Ana Ibáñez is Martina's mother.The little girl was diagnosed on August 19 Diabetes Mellitus Type 1. The girl goes to a school in Barcelona in which they lacked a nurse to help him control the ups and downs of sugar of the pathology he suffers.
The teacher is, together with the parent, who went to the center several times a day, the one who took care of the little girl's controls.
“But she is human, in the classroom there are 27 students, among which is also a small with special needs.It has been hard.My daughter was invisible to the system and she constantly needed someone to manage her illness (she can go from having a glycemia from 350 to 60 in 30 minutes), ”explains the mother on the phone to El País.
The family requested the necessary help, someone capable of serving the girl and giving tranquility to the mother.Ibáñez got it on September 27.
Ibáñez's anguish is not unique.There are many parents with children who suffer from this disease who criticize the lack of medical attention and training of workers in educational centers.
Type 1 diabetes is congenital.The glucose that circulates through the blood is called glycemia.The most characteristic symptoms are that the child has more desire to urinate;more thirst and more desire to eat the usual and lose weight quickly.The disease has no cure.
"Diabetes has an important impact on the child's life that suffers from it, but also of its relatives, since it implies having to introduce new routines necessary to achieve adequate control," explains Roque Cardona Hernández, an endocrinologist pediatric of the Sant Joan HospitalDéu and scientific advisor of the Diabetes Foundation."At first it is normal for many to experience feelings of denial, anger and guilt, which fortunately decrease subsequently as they face the duel.
Our work as a diabetes team is to try to feel supported and provide the best tools to ensure good control from the first moment, "he says.
The Diabetes Foundation explains that "lack of medical assistance and training in centers" is one of the main complaints of families.According to the latest data collected in a 2015 report, “70% of parents claim a nurse at school.
In addition, they demand more general information for teachers (84%). "Sometimes, the solution adopted by parents isModify their work activity to serve the child - as was the case of Ana Ibáñez, making it difficult to reconnect family and work life, and in many cases having a negative economic impact for the family.
For the majority, claiming a nursing professional is serving to sensitize, and in many cases they manage to get it.There is a protocol for the application.“First, we must trust the good faith of the schools, because the request process is done by the center to the direction of territorial area to which it belongs.The request is made in writing and a medical report must be attached, ”he explains from the Foundation.“We recommended that parents also do this process in a particular way.The most important thing is that these know the processes to follow so that your child is well treated in class, ”he adds.Indeed, "the presence of school nursing is a highly desirable element for the attention and care of children with diabetes since it facilitates the work of teachers and prevents parents from having to move to centers to provide the necessary care," he saysCardona Hernández."In addition, its presence would allow other tasks to be carried out,such as health education and promotion of healthy life habits and care of other diseases.Its implementation in public schools depends on educational authorities.The vast majority do not have a nursing professional, "adds the expert.
less nursing and more training
But not all parents think that a nurse is the best option for the correct schooling of their children with diabetes.María Palacios, mother of five children of whom one, Lucas, suffers from the disease, believes that it is better that "there is a total integration of the child in the classroom": "I do not want my son to go out of class when he has a lack of control inSugar levels.
I want the adult who is with him to know what he has to do.It overwhelms me to think that when the professor sees my pale son, he will make him out of the classroom and have to move towards the nursing - a period in which we do not know what can happen to him or that the delay forces my son to fainting andHave to medicate - and, finally, arrive and see him.If the person who is with him is formed permanently, I feel safer, because he will be able to act in immediacy when something happens. ”
Lucas was a year and 11 months when he was diagnosed, "and it was very hard": "Although at home we are able to relativize, since we have another son with disabilities, it was terrible."This mother, who has never stopped working, controls the situation of her little boy, now in a primary school at a private school in Madrid, 24 hours: “When she started childish I had the great luck that her teacher had a daughter with diabetesand the same doctor as my son.It was three years quite quiet, since the center, after being very heavy, allowed Lucas to have the same teacher that time. ”
The child's first step was also good.“I managed to talk to the teachers, who understood that it was important that my son did not go out of class.And, thanks to the information they gave me from Ramón y Cajal, I gave them a talk of about two hours to form them.
This managed to know what to do if they saw my most pale son than normal, ”he says.“The other objective I have achieved is that Lucas takes the mobile to class.This makes life easier for me because I know how it is at all times.I managed to set up a WhatsApp group in which their daily teachers were in it.Now, it is still the one who controls the sugar, but I think that in a few months I will be able to give it a figure and that he is aware of what he has to do, ”he adds.
“I am of the firm belief that the training of teachers is more important to have a prepared nurse, the latter does not give me peace of mind.Trust and calm is to know that when something happens to him, at the time that happens to him, someone will know how to act.You have to relativize diabetes and in this it helps the school understand and act with information for the well -being of the child, their family and the center, ”explains this mother.
“Indeed, people with diabetes, with adequate training, can develop any activity.It is important to note that diabetes, unless it is associated with serious chronic complications (advanced retinopathy, renal failure) is no cause of disability, ”reiterates Cardona Hernández.
monitor glucose levels
According to the pediatrician, Roque Cardona Hernández, “continuous glucose monitors have meant a real revolution in the management of diabetes since we have gone from having specific values of glucose levels over a day to have a continuous reading of24 hours.
This considerable increase in information facilitates decision -making and therefore allows a more precise and simple management of diabetes.
On the other hand, depending on the performance and configuration of the monitor,They allow the incorporation of an alarm system that warns the person or their caregivers, in the case of young children, of declines or ups of glucose ”.This information can also be transmitted in real time through a mobile application to parents who are capable of removing the glucose values of their children, "which is an example of how technology can facilitate our lives," addsCardona Hernández.
Another added advantage, especially in the field of pediatrics, is that they allow to decrease or even suppress the number of punctures in the fingers.
Its accessibility “is difficult to generalize the situation since health skills are transferred to the Autonomous Communities.In general, in recent years, all communities have made an important effort to introduce continuous glucose meters in their portfolio of services, especially in pediatric population, but today there are important differences in terms of financed models andIndication criteria depending on the territory, ”adds the expert.
Thanks to this type of Martina devices, for example, Ana Ibáñez's daughter, "will have a continuous glucose meter that greatly facilitates the management of diabetes and decision making and I consider that it is indispensable for children, their families andTeaching teams ".
For his part, Lucas, the son of Maria Palacios, has tried all the market sensors to monitor his sugar levels, “but none for children under 18 has earned him because they produced allergy.Now, it carries one for adults, it is implanted on the skin and connects with a sticker that you can wash and remove whenever you want.This device lasts about six months, the expense is a lot, but it is worth it, ”according to the mother.
