Measure your glucose, apply insulin, identify hypoglycemia, exercise and learn to combine nutritious foods, are some things that children and young people with diabetes will learn in a camp organized by the IMSS to reinforce their skills in the automation of chronic disease.
The activities for the control of type 1 diabetes mellitus are developed in the IMSS Oaxtepec holiday center, with the participation of 45 minors who live together during a week of camp outside the hospital and family environment.
Type 1 diabetes-dependent insulin-occurs in 70% of the child population;It is caused by an autoimmune process and requires comprehensive care from its early stage, said the person in charge of the Pediatric Endocrinology Service of the 21st Century Medical Center, Eulalia Garrido Magaña.
"The investment made by IMSS in these young people is very good, since with education actions early, complications are avoided, because when talking about diabetes in Mexico, we talk about adults do not take care of themselves and that increases chronic conditions", he said.
The importance of these activities in the camp, said the IMSS endocrinologist, is that adolescents learn in a playful way, dynamics, debates, contribution of ideas, creative works, practical activities and resolution of problems related to diabetes and adolescence.
“In this process, one of the objectives is that they learn to know, for example, the symptoms of hypoglycemia such as hand trembling, feeling of hunger or empty in the stomach, paleness of the skin, headache, personality changes andin more serious cases, fainting and convulsive crises. ”
The members of the health team involved are medical endocrinologists, residents in pediatrics, pediatric and adult endocrinology, mental health service, psychiatrists and psychologists, nutrition and nursing, make up the personnel who care and supervise this group of right holders of the insuranceSocial.
In the Diabetes Clinic of the 21st Century Pediatrics Hospital, children and their parents receive comprehensive care from newborns to 16 years 11 months of age;They go to scheduled appointments with your doctor since the diagnosis is confirmed;They pass with the educator in diabetes and the area of psychology, because accepting the disease is a difficult process for which a multidisciplinary team is required.
The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) carries out the training center for youth diabetics, for 47 years.