More Outreach Efforts

Before camp, we worked on outreach efforts in the community since only half the group could attend the Tarija camp due to the unexpected lower attendance of campers due to political issues.

One day, we visited a local center for malnourished children and educated the care takers on the symptoms of diabetes as well as checked the children's blood sugar level. This gave me practice using a glucometer. One child had a high blood sugar level, but the care takers believe that since he is new to the center, he has not been properly fed and cared for. A local doctor went to visit the next day to make sure the child was ok.

On another day, we visited a local orphanage with 120 kids to educate the "mothers" about the symptoms of diabetes and test any children who might have symptoms. I felt like we were trying to find a needle in a haystack, but the education part was important. The orphanage divided itself up into 11 houses with 1 mother in each and kids of varying ages occupying each house. I rather liked the setup, which made each house seem more like a home and family setting complete with its own kitchen. The mothers and kids surprised me with their knowledge of diabetes symptoms which include, frequent urination, constant thirst, drastic weight loss, constant hunger, and fatigue. I didn't even know the symptoms of diabetes before becoming involved in this project.

Maggie, Lourdes and I made other home visits. As a result of one, Maggie miraculously made it on Bolivian television to discuss the symptoms of diabetes with Carlos, a 15 yr old boy with diabetes who is also deaf and mute. We met him and his family the day before the tv interview. He is the most animated child I have ever met and partly because he needs to over express himself to communicate without an oral language. I enjoyed being around his peppiness. Somehow the family already had a scheduled tv interview and invited Maggie to join them.

We also visited Fabiola's family on the outskirts of the city. A taxi dropped us off at a local bus stop on a dirt road and the father picked us up and we bused over to their house. Fabiola is 12 and has had diabetes for 10 years. She is well-educated and seems in control of her condition, but seems to be under the constant watchful eye of her father. Her father is overwhelming to be around and I enjoyed watching Fabiola open up at camp without him there. At the end of camp, she didn't want to go home at all, and sadly avoided her father on the last day. Despite this, the father could not thank us enough for the homevisit as well as for the incredible happiness he saw in his daughter.

Our final home visit was to Laura Christina's house. She is 15 years old and such a sincere and sweet girl whose mother is her best friend. Unfortunately, the parents had to obtain second jobs and work longer hours to pay for the additional cost of some of the insulin. Thankfully, Nino Feliz offers test strips and some of the insulin for free. We learned how concerned the parents are when she sleeps at night. For the most part, parents are most concerned when their child goes low on their blood sugar than when they go high. This is in part because they can see the physical differences when the blood sugar is low and they are not able to wake up their child. However, continual high blood sugar can lead to severe future complications.

On another day, we organized a focus group of parents and kids to learn more about their needs. Instead of taking advantage of a Saturday night in Santa Cruz, I stayed up very late writing up focus group questions with Maggie and Erica. From the focus group, I'm thrilled that the parents had a chance to have their fears about camp resolved for the most part, and meet other parents. I even watched as the parents exchanged numbers to create their own support group, which seems to be a much needed element to supporting the parents. Based on the momentum in the room, I expect the parents to bond together to educate local schools about the needs of their children and rally the government for more healthcare support.

Despite being the oldest volunteer since the program is more geared towards college students and recent grads, I enjoyed spending NYE as well as working with the other volunteers. One of the funniest and most endearing comments came from Anna who said to me on the last day, "June, I am so glad you came. I hope that in 12 years, when I am as old as you, that I can be just as spunky. You give me hope that I have a future." I felt my age at the moment, but understood what she was trying to say and she tried to reclarify after too. I may have been the oldest volunteer by a decade, but I also was one of the spunkier ones around.