Diabetes is a life-changing diagnosis, especially for an infant, child or adolescent. At Bon Secours St. Mary's Diabetes Treatment Center, we approach this diagnosis with hope and a deep-seated commitment to helping your child lead a full and active life. We partner with you, the parents, to help you completely understand the diagnosis, get your questions answered, learn about treatments and daily living, and prevent any serious conditions related to diabetes.

What is Diabetes?

When your child has diabetes, it means that his or her body cannot regulate the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood. Glucose is a type of sugar in your body that produces energy. Your liver produces glucose from the food that you eat. Your pancreas produces insulin, which helps glucose enter cells. In diabetes, the body makes too little insulin or no longer uses insulin efficiently. Sometimes both may occur. There are two primary types of diabetes that affect children:

• Type 1 diabetes is a condition in which the pancreas either produces no insulin or too little insulin. Type 1 is also known as insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes.
• Type 2 diabetes occurs when your body does not use insulin effectively. It may be associated with producing too much insulin or not enough insulin. Type 2 diabetes may also be known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).

If not properly controlled, diabetes can cause many problems. The problems can include:

• Nerve damage
• Skin damage
• Kidney damage
• Eye problems
• Compromised immune system
• Tissue disorders
• Heart disease

Family-Centered Care

At the Bon Secours St. Mary's Diabetes Treatment Center, we take a team approach to helping your infant, child or adolescent learn to live with diabetes and feel healthy. Our goals are to teach you, your child, and your family how to manage diabetes and prevent any diabetes-related issues. When you bring your child to us, you are giving your child comprehensive, compassionate care combined with expert education. In fact, the American Diabetes Association, in accordance with the national Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education Program, has recognized our program as a leader in the field of diabetes care and education.

Our family-centered approach coordinates you and your child with a team of specialists that includes:

• Your child's primary care physician
• A physician who has specialized in treating diabetes in children called a pediatric endocrinologist
• Highly trained pediatric nurses who are specially trained in diabetes
• Diabetes nutritionists and
• Counselors to offer support

Diabetes Management

We treat both type I (insulin dependent) and type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes. With the increasing number of overweight and obese children in this country, type 2 diabetes now accounts for approximately 90 percent of all diabetes cases in children.

We are experts at managing and treating type 2 diabetes, and you can be sure that we will have your child's care utmost in our concerns, from diagnosis through management. We will work with you and your child to develop a treatment plan and a diabetes maintenance plan that will help you, your child, and your family learn to live with diabetes.

If your child is overweight or obese, we will develop weight loss and weight maintenance plans to bring your child back to a healthy weight. Losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight are key components in controlling type 2 diabetes.

If your child needs to be on insulin for type 1 diabetes, we will teach you how to give it to your child. If your child is old enough, we will teach him or her how to administer it to him or herself.

We will also help you and your child develop appropriate nutrition guidelines and healthy meal planning, an exercise regimen, and teach you how to monitor your child's body sugar.

Community Outreach

The Bon Secours Diabetes Treatment Centers also reach out to the community by providing educational seminars to schools and other organizations. Look for the Care-A-Van in your community for free diabetic screening.

At Bon Secours, we are dedicated to seeing your child lead an active and healthy life, and committed to stemming the growing tide of diabetes in children and adolescents.

To learn more about the Bon Secours Diabetes Treatment Centers call (804) 287-7162.

For more information on diabetes, click here.