Good Morning All, I am so new to all of this, my 6 yo son was diagnosed in March and I have been off of work caring for him during this crazy honeymoon phase. I am preparing to go back to work in August after school is back in session and I will not be sending him back to his previous aftercare as there is no nurse or health aid. Does anyone know of any options with this? We live in Gilbert, AZ 85297. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thankyou!
Hello @Nicolemartin Nicole and welcome to TypeOneNation!
The JDRF has a chapter in Phoenix. The website is here https://www.jdrf.org/arizona/
Probably getting in contact with other local parents would be a good way to lear aftercare alternates.
Some schools offer before and after care. With a 504 plan, the school would be obliged to provide some nurse or designated person if they were offering after care. Might be worth looking into.
There are CGM sensors that can link to your phone so you can watch his blood sugar all day and proactively warm the care taker.
Maybe you are lucky and have an employer that allows flexible work days so you maybe can start early and quit early and maybe only need before care if that gives you more options.
Sorry I don’t have much else.
You have been extremely helpful, I had a feeling the school was responsible for it but they definitely weren’t offering it. Thanks again!
Best Regards,
Nicole Martin
Hello Nicole,
First of all, hugs. I’m also a Nicole with a 6yo that was recently diagnosed with a similar situation. For us it was 11/18. I took off work, then he had to use aftercare in January after winter break. I was terrified, but it has worked out extremely well.
I’m not in AZ, but thought I’d share our school district does not control the aftercare but our city does. There are no health aides or nurses. There are young college “kids” but they are amazing. Truly. We work with our son’s edocrinologist team to develop and continually modify a plan for the school that works well for the transition to aftercare. Ie blood check half hour before dismissal with time to give snack and recheck, if needed. The Health plan for aftercare was written by my husband and I but the diabetes educator at the endo looked it over. My son also has a 504 health plan independent of these orders.
As previously stated, I cannot recommend a cgm enough. This tool has helped my child and my husband and I can breathe. The diagnosis was extremely stressful. My son has a dexcom g6. He finally got it late March. (We had to assertively communicate with the insurance company for three months after “approval.” Everyone was telling me it was approved but telling the other it wasn’t or some sort of nightmare.) I hope you are covered for something like this and if so, I hope the wait it short.
I hope this transition goes smoothly for you and your son. My son is a little champion and I’m so proud of him and how he’s adjusting. The first couple months were very hard for him, though. (All of us.)
Ok, well, I hope this helps.
Thank you so much for your response Joe…it was very helpful. Excuse my delay in responding. The school does indeed need to staff someone due to the Federal Funding / 504 plan, but I am responsible for training them which seems weird to me.
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In my limited experience it’s not so much training as it is getting the endocrinologist to write up explicit instructions for high and low blood sugar and for testing. Good luck.
Good note…we have our appt in a couple weeks so I will be sure to be ready…thank you very much again.
Nicole