This Week's Program was . .
October 27, 2026
Our speaker this week was Elizabeth Johnson, Development Director at Camp Ho Mita Koda. For those of you who don't know, but have driven by the camp on Auburn Road in Newberry, it's a camp for kids with Type 1 diabetes. Elizabeth started her presentation with an overview of Type 1 diabetes. Type 1 most often begins in childhood with no other cases in a family. The individuals pancreas completely stops working (does not produce insulin) and requires the patient to be on lifelong insulin therapy. Because the pancreas no longer makes insulin sugar gets trapped in the blood leading to high blood sugar while the body's cells starve for energy. As you can imagine, prior to the introduction of manufactured insulin, this was pretty much a death sentence.
Dr. Henry Johns was the first physician in the United States to use insulin therapy clinically. He was a staff member at the Cleveland Clinic and had summer property in Newbury. In 1929, he cofounded Camp Ho Mita Koda with his wife Betty on that property. It was the first outdoor recreational camp dedicated to children with diabetes and designed to teach them how to manage their condition while enjoying a normal childhood. The very first camp hosted 6 children overnight for a week. They now host 5 weeks of overnight summer camp, servicing children with Type 1 diabetes from 5-17 years old. In 2026 they had 278 campers. There are approximately 7,500 kids in Ohio who have Type 1 diabetes.
Elizabeth Johnson, thanks for sharing information about Camp Ho Mita Koda.
The goal of the camp is to help kids and families take care of themselves for the long term. During camp they have diabetes education, which helps the kids take ownership of their care. Camp allows them to feel and do normal daily activities, while still monitoring their blood sugars. The camp allows the kids and families to meet others with Type 1 diabetes and it gives the family some respite time. The camp offers 24 hour blood streaming for each camper who has a device that is blue tooth. The clinic monitors them on a big television (computer) screen which is color coded, green: good, yellow: watch, red, help is needed. There is a 4 to 8 ratio of camp counselors to campers. About 30% of the camp counselors are also Type 1 diabetes patients. The camp also provides all supplies needed to care for a patient with Type 1 diabetes.
They offer some other activities as well. They have Teen Weekends in the Spring and Fall. They have Family camp. And they host a Women's Wellness Retreat. They also have Mission Partner Programming. They partner with other organizations to use the camp. They partner with Kids with Cancer, Kids with Special needs, kids who have experienced trauma, and kids from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and others to offer camps for these children. They also rent out the camp for weddings and corporate events. If you are interested in other programming visit their website: https://camphomitakoda.org/
Our next meeting is November 3, 2026 at the Lake County History Center, 415 Riverside Drive in Painesville. Our speaker will be Karyn Timley-Gant, founder of Ground Zero Elevated.
