REACH Weber program working to educate, activate youth with diabetes
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- Children climb a rock wall during a REACH Weber camp for kids living with Type 1 diabetes Saturday, May 31, 2025.
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- A donation from the Northern Wasatch Home Builders Association is presented during a REACH Weber camp for kids living with Type 1 diabetes Saturday, May 31, 2025.
OGDEN — On May 31, children aged 3-10 living with Type 1 diabetes and their families gathered at Weber State University for a free day camp filled with rock wall climbing, field games, crafts, and other physical and educational activities, as well as networking opportunities and resources for disease management.
This weekend, teens and tweens living with the disease will gather for an event of their own, to be followed by a four-day summer camp in August.
The camps are organized through the REACH Weber program, the state’s only year-round recreation education program for youth with Type 1 diabetes and their families. The REACH (or Recreate, Educate, Advocate and Climb Higher) program was developed by Eddie Hill, an associate professor of outdoor and community recreation education at WSU, who brought it to the school from Old Dominion University in Virginia.
“I did my graduate work at the U in early 2000, and I was a former middle school teacher, and one of the endocrinologists I was working with at the University of Utah brought to our attention that there’s a lack of evidence-based practice in diabetes camps,” Hill told the Standard-Examiner. “So, from there on out, I’ve been doing diabetes camps, family camps, teen camps, overnight camps, everything in between and always measuring the impact so we can provide evidence-based practice to secure funding and grants.”
According to Hill, the REACH program is grounded in self-determination theory, which posits that people whose basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness are met are more likely to internalize healthier behavior.
“In our case, healthier behavior is diabetes management,” Hill said. “So, we embed everything about our program to think about how does it promote autonomy? How does it promote connecting with others? And how does it promote a sense of knowledge or competency?”
Hill noted that securing funding for programs related to Type 1 diabetes is crucial as the incidence of the disease is on the rise.
“Worldwide, Type 1 diabetes is expected to double by 2040 for all kids and adults. We’re talking just in a 15-year period, it’s going to double,” Hill said. “There’s no current cure. During COVID in the northern Utah area, there was a 25% increase in diagnoses, specifically of youth with Type 1 diabetes.”
Nevertheless, living with the disease can be an isolating experience, something Hill hopes the REACH program can address.
“About 1 in 300 kids have Type 1. So, if they’re in a traditional elementary school, junior high, even high school, maybe there’s one other kid, maybe two at best, depending on the size of the school. So, often they’re by themselves,” he said. “This is the one time for them to realize they’re not alone. All other 20, 25, 30 kids, they’re all Type 1. All their sensors are beeping. They’re all counting carbs. They’re all checking, maybe finger-pricking, if their blood sugar isn’t not working. They’re all doing it together. So, they don’t feel like they are unique or odd.”
REACH Weber has been grant funded by organizations like the Lions Club of Northern Utah and Lions Club International, Intermountain Health, the Alan and Jeanne Hall Endowment for Community Outreach and Petzl America. Meanwhile, Dexcom has donated food and supplies, while the Northern Wasatch Home Builders Association made a recent donation of funds.
For information about camps, monthly hangouts and other events for youth and parents alike, as well as registration links, go to https://www.weber.edu/reach-weber/.
