Children's Diabetes Center
Part of Strong Memorial Hospital
The Children's Diabetes Center at Golisano Children's Hospital strives to help children with diabetes maintain optimal health. Our experienced team of specialists–which includes board-certified pediatric Endocrinologists, Nurse Practitioners, Dietitians, Psychologists and Social Workers help children and their families become empowered to manage their own diabetes care and, as a result, avoid long and short-term complications sometimes caused by the disease. By managing their diabetes, children can fully participate in all age-appropriate activities and achieve optimal physical, psychosocial and emotional growth and development.
The Children's Diabetes Center offers the only multidisciplinary team of pediatric diabetes specialists in the Finger Lakes Region. Care is individualized and conforms to guidelines developed by the American Diabetes Association and other expert panels. Our center provides diagnosis, education, and initial and ongoing management of children with diabetes from infancy through late adolescence. Our goal is to keep children healthy and out of the hospital by teaching them and their families how to meet the challenges diabetes presents.
Our Services
Education and management are individually tailored to the family's needs to help with:
- Nutritional changes that occur at each stage of childhood and adolescence
- Participation in competitive and recreational sports and activities
- Unusual and flexible daily schedules
- Age-appropriate self-management by the child or adolescent
- Illness management
- Insulin pump use
The Diabetes Center team works with the child or adolescent, family and primary care provider to develop a successful diabetes management plan that includes:
- Maintaining blood sugars in an appropriate target range
- An individualized insulin regimen
- Flexible meal planning utilizing the child's food preferences
- Adjustment for anticipated exercise and activity
- Social work assistance, including contact with the child's teachers and school nurse
- Psychological evaluation and referral as needed
Children and adolescents cared for through the Children's Diabetes Center benefit from the extensive research being done at the University of Rochester Medical Center. We are testing new therapies, including new forms of insulin, and considering the effects of diabetes on children, such as research on the impact of diabetes on the quality of life in adolescents, and adolescents' control of their diabetes. The Children's Diabetes Center also is participating in a multi center, NIH-funded Diabetes Prevention Trial that focuses on identifying relatives at risk for developing diabetes and testing various prevention strategies. Contact us through the Division of Pediatric Endocrinology.