This Tri-Cities Scout’s new idea will help kids with diabetes make healthier choices

There is no fun way to meal plan when you have diabetes, but Zack Darling wants to make it fun.

He created a diabetes card game that he debuted Thursday at Camp Trios, a summer camp for kids with Type-1 diabetes.

The three-day program teaches kids from 6 to 14 years old how to manage their condition. It began in 2012 and now has more than 50 participants, most of whom return every year.

Darling, 14, is one of those returners. This is his seventh year at Camp Trios, but this time he got to be the teacher.

He got the idea for the card game when he was with his mom, thinking, “What if you could make this a game?” So he developed it as an Eagle Scout project.

To play, you make meals by combining foods from different food groups. You also earn bonus points by making meals considered healthy for diabetics.

The goal of the game is to earn a certain number of points before the other players. But the real purpose, Darling said, is to get newly diagnosed kids and their families familiar with counting carbs.

A way to help kids

Christy Kuhn, director of diabetes and nutrition education at Trios, said it can be overwhelming for the parents of diabetics, because the condition requires a lot of lifestyle changes. But she thinks Darling’s game can help simplify one new change.

“It’s never about what you can’t have,” Kuhn said. Instead, she said, it’s about making the best food choices for you.

Darling’s plan is to get the game to be available at the Trios pediatric department, so other newly diagnosed kids can use it.

“If I have the opportunity to make it easier for others, I figure why not?” Darling said.

Maya Leshikar is a University of Washington journalism student from Kennewick.