(Coastal Courier) Georgia school nurses are on the front line in providing essential care during school hours that allows children with diabetes to stay in class and learn. With obesity, a contributing cause of type 2 diabetes, rising at epidemic rates among adolescents, the school nurses also provide wellness education to children, teachers and staff about how to avoid developing this debilitating — but, in most cases, preventable — chronic disease year-round. This especially is important in November, which is American Diabetes Month.

About 215,000 — or 1 in every 400 — U.S. children or adolescents up to 20 years old have diabetes, a chronic disease marked by high blood glucose (sugar) levels due to defects in insulin production and/or activity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While the majority of cases (1.7 per 1,000) in this young age group have type 1 diabetes, the causes of which are independent of lifestyle factors, type 2 diabetes (formerly called adult-onset diabetes) has risen to record levels among American teens, with an obesity epidemic and low levels of physical activity being the major contributing causes of onset. [Read more...]