school camp for newly diagnosed type 1 diabetic child

[amarie]

Hi,
Just looking for advice about end of primary school camp. My son was diagnosed last November and he's due to go to camp next month for 5 days. Has anyone experience of school camps quite close to diagnosis? A couple of my friends have put me off a bit. It's the fact the staff will be in charge of him 24/7 and the training they receive is minimal. The diabetic team attended a meeting and that's it. There will be a plan drawn up but compare that to the training parents receive for 24/7 care it doesn't seem enough.

 

[Northerner]

Hi amarie, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm not a parent, so can't help much I'm afraid - hopefully one of our parents will be along soon to offer advice. What insulin is he on, and how is he with the injections and fingerpricks? Would it be possible to stay nearby so you would be available if needed at short notice, for the teachers to contact you? I would say that, if at all possible, you should let him go so that he doesn't get to feel that his diabetes is something that will hold him back and make him miss out on things. How well do you know the staff members who will be looking after him?

 

[Sally71]

Can you not request a meeting with your son's teachers and do the training yourself? Then you can teach them exactly how you want them to do it. My daughter has been on residential trips with school and Brownies; for Brownies it was me + DSN teaching the Brownie leaders, then I typed everything up into a care plan. For school I was a bit more experienced and did it all myself, but decided I would have as many meetings with the teachers as I thought necessary until they understood. I did one main meeting and then had a few questions from them afterwards which I was of course happy to answer. In both cases the adults in charge have done amazingly well and she has had brilliant numbers for the days she has been away. Hope you can sort something out for your son, good luck 🙂

 

[HOBIE]

I would be very stressed if the people did not understand what they were dealing with. Duk camps are a different thing. You would find out all sorts. You go in 1 area where the kids go in another & learn. Full of specialists etc. Good luck

 

[amarie]

Hi, Thanks for your replies. he still needs supervision calculating insulin etc. If it was a few months down the line I'd be happier. I'd like to try the diabetes uk camps later this year. it's a steep learning curve when you're child is diagnosed.it's going to be a very active few days and it looks like he'll be checking his bg frequently. I'm worried he'll be more prone to hypos and the camp is in a remote area.

 

[HOBIE]

I was 3 when diagnosed & would take on the world . Hope he has a great time & trouble free. Kids whoed av em 🙂

 

[Redkite]

You need a meeting with school staff to outline the care required, and then training following on from that (given by you and/or the DSN). You need a detailed itinerary of the activities to be done each day, and ideally a daily menu also. You should use these to write an action plan for each day, including when to do BG tests, and what snacks etc to have for certain activities.

I would expect every staff member to know how to treat a hypo. Then one or two more intensively trained to do the following:

* supervise carb counting, dose calculation and injections
* supervise basal injection(s)
* ensure your daily care plan is adhered to (BG tests and snacks)
* be responsible for spare diabetes equipment and snacks/hypo remedies
* know how to use glucagon and when
* test BG at an appropriate time during the night

Many parents end up going on these trips to support their T1 child (although the school cannot oblige you to, and has a duty under the Equality Act to make reasonable adjustments to allow your child to participate). I went on my son's residential trips in Y4, Y5 and Y7, and he couldn't possibly have coped without support.

 

[HOBIE]

I would be very stressed if the people did not understand what they were dealing with. Duk camps are a different thing. You would find out all sorts. You go in 1 area where the kids go in another & learn. Full of specialists etc. Good luck

If it were me I would get my child on a Duk week or weekend. Gives them lots of confidence 🙂 for life

 

[KookyCat]

My friend is a teacher and the diabetes lead at her school and she does flow diagrams for other teachers, so like a decision tree, so they know what to do in most situations. For those who don't know about diabetes the most difficult thing is to spot the danger signs. She says they work extremely well and support the teachers and the kids very well. I wonder if it would be worth having something like that? Quite a bit of work but apparently they're so successful a lot of the parents are using them to teach their kids to self manage. She can't send them to us sadly because they contain sensitive information specific to the school, but thought I'd mention it in case the idea is useful. Hope the camp goes well 🙂

 

[HOBIE]

My friend is a teacher and the diabetes lead at her school and she does flow diagrams for other teachers, so like a decision tree, so they know what to do in most situations. For those who don't know about diabetes the most difficult thing is to spot the danger signs. She says they work extremely well and support the teachers and the kids very well. I wonder if it would be worth having something like that? Quite a bit of work but apparently they're so successful a lot of the parents are using them to teach their kids to self manage. She can't send them to us sadly because they contain sensitive information specific to the school, but thought I'd mention it in case the idea is useful. Hope the camp goes well 🙂

Sounds good to me Kooky 🙂

 

[Milsey moo]

Hi, it can be difficult to know what to do. Obviously your son wants to go but may be if u volunteer to help if there's that option and that way u can be there to help him. Hope this was a little bit of help .