Okay, got what you’re saying - and all others as well. I guess my hope is that this will be a wake up call for districts to realize that they MUST find funding for nurses in our schools. We may not need a multitude of Assistant Superintendents, and their support staff, etc. but we do need nurses. Also, the county I’m in has a school for the hearing impared - if a child requires this assistance, the county must provide transportation for the child to this one school. Additionally, the parent may request the siblings attend that school as well.
Even if this is what they were trying to do, putting children at risk to do it is NOT the right answer. They have the cart before the horse…get the nurses first and then you can do idiocy like this, but it is still idiocy-it does NOT take a nurse to give insulin.
Even if they fund enough nurses (not bloody likely),there have got to be realities. Children who can and do give themselves shots at home should not be subject to a nursebeing reuired to give it and taking away their control…diabetics have little enough control, they don’t need more taken away-even children!
It can be stated in the 504 that the child can self administer.
I live in Florida but my husband is from CA. I can’t imagine not being able to administer my own medication. I’ve been doing it myself since age 7. I even hated when my parents tried to give me my shots after I could do it myself. To think that I would have to wait until a nurse arrived to give me my shot??? In 4th grade that would have KILLED me, I was VERY unstable that year and in the office calling home almost every day…Like I said, I can’t imagine not being able to treat myself. Besides that, my mom ALWAYS informed my teachers on the first day of school (or before if she knew who they were) EVERYTHING they should do “just in case”. (No shots involved). Florida is backwards in a LOT of laws, but this one takes the cake!
HI Luciano,
I, along with my daughter’s father who is an attorney, participated with DREDF in writing legal wording of some of the demands made in the class action lawsuit and proposed care guidelines. DREDF and the ADA also represented our daughter in complaints against our school district; we won, but the district, under cover of the nursing board has failed to comply.
Let me explain first that the lawsuit did not make it mandatory that any teacher or school staff learn to give shots (or other aspects of diabetes care) but the school must ensure that someone is always available to perform this care. Who gave that care was voluntary and would be trained in proper care, and the district nurse would be permitted to provide that training. California nursing standards do permit and even encourage nurses to delegate certain medical tasks to other school personnel.
Almost every public school in California has a health tech on site. But these techs are not permitted to give insulin or even blood sugar checks; they can only supervise the child performing their own care. This is true even if a child is too young, has physical troubles, or is so low that they cannot function. The contention of the nurses associations is that giving too much insulin can lead to serious problems. This is very true. BUT remember that these same nurses who will not train ADULTS to calculate and give insulin are now requiring children as young as age 4 to calculate and give their own insulin. Which presents the greatest danger?
It is very important to understand what “supervision” of a child giving themselves shots means under this ruling. It means that the adult watching can only do just that, watch. They cannot assist in any way which includes ensuring the child has determined the right amount of insulin and has injected it properly. “Supervision” is 100% hands off.
This is not just about insulin, that was only the selling point the nurses used to push through a long-standing political agenda. The care guidelines required that someone was always onsite that could also inject glucagon (again, this is voluntary training but someone had to be around to do it).
The contention in the counter suit by the nurses was specifically that they could lose their licenses for training non-medical personnel to give medical care. The law is hazy on this issue because the nursing board and job descriptions of school nurses permits them to delegate and train. So instead the nurses’ associations took a stronger position and insisted no one could give insulin except them. Prior to this ruling willing school staff COULD be trained by parents; now they cannot. In other words, the nurses associations have actually made things WORSE than they were before the class action lawsuit was even filed; and schools who have been giving insulin can no longer do so.
The class action lawsuit was landmark because it was the first in the nation where a state formerly recognized that a child with diabetes has rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Being the first lawsuit of this nature it set a national model for other states to rely on in the future. Now, there is case history that requires schools to take children with diabetes - not bus them out to other locations which is insane and discriminatory. But here is the kicker, they now are not permitted to care for our children but are now legally liable for problems that arise from a lack of care. This responsibility on schools is unfair: they must keep our kids safe but are forbidden now to do so.
The pathetic excuses for nurses and teachers associations that filed this counter suit should all lose sleep at night wondering whose child will suffer injury at school or worse because schools that once did provide care can now no longer do it even if they want to.
When you understand that things are now WORSE for our children AND the schools themselves, it is easy to see why so many are outraged over this judges decision. It is a decision designed to kill children for the sake of a political agenda, and nothing more.
Thanks for the detailed explaination. I guess I’m very fortunate that my son has an on site nurse, and all of our 35 schools in this county have a nurse or LPN on duty. If the nurse is out, there are sub-nurses in the system. I do see your point clearly, I guess I was looking at it to the point that perhaps now other districts will understand the importance of trained staff, that understand and are trained for the chronic illnesses that our children (and the adult staff) suffer, and will start to set budgets that include this staff to be on site - all sites, at all times. Surely, I never meant to offend anyone, nor do I ever want to see any child in any school system to be at risk.
Truly, no offense taken. I think our children (and school staff) deserve a nurse in every school. It makes sense, even if we cannot make that dream come true.
I did not read your post at all as a lack of support for children with diabetes but as optimism that the judges ruling would lead to having more nurses in schools. And, your point is absolutely correct - the recognition of the need for nurses because schools are being required to take children with medical challenges is very important.
I am just very sad (okay, really mad) that now those who already are trained to provide care will be forbidden from doing it in the future. Nurses now will be even more overburdened, children will be at greater risk, and the schools themselves suffer, too.
It is wonderful that we can all share our thoughts here because I know that we are all a united front, and I hope you will continue to chime in. Maybe someone will come up with a great idea to help resolve this terrible dilemma.
Lahle
Keep fighting Lahle! After reading your story I realize how lucky we are in Mountain Home to have schools with registered nurses who are willing and very capable of taking care of our children in this area with diabetes. I can’t imagine what would have happened had you not checked on your daughter frequently! It is too horrible to even think about. How could teachers who are suppose to care for children do such a thing???
Yes, George, you are reading things correctly. I know of three families who were point blank told by public schools that their children with diabetes could not attend because there was no nurse. In one case, a mother was told “take your diabetic problem elsewhere” and that her daughter belonged in the districts school for kids with special needs.
But even schools who do welcome our children are not equipped to care for them, which means either a child is completely left to provide their own care, or parents, like myself, have to come and provide the care throughout the day. Some California schools were doing a wonderful job stepping in and providing care, now they are prohibited by law from doing even that. If they break the law and continue to provide care, non RN staff could be held liable.
I could not work because I had to be at school 3-4 times each day and remain on call if any care was needed. As a single mom with four children who needs to work, this caused tremendous hardship for our family.
Okay, I think I am moving to your community!
Lahle
I was diagnosed at 11 and after my initial hospital stay I gave every shot myself. I hated the thought of someone else giving my shots. I cannot imagine having a school nurse administer my insulin shots. I never had a problem with this in TN. Of course, we are very rural and have one school nurse for at least 12 schools that I can count off the top of my head. That is for an entire county that stretches at least 50 miles north to south and I’m not sure how far east to west. I was almost at the south end of the county when in high school and would hate to consider what might have happened if I had to wait on the school nurse if she was in the north end of the county when I needed an injection. Anyway, this is my soapbox. If you take away a child’s ability to take care of themselves, then they will never learn how to take care of themselves as an adult. They will be the ones who will depend on the doctor or CDE to tell them exactly what they should be doing and never take initiative for their own healthcare. This does not make a healthy adult. I hope this ruling is reversed and soon.
Holly, I didn’t give my shots for a while, but I was only on 2 shots per day. I did, however, administer all my own blood sugar testing, even when I was in kindergarten. My teacher would look at the number and if it was low, we would treat and if it was super high, my mom was called and asked what to do.
I never had any problems, but I have been out of school for 10 years now. By the time I was on 4 shots per day, I was in high school. We still had no school nurse and even if we had one, I think I would have fought them. I was practically an adult and did all my own care, even at home, so why should I have to go to the nurses office to let them see my blood sugar results or let them tell me how much insulin to take. I think I would have been very rebellious if that had been the case. Are you still living in TN? I am also from TN.
This is outrageous–and just one more reason for me to be thankful that I have pulled my children from the public school system and now homeschool them. My son was diagosed 3 years ago. At that time, our school system had a nurse that bounced between the elem. and middle school. Until our diagnosis, I never understood how unsatisfactory that arrangement was and I worked for 6 months writing letters and addressing the school board until they saw fit to make a change. It resulted in our school system revising their budget and hiring a full time nurse in each school in our county. That was awesome for us. Now, having said that, I have had problem after problem with several teachers just not being compliant and not following my strict 504 plan. These teachers desperately need training in diabetes as well as other chronic illnesses. They do not get the seriousness of the disease. My child has been told to “wait” when mentioning he had to stop while in the hallway to check his sugar. It wasn’t convenient so the teacher wanted him to wait until they got to where they were going. They have prohibited him from going to the restroom when he needed to. My son takes his insulin right after eating lunch. They told him if he finished eating before the teacher came to get them at the end of the lunch period he was not to leave the lunch room to go the nurse to get his insulin–he had to wait until the teacher picked the kids up-well he finishes his meals fairly quickly. He might wait 10 minutes sometimes and that’s just not acceptable. There were just so many little things they didn’t want to follow my instructions on and I was getting nervous–what’s going to happen if something serious happens to him. I felt like it was just a matter of time. The school was not taking his diabetes seriously and I just got plain sick of fighting them over it. No one can take care of my children like I can so that’s what I am doing. Both of my children now get their education at home where I know they are safe. Our schools just aren’t safe any more. I don’t trust them to take care of my child. My son is very educated in taking care of himself but, they weren’t allowing him to do what he needed to do. I really feel for parents who have to deal with these issues and don’t have the choice that I have. This judge is DEAD WRONG in his decision. If there are teachers and staff at school who care enough about their students to want to be trained in diabetes care then they should be allowed. And, if we have people in our school system who are unwilling to be responsible for the health of our children, then maybe they should be replaced. If you work with children, all kinds of things can and do happen. If you aren’t prepared to deal with children and all the issues that come with them, maybe teaching is not what you should be doing. Nurses are overwhelmed, especially in areas that only have one or two in their district. But, they aren’t helping their problem by enabling school staff to participate in the care of diabetics. Our children have the right to a public education–this ruling takes away that right for a lot of children. In my situation, I had the luxury of saying I shouldn’t have to fight you every day to take care of my child every day-I now choose to teach them at home. A lot of parents don’t have that luxury–the law says you have to send your kids to school–but the laws are no longer protecting them while they are there.
Deborah, Totally agree that glucagon can be safely administered by anyone, and should be. In CA, this ruling does NOT impact glucagon administration. CA Ed Code 49414.5 states that it is permissible for voluntary non-licensed school personnel to be trained to administer emergency glucagon injections.
Yes, I am still in TN. I am from lower-middle TN. Almost on the AL border. I would be very upset if I had a child in a CA school system and this was happening. I would want my child to work toward being independent with his/her diabetes care and not be taught to depend on someone else for it. That is how we grow to be responsible adults with diabetes, right?
This is true, however, the key word is “voluntary.” Schools may not force anyone to learn to administer glucagon.
In the public school my daughter attended no one would volunteer so the principal was the only one permitted to give glucagon. If she was off-site (including during lunch time) we were SOL. Also, even though she could give it, she was still required to call the nurse prior to administration. Being trained to do something and having cart blanche permission to treat are not the same thing.
In the two years previous to our brief attendance, 911 was called three times to give glucagon to other kids with diabetes. The nurse even joked about how “goofy” kids with lows can be telling me (as if this was an acceptable thing to admit) that once, the police dept. had picked up a (young boy) diabetic student wandering the streets in a daze and brought him back to school. Apparently, the child was low and on his way to the health clinic and just never made it. At the time (and we fought to change this) a child was sent to the clinic with another child, not an adult, and was not permitted to test or treat for a low in the class room.
Unfortunately, horror stories like this are not rare or isolated. They are common place in schools. Even with trained staff, the Upland Unified School District policy remains “call 911, then call the parents” for lows.
Lahle- Thank your for underscoring the significance of the word “voluntary”. Sadly, I’ve heard from far too many families who’ve experienced glucagon training blockades, if you will, by the school nurses. While attending a California School Nurses Organization convention, I had one nurse tell me," I won’t let that stuff on my campuses. It’s dangerous!" I emphatically educated her that death and irreversible brain damage are far more “dangerous” than vomiting.
Be it glucagon or any other form of diabetes care, the CSNO has been far too negligent in its duties to educate its members about the laws and it needs to also educate its members about current best practices of care on an on-going basis. I made a point of conveying this message to CSNO leadership during a hallway encounter at the courthouse last week. This is but one more thing we must fight for!
LOL, Lisa, I generally have no compassion for the nurses’ associations given all that they have done (and not done). But frankly, I might pity one that encountered you in a hallway!
You are doing a great and wonderful thing advocating for our children. For those who may not know Lisa, she is doing this on her own, without compensation or formal affiliation with any organization because she has a heart for children. She is truly a parent with teeth (the good kind, of course, and a heart) who has chosen the mission of educating a group of “professionals” who think they know it all already.
Go Lisa!
Wow. Just…wow. It seems like many of the school systems aren’t really grasping the seriousness of the situation. Then again, many teachers have too many students to look after, so unfortunately, some won’t take the time out for the few students with health problems. I hope the ruling will be appealed, maybe taken to the Supreme Court. It puts the children with diabetes at extreme risk and really does make going to school extremely dangerous. This would be one of those times to encourage children to break the rules if they are being ignored and feel something isn’t right with their sugar levels, just out of safety.
hope at least their parents will be allowed to subministre insuline at home…