Health & Happiness at Camp Nejeda

No other disease or condition places as much responsibility on the patient for daily management and control of a serious illness as type 1 diabetes.  Even children and adolescents must make multiple daily adjustments to the treatment regimen based on such changing variables as food intake, physical activity, and hormone levels.

Since 1958, Camp Nejeda has been providing children and teens with diabetes with a fun and educational camping experience in a medically managed, safe environment.  An onsite team of nurses, doctors and dieticians serve as coaches to keep campers safe, field questions, raise questions and generally involve campers in understanding the role of diet, exercise and insulin in their day-to-day lives.

Our focus is on empowerment and experiential diabetes education. Unlike such intimidating clinical settings as hospitals and doctors' offices, Camp Nejeda's child-friendly setting encourages hands-on learning so that kids can practice new skills and learn how diabetes works in their own bodies.  Camp also offers children with diabetes a unique opportunity to meet other children with diabetes and to share similar experiences. At camp, kids can not only be “just kids,” but also feel that they fit in rather than focus on how having diabetes makes them different.

Our Health Center is staffed by licensed nurses and physicians, 24 hours a day. The complete medical team is comprised of registered nurses, a volunteer pediatric endocrinologist, a family medicine resident, a dietician, technology facilitators, and nursing student/Health Center assistants.

Hunterdon Medical Center
Family Medicine Residency Program

For over 50 years, family medicine residents from Hunterdon Medical Center have spent part of their third and final year at Camp Nejeda. While gaining valuable insights into practical diabetes management, these doctors ably handle any aches and pains that might arise during the summer. We are proud to continue this historic relationship, which has enhanced not only the medical care at Camp Nejeda, but also the understanding of what it's like to live with type 1 diabetes for every graduate of Hunterdon Medical Center's Family Medicine Residency program.