THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230059
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 78 lines
KinderCare, the nation's largest corporate day-care chain, agreed Thursday to accept diabetic children and monitor their blood sugar as part of a settlement negotiated by the Justice Department.
To settle a private lawsuit brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act, KinderCare will require all its 1,143 child-care centers in 38 states across the country to accept diabetic children and have its own staff members administer simple finger-prick tests to monitor their blood sugar levels.
Thomas Johnson, a spokesman for KinderCare's corporate offices, said KinderCare centers previously accepted diabetic children for enrollment only if the center's director felt comfortable with meeting the child's medical needs, such as monitoring the child's blood sugar.
Now centers will accept diabetic children without that condition. Kindercare has nine centers in Virginia Beach, two in Chesapeake and one in Portsmouth.
Local advocates for people with disabilities believe the agreement will raise awareness of the rights of children with special health-care needs.
``I think it will help other day-care providers understand their responsibilities,'' said Maureen Hollowell, education services coordinator for the Endependence Center, a Norfolk-based agency that works with people with disabilities. ``It will also help families feel more confident in pursuing a child-care center for their children.''
Jonathan Sutherland, the father of a 6-year-old Chesapeake girl who has diabetes, said the agreement was encouraging for children with the condition, but questioned how well day-care center staff members can monitor children.
Sutherland said his daughter, Lindsey, was cared for by a baby sitter when she was a baby and toddler, but when she entered kindergarten it was more difficult for the teacher to keep an eye on Lindsey's mood swings, which can change if her sugar level changes.
``I think it's great that they're willing to do this, but I wonder if they know what they're getting into,'' he said.
KinderCare officials said the centers already are caring for hundreds of children with diabetes, and Thursday's agreement will likely increase that number.
Attorney General Janet Reno announced the Kindercare agreement at her weekly news conference and said it ``will make a difference in the lives of thousands of children across this country.''
``Children with diabetes shouldn't be left on the sidelines,'' Reno said. ``Now we hope that other child-care facilities will do the right thing and follow KinderCare's lead.''
Joining Reno at the news conference, Alan Altschuler, board chairman of the American Diabetes Association, said, ``Parents of children with diabetes should demand nothing less than this standard of support now required of KinderCare.'' Hollowell said she fields calls every week from local parents and day-care providers trying to work out child-care arrangements for children with disabilities.
``It's usually just a matter of educating the child-care provider rather than an unwillingness on their part,'' Hollowell said.
She said she recently helped the family of a diabetic child work out an arrangement with a day-care center to put the child on a special, restricted diet. All it took was getting guidance from the child's doctor and working out a menu for the child.
Earlier this year, 3-year-old Jesi Stuthard of Grove City, Ohio, was unable to enroll in a KinderCare center near Columbus, because, as a diabetic, he required blood-sugar monitoring, Reno said. ``KinderCare worried that the care for such children would be too burdensome.''
His grandmother and the American Diabetes Association sued KinderCare under the disabilities act and were represented by the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, which brought the case to the Justice Department's attention.
Reno said department lawyers and the parties came to ``a simple, common-sense solution'' under which KinderCare staff would administer the finger prick to obtain a drop of blood. The blood is screened for sugar content by a hand-held device the size of a bar of soap. The parents supply the device.
``If the blood sugar is low, a simple glass of (orange or apple) juice will ensure that the child can play and learn in safety,'' Reno said. MEMO: The story was compiled from reports by staff writer Elizabeth
Simpson and The Associated Press. by CNB