Brandon's Story

See below this update for Brandon's original story. 

Since September 2009 things have changed quite a bit – for the better.  At that time, Brandon had just started ½ day Kindergarten and Suzanne had to go into the school with our two other children to make adjustments to his insulin pump every day at recess. 

Brandon 2011

Throughout October and November, I continued in person and email discussions with Nursing Support Services – mostly to clarify what, exactly, services are available to young children with diabetes. This is when I learned that, if Pharmacare provides the insulin pump, parents and caregivers are required to sign an agreement that “school and daycare personnel will not operate the pump.” Of course, Pharmacare did not provide Brandon’s pump- we bought it ourselves. 

In December of 2009, after hitting wall after wall, I met with my MLA, Lana Popham. I had no idea what else to do and Lana offered to try to set up a meeting with Nursing Support Services from VIHA. Although NSS did not want to meet with the MLA, they did agree to meet with me, privately. It was my hope that, if they could see a demonstration of how easy the pump is to operate, that they would agree to a care plan involving pump supports. 

That meeting was in February 2010, and I was encouraged to hear the VIHA representatives say it was a good idea to train school staff to read and adjust Brandon’s insulin pump. I was advised, however, that there was a process to follow and a follow up meeting was set for the end of March 2010. 

I followed up at the end of March, only to learn that there was not yet any headway; I was told to check back in May. 

In May/June 2010, I was told that the meeting was cancelled due to staffing issues. I was told that NSS was open to having a collective meeting with the school, the hospital educators, the principal and the teacher’s assistant.  I started calling, right away. It was around this time that we set up the website, and petition; we were getting frantic as full day schooling was fast approaching and we would have to go into school three times (sometimes four) a day to enter numbers in the pump. 

In June/July 2010, I was again being told this was a good idea; this time it was the head of child disability programs at the superintendent’s office, as well as the principal and the diabetic educator at Victoria General Hospital. They all agreed in principle; now I just had to get some action. 

August 2010, with people starting to sign the on-line petition, I realized we may have to access the power of public opinion. I called the media. All the while, I was also persisting with my calls for a meeting before the school year, to create and implement a school health plan for Brandon. 

At the end of August, two important things happened. One: the school disability program called to say they wanted to run a pilot project with Brandon and his insulin pump; and to set up a meeting in late October. Two: CBC Radio and TV, as well as CHEK 6 both ran news spots. They interviewed Suzanne (she is better on TV than I am) and filmed a demonstration of just how simple it is to run an insulin pump.

CBC news spot August 25, 2010:   http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/1221254309/ID=1574783866

October 2010, the school’s representative contacted me to say they were not ready and to postpone the meeting to November. 

November 2010, finally I got to meet with everyone all together. Much to my surprise, they were not only prepared to help Brandon at school, but they already had a plan outlined. We agreed to the procedure and set a meeting at the school to sign off and discuss implantation of this plan. 

After a brief fine-tuning, the sign off happened in January 2011, at a meeting at the school. The plan included a need to train the teacher’s assistant; requiring another two weeks. 

Since March 2011, the TA has been working with Brandon to monitor and adjust his insulin pump. As of the time of this update, the plan has been running without a hitch. 

We still do not have any commitments for supports as Brandon enters grade 2, but this past month proves to me that this can happen. 

Our family is so grateful to McKenzie Elementary and its staff and faculty. Also our heartfelt thanks go out to the Vancouver Island Health Authority, Nurses Support Services, and to the Diabetic Education Program at Victoria General Hospital. We also wish to thank CBC and CHEK 6 for their coverage. Finally, thanks to Lana Popham, our MLA, whose office helped us get some momentum going.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Our son Brandon Ribic was diagnosed with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes February 9, 2009. Brandon just turned 4 years old. For 8 months Brandon was given insulin by needle injection, 4 injections per day (3 at meals, 1 before bed). Blood glucose testing also required approximately 8-10 times per day (finger pokes) this is to ensure his glucose is between 6-10 mmols which is ideal for a children 5-10 yrs old. Brandon’s diet was very healthy, and needed to be modified due to the lack of accuracy of insulin injections, and frequency. Small children do not like needles. Low carb and sugar free snacks or drinks between insulin injections were now a way of life for Brandon.

           

Brandon attended Preschool 3 times a week for 3 hours a day. He did not require a blood glucose test or insulin injection during school as low carb snacks and sugar free drinks were used to control his blood glucose level which was at the optimum level when Brandon arrived to Preschool. Brandon was accepted to have Nurse Support Services (NSS) from Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA) setup and administer a school health plan for his Diabetes. This includes teaching staff the signs and symptoms of Diabetes, assisting Brandon in blood glucose testing, making sure Brandon eats his required snacks to maintain his blood glucose levels, and calling the parents if any symptoms or blood glucose levels are out of range.

August 2009 Brandon received an insulin pump to better manage his blood glucose levels with more accurate insulin administration. Brandon is now able to eat and drink anything and at anytime during the day. He still does the same amount of blood glucose testing, but the insulin pump can now correct his blood glucose level to the normal range. Brandon’s A1C has been brought down from 8.9 to 6.8, 7.0, and 6.9 since being on the pump. We are no longer having to feed his insulin with the pump also as it allows for the proper insulin dosage for the carb qty eaten.

September 2009 Brandon started to attend ½ day Kindergarten at McKenzie Elementary School (SD 61), Victoria BC. Initially we were told he would be given assistance with the pump at school, but quickly learned this not to be the case. The school principal stated he would help with the pump if it were school policy. Speaking with the School Assistant Superintendent, she stated that it seemed easy and reasonable to help and would like to help if Nurse Support Services provided the training and supervision of insulin administration. Finally we found the top brick wall. With numerous emails and conversations with the Regional manager for nurse support services it seemed there was a chance for this to become reality, but it has since fizzled out into a prolonged meeting issue for them to which no real decisions or plan has been contemplated.

            Currently my wife attends school to administer insulin at 10:20 AM following Brandon’s snack at school. My wife is 7 months pregnant and brings with her our 4 yr old son, 2 yr old son, 2 yr old girl she cares for, and occasionally the 2 yr old diabetic child she looks after as well. They all go into the class room and wait for her to review his snack and administer insulin. My wife also attends the school with kids in tow to do correction insulin when the school calls after his bg test which comes in to high. We are only in half day school this year and will face new challenges next year in grade 1 full day school. We don’t anticipate Brandon to be able to operate his pump fully without supervision until he is in grade 4 possibly. 


Rob Ribic