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The Ordeal and Diabetes: How does YOUR Lodge manage this?


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Saw Gern Blansten's remark in Open Program, and decided to ask fellow Arrowmen, particularly Elangomats and Ordeal Masters (I know, I'm old skool) how they adapt the Ordeal to accommodate a diabetic.

 

ICS

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Being diabetic myself, I'd be interested to know this info as well. My son was elected and I was nominated for OA a month or two ago. It will be a few months before there is an Ordeal that fits our current schedule.

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Some 25 years ago when I went to the ordeal these were the accomadations they made for me:

All travel was done by vehicle

Stayed in the health lodge that night

Allowed regular meals with the members

 

Other than these things every thing else was the same as I remember.

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we were placed in a medical clan.........our lunch was just like the others (minimal) but we were given candy, orange juice etc at lunch also. Our job was in one spot..........in the quartermasters building to repair cots all day.........the clan was driven to the secret OA circle and it was one of the most enjoyable weekends i ever had :)

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Last year, both my son and I were elected to the Order. I had several conversations with the Lodge before the Ordeal and they assured me they would be able to handle my son. I didn't want to do the Ordeal with him as I wanted it to be about him and not "us". But scheduling didn't permit that and we ended up together. I had prepared him as best I could to be self managed and deal with whatever he was faced. I told him to eat everything he was given, even if he didn't like it. The only deviation we made was he took 6 juice bags in his backpack and used all of them during the ordeal. He dialed his insulin pump way down and let his blood sugars go higher than normal. I kept my eye on him the entire day just in case. We did the entire ordeal just as every other scout did. I was very proud of him.

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  • 1 year later...

I did my Ordeal last fall. I simply explained to the folks when I checked in that I was an insulin dependent diabetic and I would have to carry food with me in case my blood sugar got low. I also explained that I would adjust my pump delivery down and not eat the food unless it was absolutely necessary. Not a problem. In fact, the Elongomat would check with me periodically to see if I was OK by giving me the OK hand signal with a raised eyebrow. Towards the end of the Ordeal, I was starting to get low and did eat enough of a snack to bring my blood sugar back to normal. No problem getting them to understand and agree to what I needed to do.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm insulin dependent and simply put it on my form that I was. I was later told that if I needed to eat, do so. I adjusted my insulin doesages way down and didn't have any problems.

 

Much depends on commons sense and the understanding that the person has of their own condition. If the person/parent says "I/he has to have 20 units in the morning" then there is going to be a problem. If the OA staff says, "you can't have a snack!" then an ambulance will be needed. Common sense.

 

Common sense and a little bit of trust that the diabetic won't violoate the spirit of the ordeal by using his condition to have a hogie for lunch.

 

 

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I've done the medical checks for our Ordeals (we now have changed the name to "Service Weekends" so as not to scare anybody off) for years. Our lodge makes sure our candidates have everything they need for a successful weekend. Period.

 

Imagine the look on my face when I saw that an adult candidate had on his medical form that he was a heart transplant patient. All I could say was "do you have your medication with you"? He smiled and said "Yes."

 

Whew.................

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  • 4 months later...

Years ago, in the dim ages, when I was Lodge Chief...

 

What we did was provide an additional Elangomat for the clan that had the diabetic boy whose primary responsibility was to keep an eye on him. The diabetic was allowed as much food as he needed without question and he ate seperately from the rest of the clan (but not with the Lodge membership).

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