North Carolina's Care for School Children with Diabetes Act

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North Carolina's Care for School Children with Diabetes Act
ncdiabetes.org


What is the Care for School Children with Diabetes law?
The N.C. General Assembly passed Senate Bill 911, the Care for School Children with Diabetes Act, on August 29, 2002. The law is designed to help children manage their diabetes while at school, where they spend such a large percentage of their time. The law called on the State Board of Education to adopt guidelines for the development and implementation of individual diabetes care plans for the care of children with diabetes in the state's public schools. The Board's guidelines must meet or exceed those set by the American Diabetes Association, which recommend in part that:

School personnel be trained on the treatment of diabetes emergencies, including high and low blood sugar levels;
An individualized diabetes health care plan (Diabetes Care Plan) be developed for each child with diabetes;
Children be allowed to snack and monitor their blood sugar anywhere on school grounds, including in the classroom and on the school bus, and be given permission to use the restroom and have access to fluids whenever needed if designated in the care plan; and
An adult and backup adult be trained to administer glucagon (sugar) in accordance with the care plan.
Governor Easley signed the bill into law on September 5, 2002. The Board of Education adopted these guidelines at itstheir January 2003 meeting, and the yguidelines were had to be implemented in time for the start of the 2003-2004 school year.

Why create this new law?
There are over 2,500 children with diabetes in the public school system. Since children spend such a large portion of their time at school, it is important that they be able to manage their disease while at school. This law allows for more flexibility so that students are better able to take care of themselves during the school day. In addition, school personnel are trained to identify and respond to diabetes emergencies so that fast, effective treatment can be given when needed.

How has the State prepared the public schools to implement the Care for School Children with Diabetes law?
To help implement the new law, a group of expert partners worked together to create the Diabetes Awareness, Training and Action (DATA) program, funded by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation.

Partners include:

The NC Department of Public Instruction (DPI)
The NC Department of Health and Human Services, Diabetes Prevention & Control Branch (DHHS)
The Wake Area Health Education Center (Wake AHEC)
American Diabetes Association (ADA)
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Diabetes Care Center (WFU)
NC chapters of the American Association of Diabetes Educators
The law requires staff in schools where children with diabetes are enrolled to receive general training on diabetes. In addition, two staff members must receive intensive training on insulin administration, diabetes emergency procedures, and identifying and treating symptoms of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. Parents of children with diabetes are required to fill out a care plan for their child(ren) (signed by a physician) that details treatment, snack times, and other pertinent needs.

The DATA program consists of a curriculum that was used to train Master Trainers throughout the state and resource materials for each school. Master Trainers were then charged with training school personnel. To date, over 1,300 schools have completed their training. To find out if your child's school personnel have completed their training, please contact the school.


About Us
The North Carolina Diabetes Prevention and Control Program
Helping North Carolina citizens reduce the impact of diabetes through leadership, education, communication and community involvement
More than half a million North Carolinians have diabetes and that number grows daily. Risk factors for diabetes – lack of exercise, being overweight or obese, and poor nutrition – are also on the rise. The N.C. Diabetes Prevention and Control Program (DPCP) is working to reduce those numbers. No one government agency can address this issue; that’s why this fight is a cooperative venture – engaging community members, health professionals, and community institutions in understanding and responding to the burden of diabetes

The DPCP, which is a part of the N.C. Division of Public Health Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Section, supports activities across the state.

Diabetes Advisory Council
The N.C. Diabetes Advisory Council (DAC) is an advisory group to the DPCP. The council works to reduce the burden of diabetes through coordination among many stakeholders in diabetes prevention and control. more >>

Defining the Burden of Diabetes in North Carolina:
The DPCP gathers and publishes data, which describe the burden of diabetes in our state and counties. This data includes information on the prevalence of diabetes, as well as deaths, hospitalizations, complications, and costs.

Diabetes Self-Management Education curriculum:
The curriculum meets the National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education and is available to health professionals who are providing diabetes self-management education. This Tool Kit contains 10 modules outlining diabetes self-management topics and an array of teaching tools. more >>

Clinical Quality Improvement:
In 2003, the DPCP and the N.C. Community Health Center Association launched the first diabetes quality improvement collaborative with 13 primary care practice teams from across the state. This program, which has been expanded to address cardiovascular disease and other chronic disease as well as more health care providers, promotes the development of disease registries to track the care of patients with diabetes and other chronic diseases. more >>

Diabetes Today:
Diabetes Today looks at diabetes from a public health perspective rather than exclusively as a medical problem. The curriculum is grounded in the philosophy that people can take charge of diabetes at the local level. more >>

East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine Diabetes Fellowship:
Since the late 1980s, the DPCP has partnered with the Brody School of Medicine to offer diabetes fellowship training for health care professionals to support workforce development in diabetes prevention and control. more >>

ADA Education Recognition Program:
The NC DPCP is applying to the American Diabetes Association to become an “umbrella” recognized program to provide diabetes self-management education, commonly referred to as ADA Recognition. The DPCP will partner with local health departments as “multi-sites” under this umbrella recognition. The purpose is to increase access to diabetes self-management education in all areas of the state; to provide reimbursement to local health departments for providing this education; to address health disparities and to encourage linkages with statewide and community partners. more >>

State Kidney Program:
This program provides funds to reimburse transportation, medication and emergency-related expenses for low-income people with chronic kidney disease. more >>

Social Marketing and Health Communications :
"Making a Difference in Diabetes" is a publication of the DPCP and the DAC, which is included in the Durham Herald-Sun newspaper. Articles focus on the diabetes self-management and current trends in care. Some of the articles also appear in other news magazines sponsored by local health departments. more >>

Project DIRECT:
Project DIRECT (Diabetes Interventions Reaching and Educating Communities Together) is a comprehensive community-based project. DIRECT is a partnership with the community of Southeast Raleigh, Strengthening the Black Family Inc., Wake County Human Services, and the DPCP. DIRECT works to increase physical activity, diabetes self-management skills, quality of diabetes care, and use of accepted nutritional guidelines. Reaching the community through faith-based organizations is a major emphasis.

Lessons learned from DIRECT are shared through the DIRECT Academy, which is a forum to share experiences and lessons for developing and sustaining community partnerships. more >>

Legislation:
There are two laws that focus on North Carolinians with diabetes. One requires that diabetes supplies and education be covered by insurance (S.L. 1997-225). The other addresses school children with diabetes (S.L. 2002-103). North Carolina was among the first states to enact this legislation and continues to look for avenues to advocate for people with diabetes through the Diabetes Advisory Council.

More information about these programs and the N.C. Diabetes Prevention and Control Program is available on the web at http://www.ncdiabetes.org or by calling: 1-877-362-2678 or 919-707-5340