First State School - Diabetes and School Care in Delaware

First State School

christianacare.org

A very special program for children with chronic illnesses.

First State School gives children and adolescents, who would otherwise be homebound with serious illnesses, the chance to attend school with their peers while they get the medical treatment they need. Located at Wilmington Hospital, First State School offers kindergarten through high school education to children with diabetes, sickle cell anemia, severe asthma, cancer and other illnesses that preclude attendance at regular school.

The program is only one of three in operation nationwide and is co-sponsored by Christiana Care and the Delaware Department of Education through the Red Clay School District. Teachers are state-certified employees of Red Clay, and they provide instruction in accordance with the student's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and the Delaware State Content Standards. The First State School staff, including physicians, nurses, educators and psychologists are available throughout the school day to oversee each student's daily needs in collaboration with their family and primary care physicians and subspecialty consultants.

The first of its kind in the United States, First State School serves as a "quality model" for the care of chronically ill children and adolescents for the American College of Physician Executives. Started for adolescents in 1985 and expanded to serve elementary students in 1991, First State School was the brainchild of Janet Kramer, M.D., F.S.A.M., a medical internist and director of Christiana Care's Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Services until her retirement in 1999. Dr. Kramer's vision was to help chronically ill children get the medical treatment they needed without missing out on the important parts of childhood - the chance to learn and grow with others.

More than 200 children have attended First State School, and 21 have earned high school diplomas from the program.

For more information about First State School, contact Margot Waitz, D.O., director for Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine Services or Coleen O'Connor, program director at 302-428-5858.

About Us
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Christiana Care: Transforming Wilmington

Mission
Christiana Care Health System is dedicated to improving the health of all individuals in the communities we serve through health care services, education and research.

Vision
Christiana Care Health System strives to be a coordinated, patient-focused health care system of unsurpassed excellence .

Based in Wilmington, DE, Christiana Care Health System is one of the largest health care providers in the mid-Atlantic region, serving all of Delaware and portions of seven counties bordering the state in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey.

The not-for-profit, privately owned Christiana Care family of services includes two hospitals (Christiana Hospital, on a suburban campus south of the City of Wilmington, and Wilmington Hospital, in the downtown business district of Wilmington).

At Christiana Care, we practice the core values of caring, excellence, integrity, leadership, service and teamwork. We follow a tradition of Unsurpassed Excellence. And we're proud of receiving accreditation in our 2007 survey by the Joint Commission.

Christiana Care offers:

More than 1,100 licensed hospital beds in two hospitals.
A major regional Center for Heart & Vascular Health and the only Level-I trauma services on the East Coast corridor between Philadelphia and Baltimore. Comprehensive, 24-hour emergency medical services at both hospitals.
Helen F. Graham Cancer Center and a National Cancer Institute-designated Community Clinical Oncology Program.
The Eugene du Pont Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Institute.
11 family or internal medicine satellite/physician offices.
Home health care and infusion services through Christiana Care Visiting Nurse Association (VNA).
High school wellness centers throughout Delaware.
Alzheimer's adult day care.
Health care support services, such as physical therapy, medical imaging and laboratory facilities, and much more.
Accreditations & Memberships

Christiana Care is accredited by the Joint Commission, The American Association of Blood Banks, The American College of Radiology, The American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, The American Academy of Sleep Medicine, The College of American Pathologists, The American Speech and Hearing Association, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

Christiana Care is a member of the American Hospital Association, the Delaware Healthcare Association, the Middle Atlantic Health Congress and the Council on Teaching Hospitals of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

Contact Us

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Physician referrals
Please call 302-428-4100 or toll free 888-428-4100.
Patient or general information
Please call 302-733-1000 or write to:
PO Box 1668
Wilmington, DE 19899-1668