October 5, 2000
Social Issues: Community Resources
Question from Erie, Pennsylvania, USA:
I have a nine year old son with diabetes. There are only two doctors in this area who treat pediatric patients. One we already saw, and we are with the current one now. Our problem is that the one we have now does not have anyone on call for her when she is away and as we found out over the weekend when my son went into severe DKA [diabetic ketoacidosis]. Do you have any suggestions on how to go about finding someone else? What is involved in transferring to another city? The closest big city is 90 minutes away. What would happen, if I decide to go that route, if he got sick again? I am at my last knot in the rope.
Answer:
Many small communities do not have providers who are familiar with caring excellently and knowledgeably for a child with diabetes. In your situation, you may wish to consider getting your routine care at a larger center (90 minutes away in your case). In addition, doing your best to remain keenly aware of when your child may be getting ill is a must. Test ketones whenever you have an unexpectedly high blood sugar that you can’t explain in addition to whenever your child has any vomiting or abdominal pain. Getting routine care every three months at a provider who has expertise treating children with diabetes can be very useful to preventing problems!
MSB
