For those of you who had the privilege to have had a rotation at Camp Hertko Hollow, the diabetic camp for kids, (see photo below), I know you'll be glad to know that Dr. Edward Hertko still runs the place.  As Sam Tokuyama so aptly put it in a letter to the 81 year-old Dr. Hertko who still tends to the camp, "You taught us the art, as well as the science, in understanding the disease and thus better treating juvenile diabetics."  He did, indeed.

Over the past forty-two years, over 10,000 kids with diabetes has gone through Hertko Hollow, which now has so many kids attending, they added an extra week to accomodate them all, and split the weeks into age groups. 

Camp Hertko Hollow always has kids who would love (and need) to attend camp, but are without the means to do so.  Some 90% of the kids going through the camp need financial help, so they have a tiered system to help families out:

Camp Fees

Camp Fee for a week at Camp Hertko Hollow: Mini-campers (ages 6- 7) pay half of the full week fee for 3 nights. Parents are asked to pay what they can afford.

• Actual Cost of $1,000
• Tier 1 $750 (Normal camp fee)
• Tier 2 $500
• Tier 3 $250
• Tier 4 $50 (Pay deposit only and submit Application for Financial Aid)

Their goal is to have every child with diabetes attend camp, regardless of their family financial situation.

So, if you have a soft spot for a guy who trusted us when we were still quite green, if you learned anything at all about diabetics from him either in lecture or at Camp, or if you have since become painfully aware, perhaps in your practice, perhaps in real life, of the need for kids with diabetes to hang with other kids just like themselves for a week in the summer time, please consider a donation to Camp Hertko Hollow--it, and its kids, can use our financial support. 

The camp offers lots of ways to help them help kids, so read up on the growth of the Camp since we were there at :  www.camphertkohollow.com,  or simply go straight to their page at www.camphertkohollow.com/donate.php to see how many ways there are to help them out.