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MY FRIEND DIABETES FAMILY CAMP

OBJECTIVE

The primary objective of the “My Friend Diabetes Family Camp” is to make sure that children with type 1 diabetes and their families create a new “normal”, be hopeful, acknowledge diabetes, feel that they are not alone, manage diabetes with knowledge instead of fear, make friends with diabetes and create multilateral facilities for that purpose.

“Making friends with diabetes is the first step taken toward living with diabetes. It encompasses refraining from magnifying the challenges of diabetes or avoiding consuming ourselves with concerns. Once you have met diabetes, it is best to leave the past behind, have a positive outlook for the future and lead a life at peace with diabetes.”


SCOPE

“My Friend Diabetes Camps” were conducted in İznik in 1997-2019 for education and health improvement of children with diabetes. Many of the families who sent their children to those camps stated their wish to have a camp for themselves as well, where they wished to receive the comprehensive education given to their children, as they also needed to interact and share experiences with other parents of children with diabetes.

To respond to this request that emerged over years, to meet the need for education regarding better treatment of children with diabetes, and to complete the “chain of value” generated in the “Comprehensive Children’s Diabetes Program”, the “My Family Diabetes Family Camp” was launched in 2018 together with the “Stars of the Future” team. In addition to children with diabetes, parents -including grandparents- and non-diabetic siblings also participate in this camp.


STAKEHOLDERS

Diabetic Children’s Foundation (DİYAÇEV) & Stars of the Future


ACTIVE DURATION/STATUS OF THE PROJECT

The “My Friend Diabetes Family Camp” was launched in 2018 and following the camp of 2019, it resumed as of 2022 (due to a 2-year break because of the COVID pandemic). The two latest camps in 2023 and 2024 were organized in terms.

The “My Friend Diabetes Family Camp” is conducted in two terms in August in Uludağ each year and is attended by about 500 participants, including about 150 children and their family members. A minimum of 30 children with diabetes and their families are given the opportunity to take part free of charge.


TARGET AUDIENCE

Children with type 1 diabetes aged 5-18 and their families.


AUDIENCE NEEDS MET

  • Supporting the process of acknowledging diabetes and experiencing the feeling that they are not alone.
  • Making sure that family members and children with diabetes become sufficient in terms of diabetes care and treatment, and are capable of tackling challenges related to diabetes care.
  • Raising awareness regarding diabetes care.
  • Training participants on new treatments and technologies, introducing sensors and insulin pumps to children, ensuring they imbibe them after seeing other children use them.
  • Ensuring that camp participants share their experiences with each other and establish friendships.
  • Helping them assume a positive and confident future outlook.
  • Creating an environment where parents adopt democratic parenting approaches instead of authoritarian or permissive ones.
  • Making sure that parents of children with diabetes understand and manage the issues/changes they experience during adolescence better.
  • Reinforcing education of children’s diabetes teams and participating students, creating an environment where they can receive feedback from families and review their own work/approaches, raising diabetes teams who understand children with diabetes better for a lifetime.
  •  Generating new participation to the “Diabetic Children and Parents Guidance Program” and extending the program to a nationwide scope.
  • Developing new projects in line with suggestions made by parents.


WHAT ARE THE OUTCOMES OF THE PROJECT? WHAT HAS BEEN ACHIEVED?

The “My Friend Diabetes Family Camp” aimed to introduce to children with diabetes and their parents from all around Türkiye a correct management approach for diabetes that is coherent with the natural flow of life and in harmony with personal preferences while supporting experiences on living with diabetes with up-to-date knowledge. In doing so, hundreds of people have been reached out to by the end of each camp.

Other primary achievements of the project are as follows in the words of participants:
  • “We have made way to clear the dark skies that loomed over our home because of type 1 diabetes.”
  • “We have made progress in terms of acknowledging type 1 diabetes, not feeling alone, avoiding use of a sensor and being concerned about others seeing it.”
  • “We got motivation for a better diabetes management and HbA1c target (minimum <7%). A lot has cleared in our minds.”
  • “We started to leave behind our fears and concerns, most notably the fear of hypoglycemia.”
  • “We have been happy together and marched on while preserving hope and optimism”.
  • “We have met those with type 1 diabetes who «normalized» diabetes management and integrated it to their lives.”
  • “Our horizons were expanded about the available technologies.”
  • “We have learnt not to make a big deal out of counting carbs and other matters.”
  • “As we were returning home, we were motivated to spread the solidarity at the camp to the whole country altogether.”
  • “It became clear to us that nutritional management, moral support, empowering parental stances, peer interaction, optimism and solidarity mattered as much as technology in type 1 diabetes care.”
  • “We understood that it was time to have tighter targets and do what it took to keep the course of glucose at 70-140 mg and HbA1c below 6.5%, and that it was possible to do so, even if it was not easy.”
  • “We have recognized that diabetes technologies, especially sensors, changed the lives/fates of children with diabetes and families, and that we needed to fight in a more determined manner for everyone to have equitable access to them.”


WHICH INSTITUTIONS LEAD THE PROJECT?

The “My Friend Diabetes Family Camp” project is led by Koç University Hospital.