October 19, 2004
School and Daycare
Question from Coventry, Rhode Island, USA:
What is the general practice for taking care of diabetic children on school field trips? Can the school force the parent to accompany the child? This seems to be discriminatory to me. If my child carries glucagon and the other necessary supplies, shouldn’t this be enough?
I don’t want my 14 year old child to have to have her parent following her wherever she goes. She’s very independent and, understandably, does not want me going with her on certain field trips. If the school nurse is not available then what is an acceptable policy for things like this? Of course, I’m concerned about my child’s health and I think I should be able to talk to her teachers about using glucagon, but I can certainly understand if they are hesitant to administer medication. What is the likeliness of a severe hypoglycemic reaction if she uses Lantus and NovoLog and checks her blood sugar six times a day? Is there anything else we can do to ensure she doesn’t have a severe low blood sugar while on a field trip?
Answer:
Under applicable federal laws, it is the school’s responsibility to provide trained personnel to accompany a student on a field trip. Parental attendance on field trips cannot be required as a condition of student participation in trip. Trained personnel must be available to perform all diabetes care tasks required to meet a student’s needs. It can be the school nurse or teacher or other school staff member who has received training.
CJ
