|
Islets of Hope real people - stories from others living with type 1 diabetes |
||||
|
|
||
|
Source (reprinted with permission): Gloucester County Times; Woodbury, NJ May 2, 2004; 107th year: No. 91; By Denise Jewell (Glouchester County) Times Editorials – May 4, 2004: Day care must keep doors open Staff photo by Tim Hawk Copyright 2004 Gloucester County Times Interested in sharing your story? Visit our Contact page to learn how. |
Real people
Kim Erdwein of Glassboro gives an insulin shot to son Eric, who turns 3 in June, after eating lunch at Full Steam Ahead Child Care Center in Logan Township. Eric has Type 1 diabetes, a condition that caused difficulties when it came time to start Eric in day care. Staff photo by Tim Hawk With son in
day care, mom gets the lesson A working mother who wanted her baby to play well with other children, Glassboro resident Kim Erdwein enrolled her son Eric in day care shortly after his first birthday. For almost two years, Eric attended a Woolwich Township day care, where child care workers would test his blood sugar levels to monitor the Type 1 diabetes he was diagnosed with in November. Then in March – when it was time to enroll Eric for another year – questions from the day care about his medical care became more frequent. That’s when Erdwein – who knew little of the Americans with Disabilities Act – learned an unfamiliar lesson that every parent may want to know. Preschool Days Eric, a carefree toddler with a shy smile, will turn 3 in June. He began attending the Alphabet Corner preschool and day care center in June 2002. Last fall, Erdwein noticed something wasn’t right. Eric kept wetting the bed and couldn’t get enough to drink. Finally, she took him to the emergency room, where doctors discovered Eric’s blood sugar level was 949, terrifyingly high compared to a normal range between 60 to 120. They diagnosed him with juvenile diabetes. “For him being his age, they couldn’t believe that he was still functioning.” said Erdwein, who was sent home with a set of instructions for daily care. Doctors urged her to get Eric back in day care as soon as possible, so she asked them to monitor his blood sugar levels during the four days a week he attended preschool. “They agreed to all this in the beginning,” said Erdwein, who went over instructions with workers and brought in a child care health consultant to explain diabetes. The center’s staff compiled a list of questions, and Erdwein agreed she would come in every day to administer his lunchtime insulin short and would do a urine test at home for ketones, or acids that can build up in the blood. But then the tenor of her relationship with the day care center changed.
In March, the center twice pulled Erdwein from her accounts payable job at a nearby food distributor to check on Eric. Letters went back and forth between Erdwein and the day care discussing his care. Then, on April 6, Erdwein and her husband received a letter from Valerie Matteo, the center’s director, responding to an episode in which she said Eric had a low sugar level and was not responding. “We have tried to work with you to keep Eric’s sugar in check, but we are no longer equipped to meet Eric’s needs without fundamentally altering our program,” wrote Mattee, noting that she thought Eric would benefit from a center with a lower ratio of staff to children. “Please we know that this was a very difficult decision, but I feel it is in Eric’s best interest at this time.” Erdwein had 10 days to find her son a new preschool. Fitting In Privately run child care centers must comply with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to an online explanation written by the U .S. Department of Justice, child care centers are required to make reasonable modifications to integrate disabled children – including those with diabetes – into their programs unless a child would “pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others or require a fundamental alteration of the program.” Almost 10 years ago, the nation’s largest day care provider – KinderCare – agreed to admit diabetic children and to monitor their glucose levels after it was sued by the American Diabetes Association and the Department of Justice for refusing to test a 2-year-old child. In 1996, another nationwide provider, La Petite Academy, signed a similar agreement, according to the diabetes association. Elmoria Thomas – director of the Southern Regional Child Care Center, a state-funded agency based in Sewell that assists parents and area child care centers – said many providers are aware of the disabilities act, but she has received reports that some providers are afraid to take disabled children because they lack training, technical assistance or support. Thomas said funding for a staff special needs consultant who could help child care providers address the needs of disabled children was cut form programs like hers in 1998. She said every situation is unique. “We understand that parents struggle when they’re looking for placement of a special needs child,” Thomas said. “Parents must realize what’s realistic for a program to do as well as the program must realize the expectations of the parents an what the parents’ needs are, and of course, try to accommodate them to the best of their ability. Just Another Child About two weeks ago, Eric began attending the toddler class at Full Steam Ahead Child Care Center in Logan Township, where workers are ungoing training to manage his daily tests. Carol Stecher, the owner and director of Full Steam Ahead, said she doesn’t worry about liability as long as the rules are being followed correctly. “To me, he’s just a child that has another need,” Stecher said. “We basically have an open-door policy.” While Erdwein contends that the Alphabet Corner day care did not have to “fundamentally alter” its program to care for her toddler son, director Valerie Mattee said the program did everything it could to accommodate Eric. “I do everything by the book here and whatever is in the best interest of the child,” said Mattee, noting that the center is a state-licensed facility. “We did all that we could do for him. We tried to keep him here.” Erdwein wants other parents to know their rights. “I want people to know that it’s not right for day cares or people to do this,” Erdwein said, “I just couldn’t believe that they did this to me, and I don’t want it to happen to other children.” And each day, she will continue to leave work at lunchtime to give Eric his shot. “It’s my son, I’m going to do it for him,” Erdwein said. “Basically, I feel in my heart, I have to do this for him.” Child Care Centers and the American with Disabilities Act On the Web: For more information on the American with Disabilities Act, visit the U.S. Department of Justice’s Web site at: http://www.ada.gov/ For more information on diabetes, visit the American Diabetes Association Web site at: http://www.diabetes.org/ By phone: The Department of Justice operates an automated 24-hour ADA information line: (800) 514-0301 Times Editorials – May 4, 2004 Day care must keep doors open – May 4, 2004 Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, privately owned day care centers must make reasonable efforts to integrate children defined as disabled. It is the law. In a case described in Sunday’s Times, however, Glassboro parent Kim Erdwein had to search for alternate day care for her diabetic son Eric, almost 3. The provider felt that it could no longer deal with monitoring Eric’s blood sugar, or respond to medical incidents trigger by changes in its levels. Children such as Eric require special attention, although they are not physically or mentally challenged in ways requiring special settings. An obligation for private centers to accept diabetic children was clarified almost a decade ago, when two national chains, KinderCare and La Petite Academy, agreed to do so. The American Diabetes Association and the U.S. Department of Justice had sued to keep these children from being denied admission. Eric’s provider was a smaller, local day car, and therein lies one problem. Training and staff levels are major issues, and Eric’s day care center, perhaps well with the letter of the ADA law, said it could no longer care for him “…without fundamentally altering our program…..” Some day care centers are modest operations. It is not reasonable to expect that all can provide extra attention and expertise to every child with a high-maintenance medical condition. In some cases, though, centers may be rejecting these children because they are ignorant of the law, or of how few added responsibilities these children really create. That needs to stop. Trade associations could go a long way toward ensuring sufficient space for children with diabetes and similar conditions – in facilities where the staff is properly trained – in every geographic area. Kim Erdwein has found another day care center for her son. Other parents, though, may still be getting doors slammed in their faces. It is a good idea for them to know the ADA law – and how to us it, if need be. | ||||||||
|
| Contact Us | About IOH | Our Mission | Elizabeth's Story | About the Founder | Join IOH | How To Help | Advertise | Privacy Statement | Site Index | Page Updated 10/17/2006 |
||||
