[philmont] Diabetics on the trail

any one have experience with a scout at Philmont who
hiked with an isulin pump??

One of the scouts who'd like to go has had an insulin
pump for atleast 3 yr.

  He'll be 14 yr old next summer.

we are used to dealing with this on a regular troop
campoutactivities/treks,but didn't know if Philmont had other
requirements/restrictions.

I have called and left a message about this 2 times at
Philmont, and haven't gotten a reply yet, so thought I'd ask all of you

Kim Pigorsch
Philmont '99, '03, '07
Troop 681 Outdoor Chairmun (sic)

www.troop681.com - troop website
www.sdicbsa.org - Council Website

San Diego, CA
   
  *******************************************************************************************
   
  Kim,
   
  I'm 61 and a non insulin dependent diabetic. I have no experience with pumps, but would like to say that diabetics can lead normal lives if allowed to. That includes going to Philmont. If he can handle Scout camp, he can handle Philmont.
   
  Consider this, an insulin dependent diabetic recently sumitted Mt. Everest. That's a little more of a task than Philmont's toughest peak. There is no reason he should not go to Philmont so long as he is responsible for his monotoring and maintenance. More than one advisor should be abrest of his needs, but more importantly, the other Scouts should. It's a Scout trip and they should work with their pears as a team.
   
  I'll bet my last dollar that they already do this.
   
  The staff will bend over backwards to accomodate him even to the point of furnishing all the ingredients of each and every food item. Mark Anderson's wife did this for me and that alone was very helpful.
   
  One word of caution, PhilFood is LOADED with carbs spelled S-U-G-A-R. It's a cheap form of energy, but a bane to diabetics. What diabetics need is complex carbohydrates for fuel, not sugar.
   
  To get this done, I substituted my own food for about half of what I ate to avoid this problem. For example for breakfast I carried plain instant oatmeal which has no sugar added to replace the ones Philmont furnished which all contained sugar. I carried no sugar added hot chocolate mix and enjoyed it each morning right along with everybody else.
   
  I pre packaged the meals and sent them ahead and picked them up in the back country. I think I picked up three food pickups along the trail. Depending on which trek the crew is taking, he can plan accordingly.
   
  Along with my food, I included a care package of goodies which I distributed among the crew members at each food drop. That made it even more fun to pick up my food package when they thought they would have some extra SweeTarts or M&M's for themselves.
   
  There have been many a Scout attend Philmont as diabetics. Control and knowing how to do that is the important thing.
   
  Working with the Scout to see that he gets the quality experience of Philmont will be your reward.
   
  As far as leaving a mesage at Philmont, keep trying. It's autum adventure time there and the summer staff is gone and they are stretched pretty thin. Be patient and keep trying. Don't give up, don't give up, don't give up.
   
  It's well worth it.
   
  John LeBlanc
  Philmont 1959 as a Scout
  Philmont 2002 as an advisor
   
  

                 
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Received on Sun Oct 8 01:20:15 2006