Type 1 and Teaching

[Bexlee]

Hi @ET6 I’m a teacher - secondary school.

I use my phone. It’s usually in my pocket but often on the desk. Children on front row shout me if an alarm goes off and I’m the other end of the room and initially don’t hear it. They know the high and the low sounds and where the sweets are. It’s usually an opportunity for 4 for Miss and one each for the class !

The diabetic children also have their phones - Only time they don’t is in an exam and then they have their own room and an Invigilator has their phone.

I have cover 15 min before break and 15 min before lunch for about 2 minutes each time to work out carbs and units, set up injection and do injection in the cupboard so I can think without distraction - that’s my preference and school more than happy to oblige although it did take a little while to put into action. The kids often ask questions and I take the chance to educate them.

I also have a plan in place if I have a hypo that I need a bit more time for when I call the in call staff and go off to a peaceful office and have the time to treat and recover. Only used it a few times in the 5 ish years I’ve been diagnosed.

Don’t forget hypo treats all over school. You never know where you’ll need them but you can be sure as hell it’ll be somewhere you don’t have any - mind you schools do seem to have a lot of sweets lying around in offices !

The libre reader I stopped using as you can’t use both at the same time as CGM and it only had alarms on the one you started the sensor with. The phone is far better I personally find. Not sure they still do readers do they ? Maybe they do.

Direct message me if you want any advice or have more questions.

 

[Linre]

Hi,
I’m a primary teacher and have an Apple Watch which shows my levels all of the time- it also does vibrations for alarms. As long as I stay not too far from my phone it works well. There is no problem at my school with me having my phone out being used for medical purposes, if your school doesn’t want it - ask for a risk assessment and then basically agree to not use the phone except for BG monitoring. My class are quite used to be having a bar of chocolate if I need it!

 

[ET6]

Hi,
I’m a primary teacher and have an Apple Watch which shows my levels all of the time- it also does vibrations for alarms. As long as I stay not too far from my phone it works well. There is no problem at my school with me having my phone out being used for medical purposes, if your school doesn’t want it - ask for a risk assessment and then basically agree to not use the phone except for BG monitoring. My class are quite used to be having a bar of chocolate if I need it!

Hi @Linre thanks for the response. I was just talking to my husband about the possibility of an Apple Watch. You say you still need to be close to the phone? Do you know if there’s a way I don’t need to be near it and the watch still work? I’m thinking PE lessons or playtimes
I’m going to ask about a risk assessment and to begin with just have my phone with me. I’ll have to save up for the phone
Thank you

 

[ET6]

Hi @ET6 I’m a teacher - secondary school.

I use my phone. It’s usually in my pocket but often on the desk. Children on front row shout me if an alarm goes off and I’m the other end of the room and initially don’t hear it. They know the high and the low sounds and where the sweets are. It’s usually an opportunity for 4 for Miss and one each for the class !

The diabetic children also have their phones - Only time they don’t is in an exam and then they have their own room and an Invigilator has their phone.

I have cover 15 min before break and 15 min before lunch for about 2 minutes each time to work out carbs and units, set up injection and do injection in the cupboard so I can think without distraction - that’s my preference and school more than happy to oblige although it did take a little while to put into action. The kids often ask questions and I take the chance to educate them.

I also have a plan in place if I have a hypo that I need a bit more time for when I call the in call staff and go off to a peaceful office and have the time to treat and recover. Only used it a few times in the 5 ish years I’ve been diagnosed.

Don’t forget hypo treats all over school. You never know where you’ll need them but you can be sure as hell it’ll be somewhere you don’t have any - mind you schools do seem to have a lot of sweets lying around in offices !

The libre reader I stopped using as you can’t use both at the same time as CGM and it only had alarms on the one you started the sensor with. The phone is far better I personally find. Not sure they still do readers do they ? Maybe they do.

Direct message me if you want any advice or have more questions.

Thank you @Bexlee - I like the idea of sweets around the school. I’m planning on telling the children as their Year 5, old enough to understand and I want them to know why an alarm is going off
I’ve not yet worked out how to DM but I appreciate that thank you.

 

[SimonP]

Hi @Linre thanks for the response. I was just talking to my husband about the possibility of an Apple Watch. You say you still need to be close to the phone? Do you know if there’s a way I don’t need to be near it and the watch still work? I’m thinking PE lessons or playtimes
I’m going to ask about a risk assessment and to begin with just have my phone with me. I’ll have to save up for the phone
Thank you

You don't need an Apple Watch/iPhone combination to get remote readings - you could use an Android Wear watch + Android phone or a Garmin watch and either Android phone or iPhone, but the decision is obviously yours. There are plenty of threads on the forum about what is required to get either Apple or Android Wear or Garmin watches setup so I'd suggest you have a look at what's around and ask if you can't find the specifics of what you need.

Regarding distance, my Garmin watch happily talks to my phone sat at the far end of a badminton court while I play, though I do think having the phone on you is much more useful as you can then look at it to see more detail of IoB and BG prediction if your watch indicates you're dropping rapidly, etc., assuming your using a 3rd party app which offers that functionality.

 

[SimonP]

I’ve not yet worked out how to DM but I appreciate that thank you.

Hover your mouse over the name of the person who posted a message - if you're on mobile a long press might do the same, otherwise clicking on the poster's name ought to take you to their profile from where you can send DMs

 

[Satan’s little helper]

Just to add that if you use e.g. Juggluco you can start with the reader (or the official app if you so desire) and then switch to Juggluco for both CGM readings and alarms. I always start using the reader then switch to Juggluco + XDrip+ for the latter's display, prediction trend line and much much better set of alarm options.

with Juggluco on a Galaxy watch wear OS it’s possible to switch the Libre pick up from Juggluco on the phone, straight to the watch. (In the settings on the watch app & using the watch NFC to connect.) Essentially not needing the phone at all. Then scan & fill in the data on librelink & reconnect to the phone when you have access to it. I’m not certain what sensor @ET6 uses.

 

[rebrascora]

Thank you @Bexlee - I like the idea of sweets around the school. I’m planning on telling the children as their Year 5, old enough to understand and I want them to know why an alarm is going off
I’ve not yet worked out how to DM but I appreciate that thank you.

You might need to clock up a few posts on the forum before you are allowed to DM anyone or perhaps @everydayupsanddowns could authorise this function for you now. Once you have "DM capability" follow the steps outlined by @SimonP above.

 

[Satan’s little helper]

with Juggluco on a Galaxy watch wear OS it’s possible to switch the Libre pick up from Juggluco on the phone, straight to the watch. (In the settings on the watch app & using the watch NFC to connect.) Essentially not needing the phone at all. Then scan & fill in the data on librelink & reconnect to the phone when you have access to it. I’m not certain what sensor @ET6 uses.

Correction. It's as easy as just setting up a BT connection in the watch app? Just turned my phone off & let the smartwatch take over & do the work.