The genuine interest in improving the quality of life of girls and boys with type 1 diabetes led to a pediatric endocrinologist - unusual speciality in Puerto Rico - to create the only camp on the island that, in addition to providing tools to handle the condition,It offers participants the opportunity to spend.
"Due to their health status, they could not participate in summer camp activities because they have very particular needs and demands that could not be met in regular camps," said Miriam N. Alicea.
The doctor, who lives in the town of Humacao, discovered her passion for helping this population doing their practice at the San Juan Municipal Hospital.There he witnessed the effectiveness of the programs aimed at patients with diabetes and that is why he decidedto the future '.
According to Alicea, the fear of the risks that the disease represents is instilled, most of the time, by the parents of the patients and tries to counteract it through education that his profession allows him to offer."A person with diabetes the only thing he can't do is go to war and be a pilot of a commercial plane, but everything else can do it if he learns to handle his medical condition, who will accompany him all his life," he explainedThe doctor.
The Cebnad camp is held at the facilities of Casa Cristo Redeemer in Aguas Buenas, every year during the month of July.It lasts three weeks and receives up to 150 participants between the ages of 8 to 17, who learn to develop without the help of their parents."The children are left without their parents and their moms. Then they have to assume the responsibility of brewing with their condition," added Alicea.
The most difficult part for the doctor is to gather money to offer the camp for free."If they were to pay for the camp, only those who could pay could go," said the Humacaeña, who prefers "that the baby wants to go, to have the need."
In recent years, the specialist has had to reduce registration due to lack of economic resources, which she tries to raise during the rest of the year through donations to reach a total of $ 100,000."The economic situation is not very good and that money, which was previously a bigger donation, has been decreasing," he said.
However, that does not take away his dream.Alicea wishes to have your own place, not to rent and allow you to expand your services to reach more patients with type 1 diabetes. "That would be my dream," said the specialist.
Having the ability to help others through the knowledge he acquired for more than 30 years of experience, the doctor translates it as a gift from God who puts at the service of the one who needs it.
"That is one of the gifts that God has given me. Take something complicated and put it simple so that others can understand and can apply it. See the result of that application in obtaining good levels of sugar, laboratories that are normal... there is no money in the world that can pay that, "he said.
Miriam N. Alicea.It was one of the 2016 value winners, a program by L'Oréal Paris that seeks to highlight the philanthropic work of Puerto Rican women.