Diabetic Recipes
What the hell just happened?
Remember me blabbing away about being so fortunate and grateful to the school for providing classroom aides for Charlie? Aides, who would blend into the background and seamlessly check Charlie's blood sugar, count out carbs and give him insulin? Remember how Susanne spent the first day of school training the aides in how to use the pump? Remember how we met with the school officials and how they all signed off on the 504 plan? Remember how it was the school's idea in the first place to hire these aides for the very purpose of testing blood sugar and administrating insulin?
Well, forget all that.
Oh, and remember the morning aide who has type 2 diabetes? She has really been working out great.
She's leaving. Found another job apparently. Leaving the glamorous life of pricking fingers and counting crackers.
So what exactly is happening? We still don't know. Suddenly and without any warning from the school, Charlie's classroom aides are forbidden to give him insulin. Yesterday they could. Today they can't. The administration of insulin must be done by the nurse.
Things got messy when the afternoon aide called Susanne just as the class was about to go outside for a very short playtime. Based on his blood sugar, Susanne decided she should give him a little snack and bolus for half of it.
"Uh, OK, but you know I can't bolus him. By the time I take him down to the nurse and back, the kids will be coming back inside from the playground."
Susanne was frustrated.
"I'm his mother! I'm giving you permission to give him insulin."
She and Susanne agreed to keep this between themselves and then she clandestinely gave Charlie a bolus.
But she was spotted.
She ran screaming through crowds of children on the black-top, making it halfway up the chain-link fence before a growling pack of German Shepherds pulled her down from her ankles.
Sorry.
But she was spotted. That much is true. And she did fear the repercussions of her actions.
"Susanne! You have to tell them! You have to tell them you gave me permission!"
Nice going, Susanne. She could be fired for all we know. Or in jail. Or fleeing the country. We have been told squat.
I'm sure many of you out there have kids who go to the nurse's office for insulin and I'm sure it works out just fine, but Charlie was very upset. He didn't understand why he had to go to the nurse's office when he never had to before. He thought there was something seriously wrong with him.
If we ever do get an explanation, I'm sure it will have something to do with the legality of a non-nurse administrating medication. Still, the school could have handled this better. First by calling us immediately. I don't like that they kept us in the dark. We would have liked the opportunity to explain to Charlie why he was suddenly going to the nurse's office.
"Charlie, you're going to the nurse's office now because you made the morning aide quit."
Carey, I understand your frustration - we, too, have some crazy rules (our d son also has a lazy eye - they only want the NURSE to put the patch on and take it off - even if I send him to school with it on only the nurse can take it off)The only thing that has worked for us so far is to get the ADA advocate involved - they know all of the rules for each individual states and probably have an advocate in your school district that can give you the particulars and will go head to head with your school and the district. We had to fight for a 504 plan because it could conflict with his health plan or repeat directions in his health plan and that is not allowed. I hope that things smooth out for your family - please keep us posted!!
Carey-
Unbelievable.
If Charlie's 504 plan stipulates that non-medical personnel (i.e., aides, teachers) can administer insulin, then the school is legally obligated to allow them to do so.
If the school does not comply with the 504, you certainly could file a complaint with OCR (which, btw, costs nothing).
While there are some states that put limitations on what tasks nurses can and cannot delegate to non-medical personnel, I'm inclined to think that isn't the issue here-- since the school signed the 504 and provided those aides in the first place...
Keep in mind though, that, whenever a nurse delegates a task, she transfers her license to that person. As a result, she takes on all the liability if that non-medical person messes up. Often, fear of this liability is behind this kind of school policy.
I would contact your local ADA office (that's how we got a legal advocate to help us with Joseph's 504)-- and fight this thing.
It's just not right.
So sorry things are not going well for Charlie at school. My daughter (age 6, in first grade) was just diagnosed in August and the school refuses to give her a 504. Your school is clearly in violation and hopefully you will get it resolved soon.
Oh Carey, I would be fuming. I hate when they decide to change the plan. And to not advise you of the change is really infuriating.
How close is Charlie to being able to administer his own bolus with the aide supervising that the numbers he inputs are correct? Maybe that can be a work around.
Good Luck on your fight!
Thanks for your comments. The whole situation is still teetering on getting ugly. We're trying to work out a compromise before it gets to that point. Charlie is nowhere near mature enough to bolus himself. That's definitely a goal for next year. Thanks again for your support.
I have a pretty unique view on all of this. I'm a parent of a kid with D and a school nurse. First off, as a parent, I think every accomadation should be made to meet the parent's requests as long as they are not too far fetched.
As a nurse, I think the best thing for the kids is to get their insulin in the classroom whenever possible. The constant treking down the hall takes away from valuable class time. Also, there are regulations in place to make sure that the nurse adequatly trains anyone else who gives insulin. I have 2 other people in my school who I trained to give insulin in my absence. If the nurse is the only one allowed to give him insulin what will happen on days when she is sick and unable to come to school? Sorry, Charlie, you will have to go into DKA today because the school nurse isn't here. That is just CRAZY. It makes me mad.
Let us know how it all turns out.
Why can't Charlie have the nurse come to him? Give her the times she needs to check his blood sugar, and give a bolus, and have her come to the classroom. Also, about the comment above, if the nurse is sick, isn't she suppose to find a sub for her? Surely they don't just let the school go for a day or two without a nurse period.