Promoting self-care among youth with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Each year, diabetes camps provide fun, stimulating, and safe experiences to approximately 20,000 children across North America. At camp, children and teenagers living with diabetes connect with one another in an inclusive and welcoming environment, designed to meet their social, emotional, and medical needs. Campers enjoy a memorable summer experience, where they are also empowered to become more autonomous in managing their diabetes.  Camp Carowanis is a specialized camp for children with Type 1 diabetes in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec.  A multidisciplinary team of allied healthcare professionals join youth on-site to encourage and facilitate campers’ acquisition of disease management strategies. The site also serves as an undergraduate medical education elective in pediatric endocrinology for clerkship students at McGill University. In this article, Laura Pinkham, a medical student at McGill University who completed an elective at Camp Carowanis, shares her observations on the opportunities for promoting self-care among children with type 1 diabetes at camp.