TESTIMONY. Diabetic, a 3-year-old little girl from Lotoise cannot find a caregiver for her insulin injection

Home TESTIMONY. Diabetic, a 3-year-old little girl from Lotoise cannot find a caregiver for her insulin injection
Written by Doug Hampton
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Céline Maillot, a young mother from Lot, is desperately looking for a carer to take care of her daughter, Naomie. The three-year-old girl has type 1 diabetes. To be able to eat lunch at school, she needs her dose of insulin. Problem: for the moment, no caregiver is available.

“We are bound hand and foot,” sighs Céline Maillot. This young Lotoise is the mother of a little girl, aged three, who has had type 1 diabetes since she was 10 months old. This year, Naomie was able to return to school in a very small section and is spending three mornings at the Lalbenque school. “For next year, when she will have full days, nurses will have to come at lunchtime at mealtime to give her her injection. But that is not possible”, regrets the mother. The latter struggles to find medical personnel to administer insulin to Naomie. “It’s vital for her. It’s even dangerous,” she asserts.

“We had his alert”

Nursing offices in the area cannot move between noon and two. The mother comes to question herself: “Is it the lack of carers? A bad will of the local nurses who do not want to organize themselves because that makes them return to Lalbenque at noon?”. Céline tried to turn to more distant firms. “There is indeed a nurse who could do it. But for that, she needs an official letter from the Lalbenque offices which authorize her to come. Since mid-February, she is still waiting for her,” says Céline. Even if, after verification, the practices do not need to make an authorization for another nurse to move in their sector. If the nurse who offers can take care of Naomie, the solution is, therefore, all found.

“We had his alert,” says Alain Roue, president of the Order of Lot nurses. “I would be surprised if the Lalbenque care center remained deaf to these requests. And if they cannot do the treatment, they will not refuse another nurse to come. The treatment of diabetics is quite precise. You have to that it coincides with mealtimes. We cannot afford to come an hour later. These are the kinds of incompatibilities that are put forward, “he explains. Indeed, the time slot proposed by the school is 15 minutes. Short and complicated deadlines to manage for the nurses – who already have a heavy workload on their rounds. But no one closes the door: everyone’s priority is that Naomie be cared for.

“Everyone should be educated in the same boat”

Naomie is also recognized as a disabled child. “I made a request for Naomie to have AESH at school, but it was refused,” sighs Céline Maillot. She says she was annoyed: “When my daughter is in first grade, she won’t be able to read or write because she has to go out regularly to go to the toilet, she doesn’t do sports entirely because she has to take her snack. In addition , she is small, she is not able to say that she is not well. The teachers are vigilant about her behavior: if she asks too often for a drink, let her yawn… But they increase their surveillance tenfold over my daughter, it penalizes the other children. Everyone must be educated in the same boat”.

The director of the MDPH ensures that no family is left without a solution. She explains the refusal of the AESH: “in terms of taking care of children with a specificity, we say that the child has special needs either related to a disability or related to drug treatment. In the first case, it is indeed an AESH that the child will need: she will come next to him, take notes, reformulate what the teacher says.In the case of this little girl, we are talking about a treatment. It is not AESH that is smart to put in place. You need a PAI: personalized reception plan. That is to say: a document co-written by the director of the establishment and the doctor to adapt schooling and taking into account the pathologies of the child”. The mother must be received soon by the department to be helped to find a liberal nurse.

“We are not alone”

Céline Maillot also turned to the town hall of Lalbenque, the deputy Aurélien Pradié, and even the Academy of Toulouse. The latter assured the family that she would eventually find a nurse. “Everyone tells us that it will be fine, concludes the mother of the family. But from when? Naomie cannot wait”.

At the end of March, Céline wrote an open letter shared on social networks to find help. “A nursing mother, a former retired liberal nursing aide and a diabetic woman who lives in Lalbenque have offered their help for September. But it remains complicated: there will be no follow-up from one person to the another. The school is not in favor of it not being a nurse who travels, just like my diabetologist. It is not a viable solution over time, “says Naomie’s mother. The other possibility? Let Céline herself go for the insulin shots. But again, it won’t be long term. “At that age, if Naomie sees me, she won’t want to stay in school the rest of the day,” she says. She already does: she is on parental leave and travels 20 kilometers every day to check her daughter’s insulin level before bringing her home. But when Céline has to go back to work, the problem will still be there: who will do the insulin shots for the little one? The liberal nurse who would be voluntary is, therefore, welcome to treat Naomie.

Thanks to her call on social networks, the mother got in touch with other mothers who are going through the same situation. “It feels good to know that we are not alone. But we tell ourselves that it is not normal to fight for a right”, regrets Céline. She also turned to the Barbadiab association, which helps families facing type 1 diabetes. “Thanks to this, Naomie met a 12-year-old child who had the same pump as her, but with soccer balls on it, smiles slightly the mother of the family. We discuss everything and anything, we all go out together, it feels good”.

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