Utah lawmakers create diabetes action plan for state
schools

post from The Diabetes Blog on 25 August 2006 09:50:00 AM. © The Diabetes Blog

Filed under: drugs

Parents of diabetic kids have lots to worry about, including how their children are cared for at school. Clearly parents, school administrators and lawmakers want clarification over who would deal with diabetes-related health problems that occur while children are at school. Here's an example from Utah: the state's lawmakers have just passed a law ruling that diabetic kids may take glucagon to school. The drug, available by prescription, could be stored in the child's backpack, school room or locker. The only requirement is that the parents of each child fill out a form for their child's school, stating exactly where the meds are kept in case the child should be unable to tell teachers/staff him or herself.

Just as important, the new law also states that students and their parents may request that schools appoint volunteers who could administer the hormone should a diabetic student experience hypoglycemia (dangerously low blood sugar levels). The volunteers would have to receive training on diabetes and hypoglycemia-related first aid. This means that children and teens are safeguarded in the event of a severe hypoglycemic episode, in which case they might not be able to administer the medication to themselves even if they are old enough and have been trained how to do it.

My only question is what about the volunteers? What if the appointed volunteer was unavailable when they were needed? Who would take over if there is no school nurse? (Often, there isn't one.) Wouldn't it be better to give all teachers a training session on kids and diabetes? Or would that be overkill?

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