Family First

Family First: Children & Diabetes

NEW YORK (CBS) ― More than 15,000 American children are diagnosed with Type-1 diabetes every year. While the diagnosis can be frightening and confusing at first, there are lots of programs to help families cope and learn to manage the disease together. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is a great place to start.

The Children's Hospital at Montefiore in the Bronx holds a diabetes summer camp for its young patients. CBS 2's Cindy Hsu talked to Dr. Zoltan Antal about the camp and to get advice for parents.

Advice for parents when their child is first diagnosed with diabetes:

When the child is first diagnosed, parents should focus on learning the basics - checking sugars, giving insulin, and monitoring for signs of abnormal sugars (high, low) - and not focus too much on the fine details. They should come to terms with the fact that injected insulin will never control the children's sugars the way a functioning pancreas would, and that the management is not perfect - but with time, they will learn to tailor management for their children to provide great control.

One of the main things that helps is family unity. Food choices should change for EVERYONE!! There should be no chips, ice cream, and cake for everyone else, and sugar free, bland things for the "diabetic". Parents should not label things as diabetic diets or diabetic choices -- healthy, low carb lifestyle modification for everyone at home is helpful for everyone, and will make the child with diabetes feel less isolated and restricted.

How common is type-1 diabetes in children and what are the symptoms?

The most common symptoms are excessive thirst and urination, fatigue and weight loss - all signs of elevated blood sugars. Many parents think it is a UTI or behavioral (IE - excessive drinking) and often the diagnosis is delayed.
According to the American Diabetes Association, it is estimated that one in every 600 children in the U.S. develops type-1 diabetes. Type-1 diabetes accounts for 5 to 10 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes in the U.S.

Tell me about the camp for children treated at The Children's Hospital of Montefiore.

Every year in August, 2 weeks - run by the nurse educators and assisted by the rest of the staff, including MDs, RNs, students, and parents. Camp counselors are children over 18 years of age, diabetics themselves, and help run the group sessions, blood sugar checks, insulin administration, etc.

Advice for parents looking for similar camps?

Camps exist in a few areas, but finding out about them can be difficult. One reason we do camp CHAM is that so few exist in our area -- in fact, I believe this is the only one in the NY area.
Click here for a site map that may help.

Final thoughts?

The nurse educators are the heart and soul of this camp. The parents and children love them, and they spend countless weeks planning and setting up camp. They do it for no extra money, only their love of these children.
The counselors are all diabetic children who have "made it through the tough times", and camp helps them realize that they need to be responsible role models, both in general as well as for children with diabetes.

Finally, for the doctors, who spend endless hours in clinics telling parents and kids all that they have not done right, how they could do better, and the most famous line: "you MUST check your sugars all the time", this is a very real look into the daily lives of these kids - how difficult it can be to have to think about your meals, insulin, and having to stick yourself 8 or 10 times a day just to enjoy a summer day at a camp. It builds a tremendous appreciation in our minds as to what these children go through EVERY DAY! It renews a sense in us that we must work together to find a cure for this terrible disease. It helps us see them not as diabetic children...but as children who have diabetes. Really...just children.

Comments to Cindy Hsu

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)