Camp Sweeney is an American summer camp located near Gainesville, Texas. It is primarily for children with type 1 diabetes and their siblings, and has been in operation since the summer of 1950. The camp was founded by Dr. J. Shirley Sweeney, a Dallas endocrinologist who envisioned a positive program to encourage diabetic children.
Today, the camp offers activities typical of a summer sports camp, including swimming, hiking, archery, basketball, volleyball, waterpark, flag football and arts and crafts. Its many facilities and day to day activities are designed with the diabetic child in mind. It is one of the few camps in the country designed specifically for children with diabetes, and its activities are centered around the ideas of building self-confidence and improving the overall health of each child that attends a session. This includes encouraging each child to develop his or her own healthy habits and routines so that they can live long and healthy lives.
The camp serves children ages 5 to 18 and divides them into age appropriate cabins for male and female campers. There are currently 4 male cabins and 4 female cabins. The campers get to choose which activities they participate in during the day. These fun activities range from extremely active classes to less physical, but equally fun passive activities. The camp also pioneers some of its own unique activities, such as radio broadcasting, photography, website design, video production, and many others.
The purpose of Camp Sweeney is to help children with diabetes learn healthy habits that they can continue after they have left camp, and to build lasting relationships with other children dealing with the same problems that come with having diabetes. Extensive research studies conducted by the camp's parent, the Southwestern Diabetic Foundation, show that children and young adults attending Camp Sweeney lower their HBA1C (blood glucose average) by approx. 1 full point after attending the normal 20-day session. Beyond the purpose of better diabetes management, however, Camp Sweeney has the deeper and more extensive purpose of building self-confidence and true friendships that last a lifetime.
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The current camp director is Dr. Ernie M. Fernandez. He is an endocrinologist as was the first director of Camp Sweeney and he spends the time that he is not working in his own clinic, devoting his time and money to the diabetics in his care at camp.
The Camp Sweeney counselors are college-age individuals who are recruited from universities and medical programs all over the country. Great care is taken to select only the best, most responsible staff members who have a thorough knowledge of diabetes and working with children with special needs. There is a ratio of one counselor to every five campers at any given time, so immediate care is available around the clock. Each camper is also assigned a special counselor at the beginning of each session who serves as that campers "big sibling." These counselors work with a group of about 4 campers and spend time daily with the campers in a more personal setting doing activities, having discussion, and getting to know other group members. This "big sibling" also keeps in close contact with parents of their campers throughout the session through weekly letters updating them on their child's condition and accomplishments.
Camp Sweeney also employs 24-hour medical staff that includes various medical students and physicians. These individuals work exclusively to provide medical care, insulin dosing, blood sugar corrections, nighttime blood sugar monitoring, and emergency care to every camper when needed. The Camp Sweeney Hospital offers some of the most state of the art medical care available in a camp setting. These medical staff members also conduct a daily "medical lecture" with each age group of campers, instructing them about how best to care for their medical condition. These classes are fun, fast-paced, and interesting.
Camp Sweeney is home to an FCC licensed non-commercial radio station, KPFC-FM. KPFC-FM transmits on the 91.9 FM frequency and its translator, K206CD, transmits on the 89.1 FM frequency. It also operates as a live internet station and can be heard worldwide online. In addition to a 24-hour mix of music and news programming, many of the major camp activities throughout the summer are broadcast live for parents and friends of campers. These broadcasts are also available as live and on-demand video podcasts as part of the Camp Sweeney Video Production program. Camp Sweeney is the only camp in the United States to be granted an FCC-FM licence to operate such a station. Both KPFC and the video production program operate out of studios located on the campgrounds. KPFC also operates a satellite studio at Callisburg High School. During camping sessions, campers who select "Broadcasting" or "Video Production" as one of their daily activities play a major role in the programming of the station by producing various shows, news reports, weather forecasts, and other video and music programming. This is a great starting point for those interested in entering the radio or television industry in the future; several former campers and staffers have gone on to study RTV at college and work for other radio and television stations throughout the country.
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