Opportunity to Give Input on Diabetes Research

One of our pediatric endocrinologists, Christine March, who has spoken with you all before, wanted to share an idea for a new program to help children with type 1 diabetes at school and get your thoughts. This would be part of her research and she would be applying for funding to do this in the next few years (one hopefully we are not struggling as much with COVID in school).

The overall goal is to better integrate the school support system, such as the school nurse, into the collaborative care for children with diabetes. School nurses or other staff would meet regularly (e.g. monthly) with the student, parent, and the diabetes care team to talk about diabetes management and identify needs for the student, such as mental health care or nutrition counseling, and help connect them to more resources. These encounters would also be an opportunity to do self-management education with the child and help bolster the school nurses' resources and support. Ideally, this program would be designed to help children and families who struggle the most with type 1 diabetes.

A similar program has been used to help children with mental health concerns in school. Christine would be interested in adapting and testing that program for children with diabetes with significant input from school nurses, parents, and others. We'd love to get your initial feedback and see if you would support moving forward with this project.

If you have specific thoughts about this and wish to discuss it with Christine, you can reach out to her at christine.eklund@chp.edu, 502-494-4064 (cell), or connect with Eileen Wallace, who helps to mentor Christine.