Ellen
08-26-2007, 08:32 PM
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_diabetes26.2037813.html0
3:13 PM PDT on Saturday, August 25, 2007
By CLAUDIA BUSTAMANTE and SHIRIN PARSAVAND
The Press-Enterprise
Video: Watch a school nurse assist a student (http://www.pe.com/video/index.html?nvid=169542)
Nurses' concerns about training non-medical staff to inject insulin could hamper a recent agreement meant to protect the rights of diabetic students.
Earlier this month, the California Department of Education and the American Diabetes Association reached a settlement in a lawsuit that reinforced laws that have existed for more than 30 years to protect diabetic students. Among the protections, students must have access on their campus to diabetes-related services, such as blood testing and insulin injections.
If no nurse, family member or other trained employee is available, then a volunteer without medical experience can be trained to inject insulin. However, a shortage of qualified school nurses -- there are about 2,800 statewide -- and liability concerns about training non-medical staff to inject insulin could stymie the settlement.
Last week, the California School Nurses Organization sent a letter advising school nurses to seek guidance from district lawyers before proceeding. Executive Director Nancy Spradling said nurses were concerned about losing their licenses should they train non-medical staff.
Diabetic children should receive equal educational opportunities, but not at the cost of their health, Spradling said, adding that insulin injections should be monitored by licensed personnel.
"If you don't do the calculations correctly, you can kill them or cause them to go into a coma," she said.
A key concern for the organization is that districts will not exhaust other resources before asking nurses to train non-medical staff.
Arlene Mayerson, directing attorney for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, which represented the diabetes association, said California has one of the lowest nurse-to-student ratios.
"The nurses could really sabotage this thing if they're refusing to train people and are also not available," Mayerson said.
At the 55,000-student San Bernardino City Unified School District, 78 students have diabetes, including 26 who need help with injections, said Angela Jones, health services coordinator.
Jones said the district's 26 nurses provide the injections. She said non-medical staff members have been reluctant to take on other medical procedures out of fear that something will go wrong. Jones anticipated that would be the case if they were asked to perform insulin injections.
Lynda Steinbeck with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation said her office is flooded with calls this time of year from parents.
"We have everything from wonderful, wonderful experiences to literally parents crying on the phone and everything in between," said Steinbeck, executive director of the foundation's Inland Empire chapter.
The biggest obstacle is educating schools about the child's needs and the laws, Steinbeck said.
"Whether that's out of fear or simply not wanting to deal with it, it's always a fight," she said.
Even without the settlement, Lake Elsinore Unified School District is providing care for its diabetic population.
The district has about eight nurses on multiple campuses looking after them.
The district's high proportion of diabetic students, 70 of 22,000 students, prompts officials to take them seriously, said Brad Trottman, the district's assistant director of special education.
The majority of middle and high school students can monitor themselves, so nurses are concentrated in elementary schools, Trottman said. The district also is hiring another nurse to cover students at its newest campus.
The district's attention has put Jeanine Boone at ease this year. Boone's daughter, Jessica, 9, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in May 2006 when she went into a coma and had to be hospitalized for four days.
Last school year, a substitute teacher did not let Jessica leave the classroom to check her blood sugar when she wasn't feeling well, Boone said.
No such problems have occurred so far this year at Tuscany Hills Elementary School, where new Principal Jeff Marks has done everything possible to ensure her daughter's safety, Boone said.
Jessica is now in two fourth-grade classes -- one in the morning and one in the afternoon -- to ensure that if one teacher is absent another on campus is familiar with her needs.
Other parents haven't had the same luck with schools.
Abigail Flath was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 15 months old. Shortly after, she also was diagnosed with celiac disease, a digestive disease.
Abigail's mother, Tabitha Wilms, said Palm Springs Unified School District officials told her last year that a school nurse was unavailable for the Head Start program. For six months, Wilms said she went to school with her daughter every day to test her blood sugar and make sure she had her injections.
Wilms came across the same issue this year when she registered her daughter for kindergarten at Edward L. Wenzlaff Elementary School in Desert Hot Springs.
Officials told Wilms that a nurse was unavailable and that she would have to come to the school to look after Abigail, Wilms said.
"I want to keep my job, but I want my daughter to be alive when I get off work," she said.
The district's nurse shortage mandated it adopt a policy that parents of students who were too young to inject themselves would have to come to campus to inject their children, said Jane Mills, district director of child welfare and attendance. For the 2006-07 school year, three nurses were on staff for 24,000 students. This school year, the district will have seven registered nurses.
"I know that our current policies are not in alignment so we'll have to quickly adjust them," said Mills, who will meet with her staff Wednesday to discuss the settlement. "This is all very new and we're trying to get our hands around it," she said.
Reach Claudia Bustamante at 951-375-3740 or cbustamante@PE.com (cbustamante@PE.com)
Reach Shirin Parsavand at 951-368-9645 or sparsavand@PE.com (sparsavand@PE.com)
New Settlement
Earlier this month, the California Department of Education and the American Diabetes Association agreed to ensure every diabetic child the same opportunities as their peers, including:
Districts cannot centralize diabetes-related services at one school. They must be available at every school.
Districts must identify and evaluate diabetic students.
Financial burden is no defense for not providing services.
If no school nurse or authorized personnel is available, a volunteer with adequate training can administer insulin.
Source: California DEpartment of education, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund
3:13 PM PDT on Saturday, August 25, 2007
By CLAUDIA BUSTAMANTE and SHIRIN PARSAVAND
The Press-Enterprise
Video: Watch a school nurse assist a student (http://www.pe.com/video/index.html?nvid=169542)
Nurses' concerns about training non-medical staff to inject insulin could hamper a recent agreement meant to protect the rights of diabetic students.
Earlier this month, the California Department of Education and the American Diabetes Association reached a settlement in a lawsuit that reinforced laws that have existed for more than 30 years to protect diabetic students. Among the protections, students must have access on their campus to diabetes-related services, such as blood testing and insulin injections.
If no nurse, family member or other trained employee is available, then a volunteer without medical experience can be trained to inject insulin. However, a shortage of qualified school nurses -- there are about 2,800 statewide -- and liability concerns about training non-medical staff to inject insulin could stymie the settlement.
Last week, the California School Nurses Organization sent a letter advising school nurses to seek guidance from district lawyers before proceeding. Executive Director Nancy Spradling said nurses were concerned about losing their licenses should they train non-medical staff.
Diabetic children should receive equal educational opportunities, but not at the cost of their health, Spradling said, adding that insulin injections should be monitored by licensed personnel.
"If you don't do the calculations correctly, you can kill them or cause them to go into a coma," she said.
A key concern for the organization is that districts will not exhaust other resources before asking nurses to train non-medical staff.
Arlene Mayerson, directing attorney for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, which represented the diabetes association, said California has one of the lowest nurse-to-student ratios.
"The nurses could really sabotage this thing if they're refusing to train people and are also not available," Mayerson said.
At the 55,000-student San Bernardino City Unified School District, 78 students have diabetes, including 26 who need help with injections, said Angela Jones, health services coordinator.
Jones said the district's 26 nurses provide the injections. She said non-medical staff members have been reluctant to take on other medical procedures out of fear that something will go wrong. Jones anticipated that would be the case if they were asked to perform insulin injections.
Lynda Steinbeck with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation said her office is flooded with calls this time of year from parents.
"We have everything from wonderful, wonderful experiences to literally parents crying on the phone and everything in between," said Steinbeck, executive director of the foundation's Inland Empire chapter.
The biggest obstacle is educating schools about the child's needs and the laws, Steinbeck said.
"Whether that's out of fear or simply not wanting to deal with it, it's always a fight," she said.
Even without the settlement, Lake Elsinore Unified School District is providing care for its diabetic population.
The district has about eight nurses on multiple campuses looking after them.
The district's high proportion of diabetic students, 70 of 22,000 students, prompts officials to take them seriously, said Brad Trottman, the district's assistant director of special education.
The majority of middle and high school students can monitor themselves, so nurses are concentrated in elementary schools, Trottman said. The district also is hiring another nurse to cover students at its newest campus.
The district's attention has put Jeanine Boone at ease this year. Boone's daughter, Jessica, 9, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in May 2006 when she went into a coma and had to be hospitalized for four days.
Last school year, a substitute teacher did not let Jessica leave the classroom to check her blood sugar when she wasn't feeling well, Boone said.
No such problems have occurred so far this year at Tuscany Hills Elementary School, where new Principal Jeff Marks has done everything possible to ensure her daughter's safety, Boone said.
Jessica is now in two fourth-grade classes -- one in the morning and one in the afternoon -- to ensure that if one teacher is absent another on campus is familiar with her needs.
Other parents haven't had the same luck with schools.
Abigail Flath was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 15 months old. Shortly after, she also was diagnosed with celiac disease, a digestive disease.
Abigail's mother, Tabitha Wilms, said Palm Springs Unified School District officials told her last year that a school nurse was unavailable for the Head Start program. For six months, Wilms said she went to school with her daughter every day to test her blood sugar and make sure she had her injections.
Wilms came across the same issue this year when she registered her daughter for kindergarten at Edward L. Wenzlaff Elementary School in Desert Hot Springs.
Officials told Wilms that a nurse was unavailable and that she would have to come to the school to look after Abigail, Wilms said.
"I want to keep my job, but I want my daughter to be alive when I get off work," she said.
The district's nurse shortage mandated it adopt a policy that parents of students who were too young to inject themselves would have to come to campus to inject their children, said Jane Mills, district director of child welfare and attendance. For the 2006-07 school year, three nurses were on staff for 24,000 students. This school year, the district will have seven registered nurses.
"I know that our current policies are not in alignment so we'll have to quickly adjust them," said Mills, who will meet with her staff Wednesday to discuss the settlement. "This is all very new and we're trying to get our hands around it," she said.
Reach Claudia Bustamante at 951-375-3740 or cbustamante@PE.com (cbustamante@PE.com)
Reach Shirin Parsavand at 951-368-9645 or sparsavand@PE.com (sparsavand@PE.com)
New Settlement
Earlier this month, the California Department of Education and the American Diabetes Association agreed to ensure every diabetic child the same opportunities as their peers, including:
Districts cannot centralize diabetes-related services at one school. They must be available at every school.
Districts must identify and evaluate diabetic students.
Financial burden is no defense for not providing services.
If no school nurse or authorized personnel is available, a volunteer with adequate training can administer insulin.
Source: California DEpartment of education, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund