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Did you (or does your child with T1D) go to diabetes camp? Share your experience in the comments!
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I went when I was young and loved it. It taught me a lot. It also showed me I wasn’t alone.
I went for 12 years (Clara Barton camp) in the 60’s and 70’s. I loved it.
So did I! I went to Clara Barton summer
Camp for approximately 13 years and the winter camp when it became available. I was also there in the 60s and 70s. It was an invaluable and wonderful experience. I still have friends from my time there. It was nice to know I wasn’t alone in the world, and I learned a lot to. I have so many fond memories.
I went once with my parents and sister for a family weekend, never on my own during the summer. My parents wanted me to but I refused. I wanted to go to camp with all the “normal” kids.
At 12 years of age at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for 3 weeks in 1959.
I went for several years, starting at age 10, eventually becoming a counselor. It was wonderful being around other kids who didn’t need me to explain myself to. We could laugh about things that might have freaked out our normal peers and parents.
I went to camp Setebaid in the Pocono Mountains of PA when I was a kid. It was a 1 week overnight camp that I attended for 2 consecutive summers. It was nice to meet other diabetic kids. This is where I learned to give myself injections. I’m sure my parents felt reassured that I was being properly looked after. I know they were glad when I was able to give my own shots. We also often laugh, to this day, because we didn’t know what Setebaid meant, until we looked at it backwards!
I’m so sorry I didn’t. My mom died, I went into coma 2 months later at aged 7. My Dad asked if I wanted to go but I was terrified I’d lose my dad too. He never brought it up again. I think I would have done a much better job managing my diabetes earlier if I had gone.
Wish there was a D camp for us adult-onset T1Ds!!
Camp Conrad Chinook in CA has one! Make a vacation out of it!
ConnecT1d in Seattle, WA does an Adult Retreat as well. It’s like a 1 weekend camp for adults with diabetes.
I went to Camp Variety in the late 60’s and early 70’s. Best time ever. I met friends that are still friends today.
I now volunteer at our ADA Camp Courage on the medical staff. It is my favorite week of the summer. The kids have an awesome time just being kids with kids that have T1DM. The kids leave Camp with a commradarie and confidence knowing that they are not alone.
I was diagnosed at 31. I always wished there was an adult camp to go to!
Camp Conrad Chinook in CA has one! Make a vacation out of it!
I wasn’t diagnosed until adulthood, but I wish they had camp-like retreats for T1D adults!
Camp Conrad Chinook in CA has one! Make a vacation out of it!
ConnecT1d in Seattle also has an Adult Retreat!
Dxed 1964 age 15 but never went to a Camp as a youth. Then in the 90’s began Pumping and a Group of us formed our own “Summer Camp” Went for several years and loved the camaraderie of sharing tips.
I wasn’t diagnosed until the age of 22.
I didn’t attend a diabetes camp as a child; however I worked as a counselor at a diabetes camp for about 10 years during by late 20’s and early 30’s. Wonderful experience!
Back in the 1970s and 1980s this was the only summer camp option for a T1 kid. Great memories, and I hope kids today can go to diabetes summer camps, but it’s also good to see the options to attend other traditional camps that now accept kids with medical conditions.
I was diagnosed as an adult. I have searched for adult diabetes camp opportunities, they are few and far between.
Camp Conrad Chinook in CA hosts an adult camp! Make a vacation out of it!
In 1964 I attended a three week at Camp Sweeney in Texas. It was a wonderful experience. The kids I got to know there are now deceased. Only one that I knew is still alive (besides myself).
Diagnosed at 3 in 1983. Went to Camp NYDA in upstate NY when I was 10. Three weeks away with not speaking to my family was really tough, but it was such a great experience. Gave myself my first shot at camp and loved meeting other T1D campers and staff. I was so sad to see they closed many years ago as I would have loved to go back as a counselor.
My Brother was diagnosed at 9 and my parents sent him to Camp NYDA in the late 60’s early 70’s. I remember him hating to go, but when he come home he always told us all the fun he had and what they cooked. I was too old for camp when I got diagnosed. If I hit Lotto I’m going to make a really cool camp for adults.
Yes I did, Camp E.D.I. The best times ever! I had so much fun that I went back as consular and then volunteered a few years as a RN. My oldest niece also attended.
Sadly I was to old. At 17 girls were way more important than diabetes camp
Camp AZDA Alumni 1991-1995 Prescott, AZ (Also my hometown!)
My son went the summer after he was diagnosed. He didn’t enjoy some aspects about it. Namely that they kept the campers high at night. He was still in the honeymoon phase and felt like this bumped him out of it. It did teach him how to give himself injections, though, which he hadn’t wanted to do before.
I was diagnosed in college so missed out on camp. Sounds fun though!
Check out the Adult Retreats/Camps that are available to adults with diabetes. They are alot of fun, inspirational and educational all in a weekend’s time!
Both TCOYD in CA and ConnecT1d in Seattle, WA offer them. I’m sure there are other organizations accross the country that do as well. These are just a place to start looking!
I went to Camp Floyd Rogers in 1962 & 1963. It was located at Nebraska City, Ne. home of Arbor Day. It next to a commercial apple orchard, at night the boys would raid the girls side and then all of us would raid the apple orchard. We thought we were getting away with something, but the counselors all ways managed to find us and round us up, most times before we could get to the girls.
We had a mock Sadie Hawkins Day at Camp ZaNiKa where the boys would hide and the girls would go out and catch them and then get “hitched”. Great fun with lots of laughter at who got caught and ended up with who.
Here in Georgia, Kiki’s Camp and Camp Kudzu are both terrific!
I volunteer at a camp for type one diabetic children, Camp Ho Mita Koda, located in Newbury Ohio. The camp was one of the first places to administer insulin therapy. The camp was recently awarded a $60,000 grant from Lion Clubs to renovate cabins. Diabetes is a global cause of Lions Club International.
I was diagnosed with T1D in 1951 at the age of 6. I attended week-long church camps starting at age 9 after I had learned to inject my own insulin. The camps were not diabetes camps, but staff were aware I was diabetic.
Soon after I was diagnosed as a child, I did attend diabetes camps, absolutely. It was a great experience and helped me build my knowledge and confidence in living with T1D. As an adult, I have not attended camps and don’t know if there are any adult “camps”.
TCOYD ONE has a three day retreat weekend in San Diego for T1D adults. Its like a camp experience at an ocean bay resort with all kinds of fun activities, in person social networking, education sessions, and great food. It had to be postponed due to the pandemic, but it may be up and running again soon.
ConnecT1d in Seattle also does an Adult Retreat for one weekend a year. These are usually in the Spring. The one for this year has already passed, but keep an eye out for it next Spring!
Like the one for TCOYD, it is a fun weekend with activities, social networking, educational sessions and, of course, food. My husband and I attended right before COVID hit and we both had a great time!
I went to Camp Conrad Chinnock in CA in 1976. I was 10 and had been injecting for two years already so my parents knew I could handle that aspect of it.
It was a 2-week camp stay and we had just moved to a different city, away from my best friend and I was extremely shy. I didn’t know it at the time, but I’d fallen into a pretty deep depression. I was homesick and cried the whole first week I was there and the counselors kept my parents updated. There was even discussion about having me head home early. The counselors were so kind and funny that I eventually started to enjoy the activities. I came out of my shell and had a lot of fun my second week. It was great being around other kids who had the same disease.
I’m sure if my circumstances were different, I would have had a great time for the whole visit.
I never went as a camper (dx at 20 years old), but I was able to serve as medical staff during my last year of pharmacy school. So fun!!
I couldn’t wait to go to camp every year and be with kids like me , one of the most important part of my life growing up with diabetes.
Same here!!! Going to Camp ZaNiKa in Port Clinton/Catawba Island, Ohio was the best part of my childhood – being just like everyone else who were just like me for two weeks every summer.
We all peed in our own numbered glass bottle four times day and lined up outside the infirmary to get our shots prepared by the camp nurses – which we gave to ourselves. We learned how to make our own food choices and to even eat real candies and ice cream treats on special occasions!
After morning pee test, shots & breakfast we were free to engage & play in various sports, swim, do arts & crafts, sing, dance and do fun other stuff like go on hayrides, or day long field trips to interesting places in Northwest and Central Ohio.
Too young, but hopefully when he is older
I went to camp from the age of 6 until I was 16. The following year I became a CIT then worked for the camp until my daughter was 1. I enjoyed my time there back then, but it’s not the same and I wouldn’t recommend it anymore. Most kids wear pumps and CGM’s now, and camp is too limited in what activities the kids can do now safely without damaging them. Where’s the fun in that?
Diabetes camp did not exist when I was a child
I was dxed at 14 years old and was already signed up for music camp. I am going to the Northeast Slipstream with a few D buddies at the end of this month. Kind of cool to have an option for adult T1D camp.
I attended a diabetes camp for the first two years after dx.in 1955 & ’56. I was 8, had never been camping, much less sleeping in a tent away from my parents for two weeks. The camp was in a part of undeveloped area in Swope Park, Kansas City, MO. The first year I really enjoyed it because the student nurse counselors made all of the routine, lining up for urine tests X 4 a day, lining up for out daily Regular insulin injections X 1 a day, all seem like fun. The second year several experiences made it too much to handle and I came home early. I definitely would have benefited by going back the next year but my parents didn’t encourage it, so I missed out on being with my peers.
YMCA Camp St. Croix, on the St. Croix River between Wisconsin and Minnesota, just south of Hudson, Wisconsin. Camp St. Croix became Camp Needlepoint during the last two weeks of the summer. I attended as a camper and later as a counselor.
I was diagnosed T1D at 22.
I was not diagnosed with type one diabetes until age 38, and I am now 43. How cool would it be if there was a camp for newly diagnosed adults??!!
Both my boys went to camp.
My son was diagnosed in the summer of 2019. He was enrolled to go to camp in 2020, but they cancelled it due to covid. Then it was cancelled in 2021, again because of covid. Finally he will have his first opportunity to go this summer and is very excited.
No, but before I was diagnosed at the age of 14 I had my first symptoms of diabetes while at camp and away on a weekend canoeing/camping trip. I didn’t know what it was at the time, and I didn’t tell anyone about it, but I remember at one point while canoeing across a lake being so thirsty I would scoop water out of the lake and drink it when no one was looking. And then when we were portaging (carrying the canoes and gear on land to bypass rapids) I felt so incredibly weak I couldn’t carry the canoe. The s’mores tasted so good after that.
I went to Clara Barton birthplace camp in 1956 when I was 9– 2yrs after being diagnosed T1D. I’m 75 now and don’t remember much. I was still trying to get my head around getting a shot every day of my life and taking urine samples for boiling in Benedict solution tests all day long! I was thrilled when Clinitest was invented, and get results of a urine test in a minute instead of a half hour! Anyway, when I was 9, I learned how to give myself an injection at camp
I went to Bearskin (dyf.org) 6 weeks after Dx in 1965. Kings Canyon NP in CA. Started going back as camp nurse in 2004 & go every summer now. There is an Adult Retreat the last 3 days of the 2 month season. There are also Family camps to bring the babies & toddlers! Check it out!
She did every year until she was about 12 years old.
Yes and was a counselor for several years
We took our kids to a diabetes camp for T1D kids and siblings/friends. It was a 1-day camp and our kids all loved it. Our diabetic daughter rarely sees other kids with T1, so it was great in that sense, but she was very high the whole time.
I went to Camp Firefly in Spring Mount, PA. It was, and still is, one of the best experiences of my life!
I started DM camp in 1968 about 5 weeks after diagnosis. (Camp Haunz in SD.) Was a camper & junior counselor & then after nursing school became a medical provider at this camp until it was discontinued & shortly after this time, I happen to move to a different state. Have been a medical provider since 1989 at Camp Hope in WY, and only have missed several years related to family/work needs. Every year I enjoy seeing the progress of diabetes self care from urine testing & 1 shot a day ; to multiple injections; to interacting insulin pumps & CGM’s. I am 65 now & retired. Have many life long friends I met at camp, & I visit or text to very frequently. Camp has been a major activity & learning experience that has positively impacted life with my diabetes &
is priceless to me!!!!!!!!
Registered for the first time this coming summer.