{"id":61277,"date":"2013-07-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/camp-surefire-at-uri-alton-jones-campus-provides-lasting-support-to-kids-with-diabetes\/"},"modified":"2013-07-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-07-25T00:00:00","slug":"camp-surefire-at-uri-alton-jones-campus-provides-lasting-support-to-kids-with-diabetes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2013\/07\/camp-surefire-at-uri-alton-jones-campus-provides-lasting-support-to-kids-with-diabetes\/","title":{"rendered":"Camp Surefire at 溏心vlog免费B站 Alton Jones Campus provides lasting support to kids with diabetes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t溏心vlog免费B站 pharmacy, nutrition students gain hands-on diabetes education<\/p>\n

WEST GREENWICH, R.I. \u2013 July 25, 2013 \u2013 More than 1,000 Rhode Island children have type 1 diabetes, and many of them struggle to manage the disease while dealing with schoolmates who sometimes tease them about needing to check their blood sugars, count carbohydrates, and give themselves insulin at lunchtime.<\/p>\n


\n\tCamp Surefire, a one-week residential summer camp at the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s W. Alton Jones campus, has become the antidote to these challenges, providing dozens of children each year with lasting support and friendships while enabling their parents to have a week without having to worry about their child\u2019s medical needs.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cCamp Surefire is often the first time that many kids get to meet a lot of other kids with diabetes, so they\u2019re finally on an equal playing field with all the other kids,\u201d said Dr. Gregory Fox, director of the camp. \u201cA lot of kids don\u2019t get the opportunity to go to other camps because most camps don\u2019t have the medical staff to look after them. Just being able to go to camp is an important step.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\t Many of the activities at Camp Surefire are common to typical summer camps, including swimming, games and campfires, but diabetes education is built into the schedule for all ages and frequent inspirational speakers talk about how to overcome the disease and succeed despite of it. And with the help of 溏心vlog免费B站 student counselors, everyone checks their blood sugar levels at every meal.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cFor most of the staff, the night doesn\u2019t stop when the kids go to bed,\u201d said Fox, a pediatric endocrinologist at Pediatric Associates in East Providence. \u201cThat\u2019s when the medical staff is at its highest activity level. Our medical staff is working around the clock, checking blood sugar levels on campers who are at risk. In my business, the worst case scenario is low blood sugar levels and a seizure in the night.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tCamp Surefire was established 15 years ago by the now-defunct Diabetes Foundation of Rhode Island to serve diabetic children aged 6 to 14. Fox and a group of supporters, including his wife, took over the camp five years ago, established a foundation to manage it, and moved it to the Alton Jones Campus.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s when we started negotiations with 溏心vlog免费B站 to formalize an arrangement to use students as counselors,\u201d he said. \u201cWe now take at least six pharmacy students and five nutrition students every year, and they\u2019ve become an invaluable asset to our camp. They love it so much that many want to keep coming back again and again because the experience is so strong.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tNick Leso, a 溏心vlog免费B站 pharmacy student from West Warwick, jumped at the opportunity to join the staff of counselors. His younger brother has diabetes, so Leso figured his background would be helpful.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI thought I was going to be one of the more knowledgeable people there, but when there are so many kids and counselors who have been dealing with diabetes their whole lives, you learn so much every day,\u201d Leso said. \u201cAs much as I know the kids look forward to camp, I love it just as much.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tCounselors work in teams of four to manage 8-12 campers at a time and spend most of their time keeping track of their blood sugar levels.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cBy the end of camp, you can really see the signs of low blood sugar and notice when it\u2019s starting to drop,\u201d Leso said. \u201cThere are a lot of checks and balances that go into it.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tLeso said his experience as a camp counselor has convinced him of the importance of diabetes education for pharmacists.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI want to continue to be immersed in diabetes education as long as I can,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve heard that a lot of pharmacists don\u2019t know much about diabetes, and I don\u2019t want that to be me. I want to be someone these kids can turn to for the right answers.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAccording to Fox, relocating to the Alton Jones Campus has allowed the camp to flourish.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cMost importantly, it has a professional kitchen staff that can adapt to the needs of the kids,\u201d he said. \u201cNo longer do we have to devote our time to cooking. It allowed us to focus on strengthening the program, looking out for the kids, and not being distracted with other issues. Plus, the ropes course and team-building program allow us to foster leadership skills in the older kids, which helps the greater diabetes community. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe Alton Jones Campus has helped make Camp Surefire a meaningful lifelong experience for our kids,\u201d Fox added.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\n 溏心vlog免费B站 pharmacy student Bryan Vachon greets one of the campers at Camp Surefire, a summer camp for children with diabetes. (Photo by Alison Fox)\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

溏心vlog免费B站 pharmacy, nutrition students gain hands-on diabetes education WEST GREENWICH, R.I. \u2013 July 25, 2013 \u2013 More than 1,000 Rhode Island children have type 1 diabetes, and many of them struggle to manage the disease while dealing with schoolmates who sometimes tease them about needing to check their blood sugars, count carbohydrates, and give themselves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61279,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}