April 16, 2012
Brian Hudson with Governor Nathan Deal, Rep. Matt Ramsey and his family, diabetic children and parents, American Diabetes Assoc. representatives and former Atlanta Falcon Jamie Dukes
Atlanta, Georgia – Governor Nathan Deal signed legislation that will help children with diabetes in schools. In an effort to further aid Georgia’s youth, Deal signed legislation providing diabetes care in schools at no extra cost to the state. This new bill serves two primary purposes: to allow capable students to self-manage their diabetes with the permission of their physicians and parents and to train school personnel to assist children in managing their diabetes.
Diabetes is generally self-managed; HB 879 gives guardians and physicians the option to sign a diabetes medical management plan allowing students to perform daily monitoring activities in school. However, if situations requiring assistance do arise, this legislation requires schools with a diabetic enrolled to have at least two school employees trained under the Georgia Association of School Nurses diabetes care guidelines.
The Georgia chapter of the American Diabetes Association has offered to provide training to school personnel free of charge.
The Hudson Group was intimately involved in this issue through our representation of Novo Nordisk.