Grand Blanc committee considers district-wide diabetes

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At age 6, many of Alli Jablonski’s fingers already are callused.

Alli, who is a kindergartner at Indian Hill Elementary School, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about two years ago, and has to poke her fingers several times daily to monitor her blood glucose levels.

And although Alli’s parents, Melissa and Curtis Jablonski, said she receives “fantastic” care and monitoring at Indian Hill, they want to make sure that other children with diabetes have the same experience.

The Jablonskis, along with several Board of Education members, staff and administrators, have formed a committee to look at whether a districtwide diabetes policy could benefit the Grand Blanc school district.

“We’re just getting off our feet,” said Board of Education Trustee Renee Peel. “It’s at its beginning stages, and we’re just researching everything that has to do with diabetes, statewide and nationally.”

Amanda Waltrip, a certified diabetes educator at Hurley Medical Center, said Hurley has more than 300 Type 1 diabetes patients, and most of them are from Genesee County.

“These children do need certain things in place,” she said. “They need to be able to check their blood sugar, they need to have snacks available and they need to take insulin.”

Some younger children don’t recognize when they are experiencing low blood sugar, and so it sometimes can be hard for an adult to recognize the signs without training, Waltrip said.

“When (Alli) was diagnosed, we didn’t know a thing about diabetes, and it came as a total surprise,” Melissa Jablonski said. “It can be overwhelming to a parent, and I’m sure it can be overwhelming to teachers as well.”

Sarah Stone, principal at Indian Hill Elementary, said a districtwide policy could make the expectations of Grand Blanc parents more uniform.

“It would make it where what’s happening in one school is also happening in another,” she said. “I think at first, the main thing people were concerned about was the training.”

The committee held its first meeting on May 7, and will continue researching whether a policy is necessary, Peel said.

The Jablonskis also are looking to make a difference beyond the school district.

Melissa Jablonski and Grand Blanc resident Erica Surman have organized a Genesee County chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and have organized a monthly gathering at Brick Street Bar and Grill for Genesee County residents who are affected by diabetes.

The group meets the third Monday of the month, and although Melissa Jablonski and Surman were the only two participants for the first meeting in January, it grew to more than 40 participants at the April meeting, Melissa Jablonski said.

“It’s just a place for people to go, and for parents and grandparents, and whoever has a general interest, to talk about diabetes,” Surman said.