We have a Diabetes School Bill!!

Dear Parent's Dealing With Diabetes
I am happy to let you know that the Texas Diabetes Council, upon which I represent JDRF, working with the American Diabetes Association, has been successful in getting school guidelines for public schools passed in the state of Texas. This is the culmination of about 6 years' work, and a great team advocating for our children. This will assure that 2-3 people on each campus will be trained to help diabetic children with diabetes tasks and emergencies. In addition, it requires schools to allow self-management of diabetes throughout the school day, based upon an Individual Health Plan (IHP) which you will work out with the school, based upon the Medical Management Plan (MMP) coming from your child's doctor. So if your child is of appropriate age and skill levels to test and treat himself/herself, and if your doctor sends that message in the MMP, your children (if they so choose and you the parent so choose) can sit at their desk (or in the cafeteria, or on a field trip, etc.) and do a blood sugar test, take insulin or treat a low, without having to take time away from class and call attention to their disease by going to the nurse's office. Of course, this is completely at the parents' discretion, so that they can decide upon what works best for their individual child.

I am thrilled that we have finally gotten this law in place. I know that many of you have had problems with individual schools; this gives teeth to our advocacy for our children. It means that they can do what they have been trained to do from day 1 of their diagnosis--take charge of and take care of their own diabetes.

Please pass the word to others across the state; this is a tremendous step forward for our children, and it took an enormous effort to get there.

My best,
Judy Haley
Vice President for Outreach, JDRF Houston
Vice Chair, Texas Diabetes Council
Vice President/President Elect, TAMR
(who wants a cure sooner rather than later for her two young adults with diabetes)