This is a follow-up to a Monday News Hour story about a young girl in Port Moody whose mother is forced to go to school several times a day because she has an insulin pump.
Sharon Le Motee, whose daughter Ellie has Type One diabetes, has to go to school to see her daughter several times a day to make sure Ellie’s insulin pump is administering the right dose.
Her educational assistant isn’t allowed to take responsibility for that, and Sharon sometimes has to go to the school as many as five times a day to adjust it.
But another family in Surrey in the same situation said their school district made the decision to help them by coming up with a plan that does allow the educational assistant to control the pump.
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“The simple reality is we need a consistent policy that’s fair for all kids,” said Scott Yewchuk. “So that if a kid shows up at the school with an insulin pump that there’s support in place for them to be able to have a safe experience at school where they can get the most out of their school situation.”
“It wouldn’t be hard to draft a policy, and for the most part, most of the personnel are already in place.”
The NDP says these different policies shows the provincial government needs to have a consistent policy across the province.
“The idea that kids in one district, for their health and safety their parents are going to have to come in and check an insulin pump, and in other areas parents have found a solution, that’s got to change,” said NDP health critic Mike Farnworth. “We need need a policy, the province needs to step in and show leadership and get this fixed.”
Health minister Margaret MacDiarmid said she expects it will take a few more months to find a solution everyone is comfortable with when it comes to these matters.
“The goal is to have something that is consistent across the school districts so parents know what they can expect.”
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