Ecuador
Children
Updates from the Field - Lifesaving Diabetes Education for Ecuadorian Youth
Updates from the FieldUpdates from the Field (or Progress Reports) on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.com by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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Recent Updates from the Field
Campo Amigo 2009
By Kendra Hennig - Campo Amigo welcomes its new campers, August 28, 2009 10:32 PM
Ecuador Volunteer Program
The primary goal of the project, led by AYUDA and the Fundación de Diabetes Juvenil del Ecuador (FDJE), was to empower and educate youth with diabetes to take a more active role in managing their condition while serving as peer mentors to other children and youth with diabetes. Through increasing the participation and commitment of youth leaders in the Foundation and greater diabetes community, the youth can help improve and facilitate access to diabetes education for the local community and serve as key contacts in the local diabetes support network. As children and youth gain leadership skills, become more educated and motivated to support others, their own overall health sees critical improvement.
AYUDA staff and volunteers travelled to Quito, Ecuador on July 17, 2009 to unite with the Ecuadorian team from the Foundation, where they engaged in a program comprising intensive orientation and training, grassroots provincial outreach missions, and Campo Amigo as the keystone program element. In orientation and training, the volunteer team prepared for medical protocol, honed their leadership skills and developed their youth empowerment strategies. On the outreach missions, their objectives were to offer educational and motivational support to children with diabetes and their families, deepen those families’ connections to the Foundation, and find new children for the camp program. Finally, children with diabetes and the AYUDA and Foundation teams came together at Campo Amigo, which was pleased to welcome 76 children with diabetes and a staff of over 50.
Successes & Achievements
Though Ecuador is AYUDA’s longest continually running program, novelty dominated the experience and there remains ample opportunity for impact. The Foundation has grown to expand its ranks of newly engaged youth leaders, and its staff expanded three-fold this year to a “technical team” of six people working year round to expand the reach and effectiveness of the Foundation. This new investment of its team provided new energy, creative ideas, and deeper community connections. Additionally, Campo Amigo welcomed about 40% new campers, largely as a result of the team’s increased efforts in province missions. Most excitingly, three small teams travelled to Ecuador’s poorest province of Manabi and to Guayaquil, a province typically minimally touched by the Foundation. It was from these two provinces where most campers from Campo Amigo harkened and will remain a target for future missions. At Campo Amigo itself the team proudly expanded its educational programme to divide campers into basic and advanced levels in order to more effectively educate and challenge children from all experiences and backgrounds.
The primary goal of the project, led by AYUDA and the Fundación de Diabetes Juvenil del Ecuador (FDJE), was to empower and educate youth with diabetes to take a more active role in managing their condition while serving as peer mentors to other children and youth with diabetes. Through increasing the participation and commitment of youth leaders in the Foundation and greater diabetes community, the youth can help improve and facilitate access to diabetes education for the local community and serve as key contacts in the local diabetes support network. As children and youth gain leadership skills, become more educated and motivated to support others, their own overall health sees critical improvement.
AYUDA staff and volunteers travelled to Quito, Ecuador on July 17, 2009 to unite with the Ecuadorian team from the Foundation, where they engaged in a program comprising intensive orientation and training, grassroots provincial outreach missions, and Campo Amigo as the keystone program element. In orientation and training, the volunteer team prepared for medical protocol, honed their leadership skills and developed their youth empowerment strategies. On the outreach missions, their objectives were to offer educational and motivational support to children with diabetes and their families, deepen those families’ connections to the Foundation, and find new children for the camp program. Finally, children with diabetes and the AYUDA and Foundation teams came together at Campo Amigo, which was pleased to welcome 76 children with diabetes and a staff of over 50.
Successes & Achievements
Though Ecuador is AYUDA’s longest continually running program, novelty dominated the experience and there remains ample opportunity for impact. The Foundation has grown to expand its ranks of newly engaged youth leaders, and its staff expanded three-fold this year to a “technical team” of six people working year round to expand the reach and effectiveness of the Foundation. This new investment of its team provided new energy, creative ideas, and deeper community connections. Additionally, Campo Amigo welcomed about 40% new campers, largely as a result of the team’s increased efforts in province missions. Most excitingly, three small teams travelled to Ecuador’s poorest province of Manabi and to Guayaquil, a province typically minimally touched by the Foundation. It was from these two provinces where most campers from Campo Amigo harkened and will remain a target for future missions. At Campo Amigo itself the team proudly expanded its educational programme to divide campers into basic and advanced levels in order to more effectively educate and challenge children from all experiences and backgrounds.
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First December Diabetes Education Camp!
By Merith Basey - Global Program Director, February 12, 2009 10:00 PM
From the 20th to the 23rd December, local partner organization, la Fundacion Diabetes Juvenil Ecuador, completed its first December diabetes education programme for children with Type 1 diabetes in Ecuador. This programme was the first weekend programme to be carried out in the December vacation period and was attended by 46 children and adolescentes with diabetes from a number of Ecuadorian provinces: Loja, Azuay, Canar, Tunguragua, Manabi, Guayas, Galapagos, Napo, Imbabura, Carchi and Pichincha.
A total of 24 youth leaders guided the programme supported by a medical team led by local endocrinologist and former camper, Josefa Palacios.
Counsellor Training Programme
Youth leaders gathered in Quito from across Ecuador on the 10th January 2009 to prepare and train for the annual diabetes education camping programme Campo Amigo Ecuador. Counsellors attended from Loja, Cuenca, Bilbian and Portoviejo respectively. The training served as an opportunity for monitoring and evaluation of the first December Diabetes Education Camp and preparation for local diabetes outreach activities for the upcoming months.
Thank you for continued support! Juntos somos mas fuertes!
A total of 24 youth leaders guided the programme supported by a medical team led by local endocrinologist and former camper, Josefa Palacios.
Counsellor Training Programme
Youth leaders gathered in Quito from across Ecuador on the 10th January 2009 to prepare and train for the annual diabetes education camping programme Campo Amigo Ecuador. Counsellors attended from Loja, Cuenca, Bilbian and Portoviejo respectively. The training served as an opportunity for monitoring and evaluation of the first December Diabetes Education Camp and preparation for local diabetes outreach activities for the upcoming months.
Thank you for continued support! Juntos somos mas fuertes!
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Diabetes Education Camping Program - Campo Amigo Ecuador 2008
By Merith Basey - Global Program Director, August 07, 2008 06:36 PM
Thank you to all of you who so generously donated to AYUDA over the past few months to provide lifesaving education for children living with diabetes in Ecuador!
Throughout the month of July AYUDA worked closely with the FDJE (AYUDA’s partner organization in Quito) to train international and local Ecuadorian youth leaders to prepare them to lead Campo Amigo Ecuador 2008, a youth led diabetes education camping program for youth with Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes.
Prior to the camp AYUDA and the FDJE trained and dispatched teams of youth leaders to the various provinces of Ecuador with the primary objective of reaching as many new children with type 1 diabetes to teach them about the camp and encourage them to participate. Teams were sent to work with local contacts in the following areas of Ecuador:
- Guayaquil
- Manabí (including Portoviejo, Tosagua, Chone, Montecristi)
- Ambato & Baños
- Cuenca & Loja
- Ibarra & Tulcán
- Quito
The provincia trips proved successful since over 20 children with diabetes who had never previously been aware of the existence of camp were able to attend for the first time. In total 85 children and young adults from the ages of 4 – 28 attended Campo Amigo Ecuador, held in El Valle de los Chillos, in the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador. The camp was led by a trained medical team with local and international representatives as well as a youth team of counselors of which almost 50% themselves had type 1 diabetes, many of whom were former campers themselves.
At camp every moment was seized as an opportunity for educating the children about how to better manage their condition and how to avoid the long-term (preventable) complications that the disease can cause due to continual mismanaged high blood sugars. Many campers who arrived with high blood sugars (in the 200s & 300s) were able to bring their blood sugars down to the normal blood sugar range of 70 -120mg/dl by the end of the week. Apart from being able to test their blood sugars at least 7 times per day (in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of their overall blood sugar variation) the campers were also taught alternative methods of measuring their blood glucose levels. The alternative methods were taught by Dr Patricia Blanco a doctor from Bolivia and type 1 sufferer herself, and were geared to those campers from the poorest backgrounds. The alternative methods provide sustainable ways of measuring whether your blood sugar is high in the absence of testing strips, a reality for many of the campers from the poorest provinces of Ecuador. Since blood testing strips can be exceptionally expensive for many families, these alternative methods provide an every day solution to managing diabetes for many children with diabetes.
Following Campo Amigo the children returned home to their families throughout Ecuador with take-home information on nutrition, diabetes management and most importantly with support from their counselors and the FDJE. Over the course of the year the campers and counselors will remain in contact with one another and the FDJE to provide a strong support network for the campers.
AYUDA and the FDJE are already hard at work with the local youth leaders planning for the follow-up workshops and provincia visits. The goal is to follow-up with the newest and most at-risk campers and their parents to keep them actively motivated in the control of their blood sugars. With your support we hope to be able to provide an A1c machine (criticial for providing important health data and therefore more specific care) for use on these trips.
Your support is an investment in the diabetes youth community and the youth leaders who are actively trying to bring about change.
Thank you for your continued support.
Juntos somos mas fuertes!
Throughout the month of July AYUDA worked closely with the FDJE (AYUDA’s partner organization in Quito) to train international and local Ecuadorian youth leaders to prepare them to lead Campo Amigo Ecuador 2008, a youth led diabetes education camping program for youth with Type 1 (juvenile) diabetes.
Prior to the camp AYUDA and the FDJE trained and dispatched teams of youth leaders to the various provinces of Ecuador with the primary objective of reaching as many new children with type 1 diabetes to teach them about the camp and encourage them to participate. Teams were sent to work with local contacts in the following areas of Ecuador:
- Guayaquil
- Manabí (including Portoviejo, Tosagua, Chone, Montecristi)
- Ambato & Baños
- Cuenca & Loja
- Ibarra & Tulcán
- Quito
The provincia trips proved successful since over 20 children with diabetes who had never previously been aware of the existence of camp were able to attend for the first time. In total 85 children and young adults from the ages of 4 – 28 attended Campo Amigo Ecuador, held in El Valle de los Chillos, in the outskirts of Quito, Ecuador. The camp was led by a trained medical team with local and international representatives as well as a youth team of counselors of which almost 50% themselves had type 1 diabetes, many of whom were former campers themselves.
At camp every moment was seized as an opportunity for educating the children about how to better manage their condition and how to avoid the long-term (preventable) complications that the disease can cause due to continual mismanaged high blood sugars. Many campers who arrived with high blood sugars (in the 200s & 300s) were able to bring their blood sugars down to the normal blood sugar range of 70 -120mg/dl by the end of the week. Apart from being able to test their blood sugars at least 7 times per day (in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of their overall blood sugar variation) the campers were also taught alternative methods of measuring their blood glucose levels. The alternative methods were taught by Dr Patricia Blanco a doctor from Bolivia and type 1 sufferer herself, and were geared to those campers from the poorest backgrounds. The alternative methods provide sustainable ways of measuring whether your blood sugar is high in the absence of testing strips, a reality for many of the campers from the poorest provinces of Ecuador. Since blood testing strips can be exceptionally expensive for many families, these alternative methods provide an every day solution to managing diabetes for many children with diabetes.
Following Campo Amigo the children returned home to their families throughout Ecuador with take-home information on nutrition, diabetes management and most importantly with support from their counselors and the FDJE. Over the course of the year the campers and counselors will remain in contact with one another and the FDJE to provide a strong support network for the campers.
AYUDA and the FDJE are already hard at work with the local youth leaders planning for the follow-up workshops and provincia visits. The goal is to follow-up with the newest and most at-risk campers and their parents to keep them actively motivated in the control of their blood sugars. With your support we hope to be able to provide an A1c machine (criticial for providing important health data and therefore more specific care) for use on these trips.
Your support is an investment in the diabetes youth community and the youth leaders who are actively trying to bring about change.
Thank you for your continued support.
Juntos somos mas fuertes!
Pictures:
Want to support this project's continued work?
Peer to Peer Learning!
By Merith Basey - Diabetes Outreach Work, December 06, 2007 05:46 PM
Manabí, Ecuador – Diabetes Workshops
In September 2007, a group of local diabetes youth leaders from the FDJE (Fundación Diabetes Juvenil Ecuador) traveled to Manabí, the poorest province of Ecuador, to meet with children and youth with diabetes and their parents, to carry out diabetes education worshops and follow up with the progress of the children who had attended Campo Amigo Ecuador during the summer. Diabetes workshops were carried out in the following towns: Portoviejo, Chone, Tosagua and Calseta.
Ambato, Ecuador – Diabetes Outreach Visits
In October 2007, four FDJE diabetes youth leaders traveled to Ambato, a small town about 3 hours South of Quito, to follow-up with youth with Type 1 diabetes from the local area and their families.
The following topics were studied during their meetings:
--The importance of maintaining good control of your diabetes
--How to live a healthy life & avoid the onset of diabetes complications
--Your life with diabetes!
--Your experiences with diabetes at Campo Amigo Ecuador!
--Diabetes myths
--Planning future outreach visits
--How to create and strengthen the diabetes community in Ambato
--Possible diabetes projects for implementation in Ambato
Every child with diabetes that participated was provided with a Glucagon Kit for their personal use. Glucagon kits are life-saving devices used to treat cases of severe hypoglycemia (extremely low blood sugars).
Follow-up Hemoglobin A1c Tests
Over the course of the next month (December), the FDJE will be carrying out nationwide HbA1c tests, with the support of the local diabetes youth leaders. These tests serve an essential role in measuring the health impact of Campo Amigo Ecuador on blood glucose levels and determining the relative health of each camper and the province in general. The outreach work in general serves as a method of keeping youth actively involved in the FDJE throughout the year as well as strengthening the links to the diabetes community in the more rural areas that lack a strong local health care support system.
In September 2007, a group of local diabetes youth leaders from the FDJE (Fundación Diabetes Juvenil Ecuador) traveled to Manabí, the poorest province of Ecuador, to meet with children and youth with diabetes and their parents, to carry out diabetes education worshops and follow up with the progress of the children who had attended Campo Amigo Ecuador during the summer. Diabetes workshops were carried out in the following towns: Portoviejo, Chone, Tosagua and Calseta.
Ambato, Ecuador – Diabetes Outreach Visits
In October 2007, four FDJE diabetes youth leaders traveled to Ambato, a small town about 3 hours South of Quito, to follow-up with youth with Type 1 diabetes from the local area and their families.
The following topics were studied during their meetings:
--The importance of maintaining good control of your diabetes
--How to live a healthy life & avoid the onset of diabetes complications
--Your life with diabetes!
--Your experiences with diabetes at Campo Amigo Ecuador!
--Diabetes myths
--Planning future outreach visits
--How to create and strengthen the diabetes community in Ambato
--Possible diabetes projects for implementation in Ambato
Every child with diabetes that participated was provided with a Glucagon Kit for their personal use. Glucagon kits are life-saving devices used to treat cases of severe hypoglycemia (extremely low blood sugars).
Follow-up Hemoglobin A1c Tests
Over the course of the next month (December), the FDJE will be carrying out nationwide HbA1c tests, with the support of the local diabetes youth leaders. These tests serve an essential role in measuring the health impact of Campo Amigo Ecuador on blood glucose levels and determining the relative health of each camper and the province in general. The outreach work in general serves as a method of keeping youth actively involved in the FDJE throughout the year as well as strengthening the links to the diabetes community in the more rural areas that lack a strong local health care support system.
Pictures:
