ManitobaA Manitoba mother wants the province to train school staff so they can help diabetic students get their insulin treatments, a responsibility she says currently rests with parents who often have to miss work.Health minister says they’re working to find the best approachListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Stephanie Biegun wants the Manitoba government to enhance the supports available for students living with diabetes at school so parents like her don’t have skip work to help their children’s medical treatment. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)A Manitoba mother wants the province to train school staff so they can help diabetic students get their insulin treatments, a responsibility she says currently rests with parents who have to miss work or, in her case, quit to help with their children’s treatment. “It’s hard to choose health care over food on your table,” Stephanie Biegun told reporters at the legislature on Tuesday. “Having to quit my job to give my son health care in school was not right.”Biegun’s son, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in March, has to receive an insulin dose before meals.He uses an insulin pump, a wearable medical device that supplies a continuous flow of insulin. But it requires adjustment before a meal, and Biegun said that for months, she had to step away from work, sometimes driving for about 40 minutes from her office, to help do that.”Taking a two-hour lunch break wasn’t feasible anymore,” she said. “I had to resign from my position so I can continue giving my son the health care that he needs.” Biegun is joining other parents of children with diabetes and Manitoba’s Official Opposition in calling on the NDP government to improve the support available in schools and daycares for students with the disease.Kathleen Cook, the Progressive Conservative health critic, says Manitoba should follow the example of other provinces like British Columbia and Nova Scotia in training school staff to administer diabetes medication. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)”Right now if a child is too young to adjust their insulin pump at lunchtime, school staff cannot assist them — forcing parents to leave work to do it,” said Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook.”Children whose parents can’t do this may be restricted to older insulin injection methods.”Biegun said administering the insulin would take a matter of minutes. She noted trained school staff in Manitoba can already give other medications, like administering an EpiPen during anaphylactic reactions. “Insulin is a life-saving measure as well — so why can’t that be given at school as well?” Biegun said. “Our kids deserve better. We deserve better.”Province finding ‘best approach’: AsagwaraOther provinces, like British Columbia and Nova Scotia, have already implemented training programs for school staff to help students with their insulin treatment, Cook said.”Parents provide the relevant information, like the carb count of their child’s meal, and the staff person makes the adjustment to the pump. It’s as easy as pushing a button,” Cook said. At the Manitoba Legislature on Tuesday, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the government has worked to enhance diabetic care.Manitoba worked with the federal government to include diabetes medication in its pharmacare program and in last year’s budget allocated $500,000 to the province’s diabetes action plan, Asagwara said.Diabetes Canada recently released its school-specific guidelines for provinces and territories, which include ensuring management plans that specify the required education for school personnel.Asagwara said these guidelines will be used to help “find the best approach to supporting kids living with diabetes as they go to school.” The government will also work with experts, school divisions and parents to expand training and offer support, Asagwara said.”We don’t want a chronic condition like diabetes to hold any child back.” Christy Peterson says she has to leave work every day to help with her daughter’s insulin medication at school. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)Christy Peterson, whose six-year-old daughter lives with diabetes, said parents have already asked the government for more help with diabetes medication at schools in the past, but have been told it’s a complicated issue that involves union regulations, re-education and health-care considerations. “It has been a lot of ‘we’re working on it,'” she told reporters on Tuesday.”But this is every day for us, so it needs to be sooner than ‘we’re working on it.'”Peterson said there are insulin therapies that don’t require parents to come to school to help their children, but they can result in health-care issues in the long term.With an insulin pump, Peterson said she has to go to school every day to help daughter administer the medication before she can eat.”That has been happening since she was diagnosed at 15 months, and not everybody can do that,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking to have to gauge whether or not I can maintain my livelihood or my child’s health care.”ABOUT THE AUTHORSantiago Arias Orozco is a journalist with CBC Manitoba currently based in Winnipeg. He previously worked for CBC Toronto and the Toronto Star. You can reach him at santiago.arias.orozco@cbc.ca.
Manitoba parents want school staff trained to help students with diabetes
