Diabetes camps flourish after funding cuts nearly shut them down

Diabetes camps in New Brunswick and P.E.I. are flourishing from donations and sponsorships after Diabetes Canada cut their funding.

Volunteers and camp counsellors could not stand to see the 50-year-old camp in both New Brunswick and P.E.I., close its doors. So volunteers from the two provinces partnered together to raise money to keep them open.

Camp Phoenix in Canoe Cove, P.E.I., raised $80,000 in one year, said Stéphane Richard, program manager for the two camps.

"When we walked away in P.E.I. we were like, 'Well, we have funding for next year and already year three, possibly.' So yes ... that was phenomenal."

New Brunswick's Camp Dragonfly in Green Hill Lake raised around $45,000.

Richard said it takes about $30,000 to run the week-long camp for kids ages seven to 14.

The camp offers children with Type 1 diabetes a regular camp experience with the added support of a medical and nursing team. 

They have activities centred around the challenges kids with diabetes face, such as how to administer an insulin shot and how to be aware of low blood sugar.

The program runs from July 7-12 in P.E.I. and July 14-19 in New Brunswick.

He said the camp will be bringing back a leadership academy this year that was missing last year. The academy is for teens between the ages of 15 and 16, and is meant to prepare them to either be camp counsellors, or just bolster their confidence and public speaking skills.

I know my counsellors that I had were awesome as a kid so it was appealing to me to be able to do that too.​​​​- Isabelle Cormier, campgoer

Fifteen-year-old Isabelle Cormier has been going to the camp since she was seven. On her first day, she was overwhelmed and scared.

"I've never been away from home," she said. 

But as the day went on things changed. She got more comfortable and realized "it was a good place to be."

"All the staff there ... they made me feel like I was safe."

Now she's too old to go to camp, but this year she'll be part of the leadership academy and hopes to be a counsellor.

"I know my counsellors that I had were awesome as a kid, so it was appealing to me to be able to do that too," she said.

"They were always very happy and ... understanding."

Cormier's mother, Heidi Cormier, said the camp is sometimes just as important to parents as it is for kids. Being a parent with a child with diabetes is like "being on duty 24/7."

"Diabetes doesn't rest," she said.

So sending your child off to a camp where you know they'll be prepared for the challenges that come with diabetes is comforting, she said.

"The first year that Isabelle went to camp I was a nervous wreck," she said. "The second year she went, I was like, 'Alright, see you later.'"

Fundraising help

Richard said organizers were concerned that the fundraising results might be a one-time thing.

"Is it a charity of choice for one year then everybody kind of forgets about it?" he said. 

But donations from this year are proving otherwise.

"What we're seeing is that there is a consistency between the first year and the second year," he said. "We're very, very happy and excited about that."

• Diabetes camp at Greenhill Lake makes a comeback 
• Islanders rally to establish new diabetes camp on P.E.I.  

Last summer was the first year the camps ran without funding from Diabetes Canada, which closed the New Brunswick and P.E.I. camps but kept one in Nova Scotia.

It offered free transportation so kids from the two provinces can get to Nova Scotia, but parents did not feel comfortable sending their children out of province.

Richard said camp activities went well last year. More than 30 kids signed up in P.E.I. and around 40 in New Brunswick.