resistance. Puppets are used to tell the children which foods are nutritious and which foods are not the best choices. Demonstrations are given to teach the children how they can make, good tasting, nutritious snacks to replace sodas and candy. Films are used to teach the children how to read food labels and understand them. They are also used to teach the pitfalls of tobacco and alcohol. The staff uses a smoking Sue to show how nicotine collects in the lungs. The children get to wear goggles that simulate the vision of a person that is intoxicated. We call this, Learning While Having Fun.
Camp Activities
Five hours of each day is spent with the children enjoying the camp activities. Each camper chooses the activity they most enjoy. They can choose from horseback riding, mountain biking, swimming, skiing, boat riding, rock climbing, canoeing, archery, wave runner, gymnastics, and crafts. Needless to say they get ample exercise during the camp week. How rewarding it is to see the physical stamina improvement of some children that come to camp. Some are not able to walk up the hill on the campus, but by the end of the week they are able to run up that hill. There is a lot for these children to take home from this camp. We are told that many children want to enlist immediately for next years camp even before they get home.