Your child has been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and, along with the shock, came the question that tightens any parent's chest: will they still be able to go camping with the Club? The short answer is yes. The long answer is this article, because camping safely takes preparation, and preparation is built on a clear agreement between the family and the leadership team.
Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the body stops producing insulin, the hormone that moves glucose from the blood into the cells. Without insulin given from the outside, blood sugar rises. With too much insulin for what was eaten or for the effort made, it drops. The daily work of the Pathfinder with diabetes, and of whoever cares for them, is to keep that balance: measure, calculate, inject, eat and move in harmony.
None of this is a reason to leave the child out. Thousands of children with type 1 diabetes run, swim, climb hills and sleep in tents every year. What separates a safe experience from an avoidable scare is exactly what you are about to read here.
The conversation with leadership and the medical form
It all starts with a calm meeting between the family and the Club's leadership team, ideally weeks before the camp. The goal is simple: give the Director the knowledge that turns fear into competence. Name the condition, describe your child's routine, and show that a plan exists.
The medical form needs to go beyond the standard template. Write down the type of insulin and the usual doses, the delivery method (pen, syringe or pump), the blood sugar target the endocrinologist set, the signs your child usually feels when their sugar drops, and exactly what to do in each situation. Include phone numbers: yours, a second guardian's, and the doctor who follows the child.
It helps to write, on a separate laminated sheet, a step by step emergency guide in plain language, the kind any Counselor can follow while shaking at three in the morning. That sheet stays with the camp's health team and a copy goes inside the child's kit. A Counselor who can read the situation becomes your child's greatest ally, and it is worth investing in that relationship of trust, as all good unit care requires (see how to be a good Counselor in our guide: /en/desbravadores/lideranca/como-ser-um-bom-conselheiro/).
Insulin and glucose monitor at camp
At camp, insulin needs two things: storage and access. Most insulins in use can stay at room temperature for a few weeks, but strong midday tent heat spoils the medication. A cooler bag with a reusable ice pack, kept in the shade, solves it. Bring twice what you would need, because a pen dropped in the mud or a broken vial does happen.
Monitoring is the heart of safety. If your child uses a continuous glucose monitor (that patch on the arm that sends the reading to a phone), agree with the leadership team how the alarm will be heard at night, since there is not always a cell signal out in the wild. If they measure with a glucometer and strips, make sure there are spare strips, lancets, and a hard container for the safe disposal of needles.
Define who does what. A twelve year old who already injects on their own keeps injecting, with an adult nearby checking the dose. A younger child needs direct supervision. Put this in writing to leave no doubt in the moment, and make it clear that the diabetes supplies are never locked away from their owner: they travel with the child.
Carb counting on the menu
The camp menu is usually decided in advance, and that is a huge advantage. Ask the kitchen for the list of meals and sit down with the parents to estimate the carbs in each dish. Rice, bread, pasta, potato, juice and dessert are the sources that move blood sugar the most; protein and salad weigh far less.
Carb counting is the method for working out the meal's insulin dose. If your child already does this at home, they only need the right quantities to run the math. A simple idea that works: put together a little table with the camp's dishes and the carbs per serving, keeping the child and the Counselor with that reference in their pocket.
Watch out for camp's festive traps. Marshmallows over the fire, soda in the heat, and that extra snack on the hike count just like any other food. The child with diabetes can eat, yes, as long as they give the matching insulin or offset it with activity. Leaving the Pathfinder out of the snack circle is the kind of silent exclusion that hurts more than the prick of a needle.
Read alsoPathfinder with epilepsy: seizures, safety, and inclusion in the clubHypoglycemia: recognize it and act fast
Hypoglycemia is a drop in blood sugar, usually below 70 mg/dL, and it is the most common and fastest emergency in type 1 diabetes. According to the Brazilian Diabetes Society, the signs appear within minutes: trembling, cold sweat, palpitations, sudden hunger, paleness, irritability for no reason, blurred vision and mental confusion. Each child has their own set of warnings, which is why the form lists your child's specific signs.
The official approach is the rule of 15. Give 15 grams of fast acting carbohydrate (three teaspoons of sugar dissolved in water, half a glass of fruit juice or regular soda, or glucose tablets), wait 15 minutes and measure again. If it is still low, repeat. On average, 15 grams raise blood sugar by 30 to 40 mg/dL. Only after glucose returns to normal do you offer a real meal.
There is a clear limit. If the child is too drowsy to swallow, unconscious, vomiting or having a seizure, do not force anything by mouth. This is an emergency: alert the health team, give glucagon if the family provided it and trained the team, and call your local emergency number (in Brazil, SAMU 192) right away. Having someone on the team with a grasp of first aid makes all the difference in those minutes (our material on resuscitation helps the Club prepare: /en/desbravadores/saude/rcp-reanimacao-cardiopulmonar/).
Hyperglycemia: when the alert is a rise
Hyperglycemia is the opposite, blood sugar too high, and it usually sets in more slowly. The Brazilian Diabetes Society lists the classic signs as excessive thirst, needing to urinate all the time, tiredness and a dry mouth. At a hot camp with lots of activity, these signs can be mistaken for normal fatigue, so the monitor is the judge.
The cause is usually too little insulin, too much food without coverage, or an infection starting. The correction depends on the individual plan: in general, you measure glucose, give the correction dose agreed with the doctor, and reinforce hydration with water, never with a sugary drink. Light movement also helps bring it down, but heavy exercise with very high glucose can make things worse.
The point of attention is diabetic ketoacidosis, a serious complication of sustained hyperglycemia. Vomiting, abdominal pain, labored breathing and breath with a sweetish smell, like overripe fruit, are signs that the body has entered distress. Faced with this combination, the child needs urgent medical care. Call your local emergency number (in Brazil, SAMU 192) and notify the parents at the same instant.
Hikes, physical activity and the emergency kit
Physical activity is part of the essence of being a Pathfinder, and it is good for those with diabetes. Exercise helps insulin work better. The catch is that it also lowers blood sugar, sometimes hours after it ends. The Brazilian guidelines recommend starting activity with blood sugar in a safe range, around 90 to 180 mg/dL, and measuring before, during long activities, and after.
Before a hike or a competition, measure. If glucose is near the low limit, an extra carbohydrate before setting out avoids the drop halfway up the trail. Cereal bars, fruit and carbohydrate gels fit in a pocket and do the job. The risk does not end when the hike is over: hypoglycemia can appear twelve to twenty four hours after a big effort, so the night after an intense day calls for extra measurements.
The emergency kit is non negotiable and goes with the child on every move, never staying in the tent. Inside it: the meter or the backup sensor, strips and lancets, fast carbohydrate (sugar, a juice box, glucose tablets), a snack with slow carbohydrate, the insulin in the cooler bag, and the laminated instruction sheet. A Counselor carries a mirror kit in the unit's backpack, just in case.
Classes, Honors and the plan with parents
Type 1 diabetes removes no requirement from any Class. The Pathfinder camps, builds a fire, pitches a tent, learns knots, swims safely, and completes their Class hike the same way their peers do. The Honors stay fully open, including the camping and nature ones. The condition enters the routine as one more detail of organization, never as a ceiling on their achievements.
What holds all this up is the plan agreed with the parents, written and reviewed before every big event. It defines who measures, who supervises the injection, where each kit stays, how the kitchen reports the carbs, what the hypoglycemia step by step is, and the number to call first in an emergency. A plan on paper takes the weight off the Counselor's shoulders and gives peace of mind back to the family.
In the end, including well means seeing the whole child, the person who exists far beyond the diagnosis. The Christian faith teaches that each person was formed with purpose. Psalm 139:14 says, in the New International Version: 'I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.' A Club that welcomes the Pathfinder with diabetes lives out this truth in practice.