Diabetes Training Camp
Views from the Shore
By Brian Cahill
It’s been a long time since I’ve been to summer camp, but in November 2021, I promised my doctor that I would go this year. The name of the camp? The Diabetes Training Camp. My doctor? Shore Physicians Group Endocrinologist Matthew Corcoran.
Dr. Corcoran established Diabetes Training Camp 16 years ago to educate people living with type I diabetes how to live the life they want while successfully managing their diabetes and not limiting their potential. While I don’t see Dr. Corcoran for a blood sugar issue, his work to help people with diabetes resonates with me because type 1 diabetes runs throughout my family.
Dr. Corcoran and his wife Jody, run the camps and invited me to attend one this summer’s camp in Atlantic City. Campers stay at Stockton University and participate in boardwalk runs, bike rides, and surfing lessons, among many other activities, all in the local AC community., I took them up on their offer.
The morning began with an informative and engaging presentation from Dr. Corcoran. Initially, I was surprised how many attendees didn’t silence their “phones”, as I heard beeping throughout the audience while Dr. Corcoran was speaking. But the beeping wasn’t coming from phones. It was from blood glucose monitors being worn throughout the room.
I looked around and noticed I was the only one without a monitor adhered to my arm, eyes glancing at blood sugar numbers, and a pump attached to my waist. I also was the only one who wasn’t nodding with first-hand knowledge as Dr. Corcoran described his experience as he sweated through his sheets and mattress during a clinical trial on low blood sugar years ago. And everyone but me shared stories and spoke in the language of “2 and 3 down arrows” as it related to their monitors. It was like a coded language that all people with diabetes understood in unison.
This is the type of environment the DTC campers came for. Nicole Etrheim from North Carolina told me she was there because, “It’s hard to find coaching and education that includes the human component.” Since she was diagnosed in 2011 at age 19, she said she has to exercise to stay healthy, but, “I’d see a drop in my sugar and sometimes panic and overreact. This camp helps me deal with this physically and mentally.”
Beth Wicklund of Minneapolis said, “The community at the camp has been amazing – everyone is coming together to accept that we have diabetes.”
Taylor Donovan of Linwood said that she and others come to DTC to be around others like them. Sometimes you feel like your diabetes is an inconvenience to others, and this is a safe group to talk about that.
De’Ondre Hogan from Midland, Michigan, learned that as someone with diabetes, it’s ok to eat carbs for fitness and that he doesn’t have to starve to reach his health goals. Equally as important, he learned about giving himself grace when dealing with this disease.
After Dr. Corcoran’s talk, the group could choose from a 30-minute run or a 19-mile bike ride to Ocean City. I chose to run with the campers. How did I do? Let’s just say I finished first among the non-diabetic participants.
To learn more about the Diabetes Training Camp, its programs, and how you can support this life saving initiative, visit https://diabetestrainingcamp.com/
Brian Cahill is the Director of Marketing for Shore Medical Center and Shore Physicians Group. He is also on the Board of the Somers Point Business Association, an Adjunct Professor in the School of Business at Stockton University, and is a founding member of Somers Point-Community First, a local volunteer organization.
