Anyone try recreation camps for the disabled?

[Nik's Mom]

Hi!
My family is headed to Mammoth during the week of Christmas. In my research, I stumbled on a website for a camp that will teach disabled people to ski. They work with physical and cognitive disabled people. Here's the website if you are interested. http://www.disabledsportseasternsierra.org/
There are places all over the country that will do this. I'm wondering if anyone has tried this before? Sounds like a great idea.

 

[Michigan]

In Michigan we have Michigan Adaptive Sports and on Saturdays and Sundays in the winter they offer skiing. My daughter loves it!

 

[SueM in MN]

I have tried in the past to get my DD interested in those types of things, but no go. I have seen very good news reports (TV and print) about those types of organizations and know of people (like Michigan's DDs) who are invloved in them.

 

[pugdog]

DW used to ski with Courage Center here in MN.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Thanks, everyone. I booked ds for a lesson. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Cubana2004]

Not disabled but i've done a bit of work with an organization down here in Miami called Shake-A-Leg. Shake-A-Leg offers individuals with disabilities, cognitive or physical the opportunity to learn how to sail and sail. The sailboats have been modified so they are safe and accessible to individuals with disabilities and i must say as a non-disabled sailer i've learned quite a bit from those more experienced 'disabled' sailers For alot of folks who suffered spinal injuries after a lifetime of sailing it provides a good avenue to get back to the kinds of things they were used to doing and for others its a good way of picking up a fun and healthy new sport. Most folks disabled or not seem to get a kick out of Shake-A-Leg's programs down here and it's spurred quite a following down here.

 

[BCV23]

Our son with Down Syndrome and daughter with cp both skiied with an adaptive program at Vail. It was great for our daughter but all too short as our son developed altitude sickness and we had to leave early. She absolutely loved it though.

There are summer camps as well. Our daughter attended several different ones in Illinois, WI and IN.

Locally, we have a special rec organization that has quite a range of programs and trips. They really don't fit our DDs needs though and now that our son is older, there aren't as many for him either because for adults lots of the programs include meals. He need insulin at each meal which they won't administer (not that I would really trust them to count carbs, adjust the dose, etc. anyway) and aren't very flexible in their schedules.

 

[SueM in MN]

Our son with Down Syndrome and daughter with cp both skiied with an adaptive program at Vail. It was great for our daughter but all too short as our son developed altitude sickness and we had to leave early. She absolutely loved it though.

I had altitude sickness when we went to Colorado. Not fun at all. Sorry your time had to be shortened.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Stupid question here. What can we do to prevent altitude sickness and what are the symptoms?

 

[BCV23]

Nik's Mom, Sue is a nurse and would know more about it than I.

Gradually getting used to the altitude is one way to prevent it as I understand. My husband and two sons took the train from Illinois to Colorado a few years before and our son did fine and had a ball skiing.

The trip during which he fell ill was very different. We flew into Denver and drove up to Vail. That afternoon he was skiing at the top of the mountain. I think that is somewhere around 11,000 feet. We're somehwere around 500 ft at home so that is a quick change. That evening at dinner, he seemed wiped out. He gets ill often so I thought he was coming down with something. I don't remember anymore, but I bet his blood glucose levels were high as well but that happens too right before he gets sick.

That night, he was very restless while trying to sleep and his breathing was very rapid. That happens too when his blood sugar is high. Toward morning I told my husband we had to take him to the emergency room as he just seemed so uncomfortable. He already had fluid in his lungs. They put him on oxygen which we had to take with us back to the airport in Denver. So we were there less than 24 hours.

He really can't talk but I'm sure shortness of breath must be one sympton. I think I remember headache is a sympton as well.

 

[bopper]

Stupid question here. What can we do to prevent altitude sickness and what are the symptoms?

Whenever we fly to Colorado for skiing (from sea level), we fly into Denver and stay over night in Golden. That is about 5000 feet. The next morning we drive up to the mountains. The bases are usually at 8000 or so feet up, and the peaks are 10000-12000. Doing that, I have not really had a problem. However, my husband has issues if he goes over 10000 feet. I don't know if staying at a low higher altitude for longer would help him adjust, we are never there that long (usually in conjunction with a business trip).

 

[SueM in MN]

Nik's Mom, Sue is a nurse and would know more about it than I.

I wasn't prepared to get it, and probably could not have prevented it. No one else in the group of 8 people I was with got sick other than me. (Actually, I should have expected it, because I have been up in the mountains 3 times and have gotten sick all 3 times.)

Getting acclimated to the change in altitude probably helps the most; the things that were already mentioned like going up slowly, or staying at one elevation for a while before going higher.
Anyone going into the mountains tend to breathe faster and have a little faster heart rate because there is less oxygen in the air at higher altitudes (your body is trying to transport more oxygen around). You also tend to urinate more.
People with heart or lung problems are more likely to have difficulty when going into the mountains because they don't have as many reserves.
The symtoms I had were pretty typical - I was nauseated, very dizzy, had a headache, short of breath, could feel my heart pounding fast. i have a mnor heart problem, so that's probably why I got sick and the other people I was with didn't. After a few days of rest, making sure I got enough fluids and just generally taking it easy, I was much better.

Here's a link to a
Web MD page about altitude sickness that looks good.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Thanks for the great tips and link!