Diabetes

Mail:

1600 Rockland Road
Wilmington, DE 19803
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Office Hours and Phone Numbers:

Monday through Friday:  8:00 a.m.- 4:30 p.m  (302) 651-5965
Weekends/evenings/after hours: (302) 651-4000
Fax: (302) 651-5419
Email for routine blood sugars or non-urgent questions: diabetesnemours@nemours.org

Other important numbers:

To schedule an appointment with a Dietitian: (302) 651-4200
To reach the Social Work department: (302) 651- 4232
To reach the Psychology department: (302) 651- 4899

Doctors:

Nurse Practitioners:

Marcy K. DeEmedio, CPNP, CDE
Kimberly Shoe, MSN, PNP, CDE  

The Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children Diabetes Program is dedicated to providing quality diabetes care, education, and support that integrates the family, primary care provider, school, and diabetes team to optimize the management of children with diabetes.

Our skilled team of endocrinology experts evaluate, diagnose, and treat babies, kids, and teens with type 1 and type 2 diabetes (as well as other hormone and growth disorders).

We may know about your child’s diabetes – and how to treat it – but only you know your child best. We want you to be an active participant in the decision-making process and invite your input for creating the right treatment plan for your child.

Accredited by the American Diabetes Association

Our Diabetes Education Program is accredited by the American Diabetes Association (ADA). This prestigious recognition means that our educators are providing high quality information that can help children and families learn how to successfully manage diabetes to prevent  problems and achieve optimal health.

The ADA recommends that all training of school staff is conducted or supervised by a school nurse or other qualified health care professional. School staff training and support resources are available for distribution.

• See ADA training resources for schools

Online Support for Diabetes Management

To help you stay on top of the details of your child’s care, we offer MyNemours – a secure internet portal that allows you to view selected areas of your child’s electronic medical record at Nemours. With MyNemours you can:

• access your child's records any time, day or night, from anywhere  
•  read customized, informative content from KidsHealth.org
• schedule appointments and get your child’s medications refilled online

It's secure, confidential – and free.

And to help you understand what’s going on throughout your journey with diabetes, Nemours’ KidsHealth.org  has partnered with the GetWellNetwork, Inc. a leading provider of interactive patient care information, to develop a series of in-hospital videos on diabetes that will provide learning support to parents, kids, and teens.

• Learn more about GetWellNetwork

Making Diabetes Care Convenient for Your Family

If your child has other conditions that require the care of other Nemours doctors, you can usually schedule to see them on the same day. And no need to worry about going elsewhere for testing – every kind of test your child needs (including Hemoglobin A1c checks for diabetes patients) can be done right in the hospital.

Expert Care for Your Child Close to Home

Our endocrinologists from Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children also provide their experience, expertise, and skills to families in Pennsylvania, offering the convenience of outpatient visits in our new Newtown Square and downtown Philadelphia clinics.

And, wherever your child gets Nemours care, our fully integrated electronic health record (EHR), helps cut down on duplication of tests or services and allows us to communicate with all of the direct and supporting members of your child’s care team – making sure everyone’s always on the same page.

Insulin Pump Therapy and Continuous Glucose Monitoring

An insulin pump is a microcomputer designed to provide a constant supply of insulin mimicking the job of the pancreas. Many patients’ parents decide to have their child go on an insulin pump since it can provide convenience, flexibility, and accuracy in managing diabetes.

But it’s important to remember that it’s a lot of hard work! Before getting started on a pump, you and your child will need a lot of education and training about how to prevent complications and how to achieve good blood sugar control. We will work with you and your child to figure out if this is the best option – and, if so, how to get started and manage this treatment.

Continuous Glucose Monitoring and I-Pro

These devices are similar to the size of an insulin pump and provide:

• “real-time” blood glucose readings
• insight into glucose trends
• alarms when blood sugar is approaching dangerously high or low levels

These devices provide a blood sugar reading every 1 to 5 minutes (with a 10- to 15-minute delay) and can be very helpful in providing information regarding blood glucose trends. Insulin coverage varies.

A Medtronic Center of Excellence

Medtronic Center of Excellence is an exclusive recognition program for advocates of insulin pump therapy and continuous glucose monitoring.  It also recognizes top healthcare providers with established best practices in areas such as patient education, use of information management software, administrative efficiency, etc. 

Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children is one of only 70 Centers of Excellence for Medtronic Diabetes nationwide out of thousands of eligible accounts, so earning this award is quite an honor.

Tips for Coming to See Us

Here are some things that we think you may find helpful when you bring your child with diabetes to Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children.

Your clinic appointments:

1. It’s required that your child be seen for an appointment every 3 to 4 months with one of our endocrinologists or nurse practitioners. It’s also recommended that you see the registered dietitian at least once a year and our Social Work or Psychology divisions, as needed. In addition, you may schedule an appointment with a Diabetes Educator any time for review of diabetes information, problem solving, or refresher diabetes education.
2. Please check of all your child’s diabetes medication needs before your clinic appointment. It’s critical that you ask, at the time of this appointment, for any medication refills you need. Having to make a phone call to our office requesting these refills may take up to 48 to 72 hours for the refill to be completed.
3. We may be unable to refill your child’s diabetes medications if you aren’t seen as ordered by your physician or nurse practitioner.

About our office practices:

• You may be asked or wish to send in your child’s blood sugar records for our review. Due to the volume of blood sugar faxes we receive, if the blood sugars are normal and medication changes are not required, you won’t receive a return call. If you’d like us to email you this message to confirm that we received the blood sugar report, please send us your email address to diabetesnemours@nemours.org. You may also call our office to be sure.
• OUR NEW EMAIL OPTION: In addition to the option of faxing blood sugars (302-651-5419), you can now email your blood sugars to our office at diabetesnemours@nemours.org. If you need a copy of the blood sugar log form, please email us and we will gladly do that. This email option is for routine blood sugars only, NOT emergency blood sugars or illness related blood sugars.
• On a daily basis, we receive many phone calls and faxes. Please trust that we do our best to get back to you in the fastest, most efficient way.
• Medication refills will be completed within 48 to 72 hours.

Our Checklist for Your Child’s “Every Day Pack”

The following is a list of items that you and your child will always need to carry every day, all day – since you never know what might happen when you’re away from home:

• A medic-alert bracelet (worn by your child always)
• Glucagon emergency kit
• Blood sugar meter and vial of test strips
• Insulin pen or syringes
• Vial of insulin (Humalog or Novolog)
• Foil-wrapped urine Ketostix or Blood ketone strips and ketone meter
• Emergency glucose source (glucose tablets, small juice box, small box of raisins, or a pack of Lifesavers candy)
• Portable snack (cheese crackers or granola bar)
• Current list of all insulin: carbohydrate ratios, correction factor
• Extra batteries for your meter
• Emergency phone numbers
• CalorieKing™ book

Diabetes Networking Events for Your Family

Networking Nights for patients and families are held by our Endocrinology Division and include guest speakers, swimming at our pool, use of the bowling alley, and games and crafts for the kids.

These fun-filled events provide education, entertainment, and dinner and a great chance for kids with diabetes and their families to meet and share in support and camaraderie with each other.

All families must register in advance. To register or find out more, please call (302) 651-5965 or email us at diabetesnemours@nemours.org